Mr. Children (stylized ミスターチルドレン (
Mr.Children), commonly referred to by their contracted nickname ) is a
Japanese pop rock band formed in 1988 by
Kazutoshi Sakurai, Kenichi Tahara, Keisuke Nakagawa, and Hideya Suzuki.They made their major debut in 1992 . As a group, they are one of
the best selling artists in Japan and one of the most successful Japanese rock artists, having sold over 50 million records and creating the in the mid-1990s in Japan. They held the record for the highest first week sales of a single in Japan for 15 years, with 1.2 million copies of their 10th single , have 30 consecutive number 1 singles, replaced
Glay as the all-male band (with 3 or more members) to have the most number 1 albums on the
Oricon charts, and won the
Japan Record Award in 1994 for "
Innocent World" and in 2004 for "
Sign". As of 2012, Mr. Children has published fifteen original
studio albums and 34 physical
singles, along with five
compilations, a
live album, and fifteen
home video releases.