Seiko Matsuda

1981–1982

In January 1981, she released her fourth single "Cherry Blossom". Unlike the previous singles, it did not receive much promotion. Despite that, it charted at No.1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 676,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the singled ranked 9th. After the release, Seiko stated in an interview that it was one of her favorite songs of that time.

In April 1981, she released her fifth single "Natsu no Tobira". It became her fourth television commercial song to be associated with Shideo, and the second one to be used in connection with Ekubo's Milky Fresh. The single charted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 568,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked 14th. During the same month, she launched her first nationwide series of concerts: 81 Seiko Big Concert in Tokyo. Soon after, she launched another concert tour Nice Summer Seiko, which lasted between July and September.

In May 1981, she released her third studio album Silhouette, which included two previously released singles and 8 newly recorded songs. The album debuted in 2nd place on the Oricon Weekly charts.

In July, she released her sixth single "Shiroi Parasol". The single charted in 1st place on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 488,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked in 23rd place. In August, she received her first major role as an actresses in Nogiku no Hana, as well as performing its theme song, "Hana Hitoiro – Nogiku No Sasayaki". The song was released as the B-side of the single "Shiroi Parasol".

Her seventh single, "Kaze Tachinu", was released in October 1981 and revealed large changes in her vocals since the beginning of her career. During the recording, her vocals had suffered and occasionally she had cried on television performances, not being able to sing properly. The single was written by Eichi Ohtaki, a well-known musician at that time. It became her second television commercial song for the Glico's Sweet Pocky. The single charted at 1st place on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 519,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked in 34th place. It received the Golden Idol Award at the 23rd Japan Record Awards and the Radio Music Award at the 12th Japan Music Awards.

Three weeks after the single was released, her fourth studio album, also titled Kaze Tachinu, was released. It included "Kaze Tachinu", "Shiroi Parasol" and eight newly recorded songs. The album debuted at number one on the Oricon Weekly charts. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the album ranked 34th.

In November 1981, the recording studio released her first compilation album entitled Seiko Fragrance. It included singles, a B-side track and selective tracks from the previously released studio albums. The album debuted at 3rd place on the Oricon Weekly charts.

At the end of 1981, she made her second appearance on Kohaku.

In January 1982, she released her eighth single, "Akai Sweet Pea". At this time, Seiko changed her visual appearance by cutting her hair very short and had to find a new vocal technique to continue singing. The song was written by Yumi Matsutoya, under her pen-name Karuho Kureta. The single charted at No.1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 500,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked 12th. The song has become one of the most iconic songs of hers.

In April, she released her ninth single "Nagisa no Balcony". The production team was the same as for her previous single. The single charted in 1st place on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 514,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked in 11th place. The song has become one her signature songs.

Between April and May Seiko launched a concert tour entitled Fantastic Concert.

While on tour in May, Seiko released her fifth studio album Pineapple, which included "Akai Sweet Pea", "Nagisa no Balcony" along with its B-Side track, and 7 newly recorded songs. The album debuted in 1st place on the Oricon Weekly charts.

In June 1982, she released her first home-video release Fantastic Concert Lemon no Kisetsu. The footage included songs performed in the concerts which had been held between April and May of that year. The release failed to chart.

In July 1982, she released her tenth single "Komugiiro no Marmalade", the third consecutive single written by Yumi Matsutoya. The single charted in 1st place on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 467,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked 23rd. The single received the Golden Prize at the 24th Japan Record Awards.

In October 1982, she released her eleventh single "Nobara no Etude". The single charted at 1st place on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 450,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings in 1982, the singled ranked in 41st place and in the 1983 yearly rankings in 75th place. The single received the Grand Prix at the 11th FNS Music Festival and the radio music award at the 13th Japan Music Awards.

The sixth studio album, Candy, was released half a year after the previous album. The album included "Nobara no Etude" and nine newly recorded songs. The album debuted at 1st place on the Oricon Weekly charts. In December 1982, Seiko held her first concert in Nippon Budoukan entitled, Christmas Queen, and appeared on the New Year television program Kohaku for the third time.

1983–1984

In February 1983, Seiko released her twelfth single "Himitsu no Hanazono", the fourth to be written by Matsutoya. The production suffered because of an abrupt change in her production staff, which was originally to have been Kazuo Saitsu. The single charted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 396,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings in 1982, it ranked 22nd. In her television performances, Seiko wore a miniskirt which became a topic of discussion among viewers and fans. The single became the 10th consecutive number one single, breaking the record of nine consecutive number-ones by popular 1970s music duo Pink Lady.

