| Kessen wa Kinyōbi | |
| Cover: | Kessen wa Kinyobi.png |
| Border: | yes |
| Type: | Single |
| Artist: | Dreams Come True |
| Album: | The Swinging Star |
| Label: | Epic/Sony Records |
| Prev Title: | Wasurenaide |
| Prev Year: | 1991 |
| Next Title: | Haretara Ii ne |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
is a song recorded by Japanese band Dreams Come True for their fifth studio album, The Swinging Star. It was released as the album's lead single by Epic/Sony Records on September 19, 1992. It served as the opening theme to the CX music show Ureshi Tanoshi Daisuki - Friday Night Live, on which the band were regular cast members.[1] The single's coupling song, "Taiyō ga Miteru" was used in the advertising campaign for Fujifilm's Fujicolor Super HG 400 film.[2]
The lyrics to "Kessen wa Kinyōbi" were written by Miwa Yoshida and the song was composed and arranged by Masato Nakamura, while the track was co-produced by the band and Mike Pela. "Kessen wa Kinyōbi" came about when Nakamura and Sing Like Talking frontman Chikuzen Satō decided to challenge themselves to a friendly competition to see who could write the best song using the chord progression to Cheryl Lynn's "Got to Be Real" as base inspiration.[3] "Kessen wa Kinyōbi" and "Rise" by Sing Like Talking, from their album Humanity (1992), were the resulting tracks.[3] Additionally, Nakamura pulled inspiration from Earth, Wind & Fire's "Let's Groove" to make the perfect disco anthem.[3] The song is written in the key of C minor with a common time tempo of 126 beats per minute.[4] Yoshida's vocals span two octaves, from G3 to G5.
CDJournal critics described the song as a "fanfare" that gets your "adrenaline pumping".[5] It was praised for capturing the essence of Lynn's "Got to Be Real", on which the song is based.[5]
In 2003, Key of life and A.mia sampled "Kessen wa Kinyōbi" on their song "Friday Let Me Down" featuring Soul'd Out's Diggy-Mo'. In 2012, Nico Touches the Walls recorded a cover of the song to be included as a B-side to the single "Yume 1 Go".[6] In 2014, HY recorded a cover of the song for the Dreams Come True tribute album, Watashi no Dorikamu, released in celebration of the band's 25th anniversary.[7] In 2017, Daichi Miura recorded his rendition of the song for the Dreams Come True cover album, DoriUta Vol. 1.[8]
"Kessen wa Kinyōbi" debuted at number one on the Oricon Singles Chart, with 210,970 copies sold in its first week.[9] The single stayed at the top of the chart for three consecutive weeks, selling 136,300 copies on its second charting week and 86,690 copies on its third week.[10] [11] It slid to number three the following week, logging sales of 87,550 units.[12] The single spent an additional three weeks in the top ten. It charted in the top 100 for twenty-three weeks, selling a reported total of 1,070,420 copies,[13] making it Dreams Come True's first million-selling single.[14] "Kessen wa Kinyōbi" ranked at number 18 on the year-end Oricon Singles Chart for 1992.[15]
| Chart (1992) | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Japan Weekly Singles (Oricon)[16] | 1 | |
| Japan Monthly Singles (Oricon)[17] | 3 | |
| Japan Yearly Singles (Oricon) | 18 |