Draft:Itsuka no Merry Christmas

"Itsuka no Merry Christmas" (いつかのメリークリスマス) is a Christmas song by the Japanese rock duo B'z, from their 1992 EP Friends. Although never released as a single, the song remains one of the band's most popular and is a staple at Christmastime in Japan,    and as such has been covered by numerous artists. The song is rarely played live, as it's only played around Christmas.

Background
The song is the first song on the band's concept album Friends, which tells a love story in four parts. Each song is given a one-word title describing the song's place in the story, with "Itsuka no Merry Christmas" being "reminiscence". The song's lyrics depict past memories with a loved one. Singer Koshi Inaba said in a 2021 interview that, due to the songs' connection, he carefully crafted the lyrics of each song. In that same interview, Inaba said that when it as released, he didn't think he could sing in that well but now feels that he can sing it better, either due to his age or his voice changing.

Popularity
Since its release, it's become a very popular Christmas song. In a survey conducted by the magazine CD & DL Data asking 10,000 people ages 10-60 their top Christmas song, the song came in 4th place; the magazine also mentioned the song is popular with people aged 20-40. In a Dai-Ichi Kosho survey on the most popular Christmas songs sung at karaoke ranging from January 1994 to December 15, 2012, the song was ranked first. In a 2010 vote conducted by Japanese digital music service Recochoku on the best Christmas song, the song ranked third; later, in a 2012 vote, the song ranked second. In a 2023 survey conducted by CM Site on "masterpiece" Christmas songs, the song ranked seventh. In another 2023 survey conducted by the Netorabo Survey Team and Voice Note asking people in their 50s on their favorite Christmas song with a male vocalist, the song came in fourth.

2023 survey conducted by The song has gained immense popularity as a ringtone. In 2015, Face Wonderworks, through GIGA Entertainment Melody, ranked the song as the 15th most downloaded ringtone of all time in 15 years. During December 2011, the song climbed its way up RIAJ's Chaku-Uta Full ringtone chart, peaking at number 7 on the week of December 27th. In January 2011, the song was certified gold for Chaku-Uta Full; along with this, a rearrangement of the song, dubbed the "'Koisuru Hanikami!' Version", was certified double platinum for Chaku-Uta. Later, in January 2012, the original song was then certified platinum for Chaku-Uta Full.

The song is one of the band's most popular songs. When the B'z catalog became available on digital services on May 21, 2021, B'z monopolized the top 100 songs on the Japanese streaming service Awa, with "Itsuka no Merry Christmas" being number 1. In a 2020 survey conducted by Line Research on peoples' favorite B'z song, the song came in second.

The song has been covered by many artists both in-studio and live, including Ayumi Hamasaki, Eric Martin, Ken Hirai, Park Jung-min, and many others.