On 28 March 1983, Seiko was attacked by a mentally ill person with a piece of metal in front of 6,000 fans during a performance held in Okinawa. Seiko collapsed after the assault, and was rushed to the hospital with her head bleeding. Doctors said preliminary X-rays did not show any brain damage. One week later, she had fully recovered and was able to perform again. However, the events left Seiko traumatized and she did not perform in Okinawa again until 2007.

In April, months after her previous single, she released her thirteenth single "Tengoku no Kiss". The single was written by Haruomi Hosono from the Yellow Magic Orchestra. The single served as the theme song for the movie "Primeria no Densetsu Tengoku no Kiss", in which Seiko played herself. The single charted at No.1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 471,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings in 1982, the singled ranked in 16th place.

During this year, Seiko started to write more of her own songs. In July, she released her 7th studio album, "Utopia". She wrote lyrics under the pen-name SEIKO for the first time for her song "Chiisana Love Song" (lit. "Little Love Song"), which she also produced. The album included two previously released singles, "Himitsu no Hanazono", and "Tengoku no Kiss", as well as eight newly written songs. The album debuted at No.1 on the Oricon Weekly charts. During that same month, Seiko launched a concert tour with the French title, "Un Deux Trois" and the movie "Primeria no Densetsu Tengoku no Kiss" was released, her second in a starring role.

In August 1983 she released her fourteenth single, "Glass no Ringo/Sweet Memories", written by Hosono. The B-side, "Sweet Memories" served as the musical backing to a television commercial for Suntory's canned beer. Due to the song's popularity, it received two releases titles, "Sweet Memories/Glass no Ringo". The release of the first edition of the single debuted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 857,000 copies, as of 2023 the second best-selling single of her career. It received multiple awards: the Golden Grand Prix at the 1983 Anata ga Erabu Zen Nihon Kayou Ongakusai, the Golden Award at the 25th Japan Record Awards, Best Broadcast Music Award at the 14th Japan Music Awards and Best Performance Award at the 12th FNS Music Festival.

In October she released her fifteenth single "Hitomi wa Diamond/Aoi Photograph", the fifth written by Matsutoya. The B-side track served as the theme song for the television drama "Ao ga Chiru". The single debuted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 568,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings in 1983, the single ranked in 46th place and in the 1984 yearly Oricon rankings in 28th place.

In December Seiko released her 8th studio album "Canary", in which she wrote the lyrics for the mononymous track. It included one previously released single along with its B-side as well as eight newly written songs. The album debuted at number one on the Oricon Weekly charts. In the same month, she held her 2nd concert at the Budokan titled "Seiko Land" and appeared on Kohaku for the 4th time.

1984 was very busy, in that she launched four tours that year, which took up the whole year: "Jewels" between January and April, "Fantastic Fly" between April and June, "Magical Trump" between July and November and "Golden Juke" in December.

In February she released her sixteenth single "Rock'n Rouge", making it the sixth single written by Matsutoya. The song served as the television commercial for the cosmetic company product Lady 80BIO Lipstick by Kanebo. The single debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 674,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked 3rd. In that same month, she released her second home-video concert "Seikoland: Budoka Live 1983", which includes footage from the second concert she held at the Budokan in 1982. As with the previous release, it failed to chart.

Her song "Natsu No Jewelry" was the theme song of the Japanese version of The NeverEnding Story (film).

In May 1984 she released her seventeenth single "Jikan no Kuni no Alice", the seventh single to be written by Matsutoya. B-side track "Natsufuku no Eve" served as the theme song for the theatrical cinema movie of the same title, starring Seiko herself. The single debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 477,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the single ranked 15th.

In June she released her 9th studio album "Tinker Bell". Unlike the two previous released albums, it does not contain any track written by herself. The album includes singles Rock'n Rouge, Jikan no Kuni no Alice and 7 newly written songs. Until this release, the album always had 10 tracks in total, however in this case, only 9 were included due to her busy schedule. The album debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly sales.

In August 1984 she released her eighteenth single "Pink no Mozart", written by Hosono. It became her second television commercial song to be associated with the Kakubo series of the products launched under the title "1984 Aki". The title itself has nothing to do with the famous composer and has never been explained to the public. The single charted at number one on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 424,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the singled ranked 17th.

