Morning Musume

Morning Musume '26 (モーニング娘。 '26, Mōningu Musume Two-Six.; lit. "Morning Girls" or "Morning Daughters"), formerly and commonly known as Morning Musume (モーニング娘。, Mōningu Musume.), is a Japanese girl group associated with Up-Front Promotion. The group was produced by singer-songwriter and record producer Tsunku, who composed the majority of their songs until 2014. Since their formation, the group has seen changes in their membership, with the current members of the group consisting of Sakura Oda, Miki Nonaka, Maria Makino, Homare Okamura, Mei Yamazaki, Rio Sakurai, Haruka Inoue, and Ako Yumigeta.

After the release of their indies single, "Ai no Tane", in 1997, Morning Musume made their official debut in 1998 with the single "Morning Coffee." Their highest-selling single, "Love Machine" (1999), was the first single to reach no. 1 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart and sold over 1 million copies upon release. In 2012, the group held the second highest overall single sales of a female group on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, with the Oricon record of most top-ten singles, having 64 of them.

Morning Musume is credited with the revival of the idol industry in Japan in the late 1990s. Morning Musume has been the flagship group of the musical collective Hello! Project, becoming the basis of other groups under the collective, such as Country Musume, Coconuts Musume, and Ice Creamusume. In addition, Morning Musume has spun off with multiple successful sub-units, such as Tanpopo, Petit Moni, Mini-Moni, Morning Musume Sakuragumi, Morning Musume Otomegumi, Morning Musume Tanjō 10nen Kinentai, Ecomoni, and Dream Morning Musume.