She released her first single at the end of 1994, "TENCA wo Torou!", theme of one of her dramas, which ranked number 1 at oricon music charts, the first time for a solo debuting female singer, with a record of sales in this category only topped by Erika Sawajiri's debut single 12 years later.[3] She went on a successful singing career for the next two years, her first album ranking number 1, with hits written by Tetsuya Komuro (notably "Only You" and "Baby's Growing Up"), a career which she stopped in 2000 to concentrate on acting.