In November 1984 she released her nineteenth single "Heart no Earring". It was her second single without any promotional ties. With this single, all of Seiko's singles since her debut have sold over 10 million copies. The single debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 477,000 copies. On the yearly rankings, the singled ranked at 68th place and in 1985 at 66th place.

In December she released her 10th studio album "Windy Shadow", including singles "Pink no Mozart"," Heart no Earring", and 8 newly written tracks. In this album, Seiko has self-written one song in this album titled "Bara to Pistol". The album debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly chart. In the same month, she made appeared on Kohaku for the fifth time.

1985–1986

Throughout 1985, she had been very turbulent in her own private life, beginning in January with the break-up with the singer Hiromi Go, followed by the announcement of her engagement with actor Masaki Kanda in February, marriage in April, and the ceremony in June. As a result, the musical activities were minimized in comparison with previous years, lead to the "hiatus", as it was thought by Japanese residents as her official retirement.

In January, she released her twentieth single, "Tenshi no Wink", written by Amii Ozaki. Despite debuting at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and selling over 414,000 copies, the song also promoted the Daihatsu Charade. At the time, it was her last single reaching sales numbers over 400,000 (which later was overcome by the 1 million seller "Anata ni Aitakute" in 1996). Between April and May, her Seiko Prism Agency concert tour was held before her hiatus.

In May 1985, Seiko released her twenty-first single, "Boy no Kisetsu", the second consecutive single written by Amii. It became her first single in which both the A- and B-side were part of movie soundtracks, as a theme song for the film Penguin's Memory: Shiawase Monogatari and the B-side track, "Caribbean Wind", being part of the soundtrack for "Caribbean: Ai no Symphony". She played in the latter in her 4th main role and alongside her husband Kanda, with the movie taking place throughout late 1984. The single itself debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 356,000 copies. On the yearly Oricon rankings, the singled reached number 19.

In June 1985, she released her 11th studio album, "The 9th Wave". The album includes ten newly recorded singles, including "Tenshi no Wink" and "Boy no Kisetsu". The album debuted at number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts, and that same month, she released her first English single, "Dancing Shoes", under her own English stage-name, simply named Seiko. The single was released on day of her marriage ceremony, and was recorded in February 1985 in New York City. There were other plans that she may debut as a singer overseas, but the plans were scrapped by the marriage announcement few months later. The single was released during her hiatus in June of that year. Despite little promotion, the single managed to debut at number 1 on Oricon Weekly Charts and stayed at number 65 on the Oricon Yearly Charts.

After her marriage in August 1985, she released her first English studio album, "Sound Of My Heart". The album itself became very notable for its production, which featured members from the band Chicago, Billy Joel, and record producer Phil Ramone. During the recording of the single itself, there was a plan for the whole project to be released overseas, but it was only released domestically in Japan, debuting at number 2 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. During that same month, she released her third home-video release, "Seiko Call: Live 85", featuring footage from the Seiko Prism Agency tour from that same year, but the release failed to chart. On 31 December 1985, she made her sixth appearance on Kohaku at the NHK Hall.

During her pregnancy in 1986, she released her follow-up studio album, "Supreme", with a total of ten newly written songs, including one by herself. The album debuted at number 1 on Oricon Weekly Charts and sold over 699,000 copies. The album has been received well by critics and won Best Album Award at the 28th Japan Record Awards. During the same year, Seiko provided lyrics for another artist under her pen-name Seiko for the first time, on the single, "Kuchibiru ni Network", written by Ryuichi Sakamoto and performed by idol-singer Yukiko Okada. At the end of year, she made her seventh Kohaku television appearance, performing one of her singles from the released album. On 1 October 1986, she gave birth to her child, Sayaka.

1987–1989

During the period leading up to her marriage in 1985, Seiko had not announced whether she would continue performing or retire. Compared to her senior singer, Momoe Yamaguchi, who retired after marriage, Seiko's will and support from her husband for a continuing career lead to her receiving nickname "Mama Doll-mother, works as an idol". Although she made a comeback, live tours and releases were not as frequent and busy as previously.

1990–1992

Although some up-and-coming female singers like Namie Amuro and Hamasaki became successful after the end of the 1980s, most pop idols from Matsuda's era disappeared as the golden age of idols began to fade away, except Matsuda, who was stil