[citation needed] The name of the character comes from merging the Japanese words for first (初, hatsu), sound (音, ne), and future (ミク, miku),[a] thus meaning "the first sound of the future",[2] which, along with her code name, refers to her position as the first of Crypton's "Character Vocal Series" (abbreviated "CV Series"), preceding Kagamine Rin/Len (code-named CV02) and Megurine Luka (code-named CV03).

[citation needed] Hatsune Miku was the first Vocaloid developed by Crypton Future Media after they handled the release of the Yamaha vocal Meiko and Kaito.

[14] It was mentioned that a seventh Append voicebank, a falsetto voice, had been recorded; however, since the developers did not think it would be useful on its own, no plans were made for an independent release.

[18] This spawned "NicoNico Cho Party", where fans could submit their animations to accompany live holographic performances of popular Vocaloid songs.

Along with the new EVEC system, phoneme errors found in Miku's V2 and V3 voicebanks would be fixed allowing for easier manipulation of the software's voice.

[citation needed] A Mandarin Chinese voicebank was released in September 2017, making Hatsune Miku the first officially trilingual Vocaloid product.

[30] On September 12, 2007, Amazon.co.jp reported sales of Hatsune Miku totaling 57,500,000 yen, making the character the number-one-selling software of that time.

In March 2012, the Nomura Research Institute estimated that the sales of all Hatsune Miku brand goods added up into the region of ¥10 billion since the release in 2007.

[36] Due to Hatsune Miku´s massive popularity in Japan, Crypton asked their Japanese fan base if it was acceptable for them to sell her as a virtual singer to the new market audience.

[37] The main purpose of the Miku English version is to allow Japanese producers to break into the western market and expand their audiences.

[citation needed] In 2008, Good Smile Racing began the licensing of Hatsune Miku and other Crypton Future Media-related Vocaloid content.

[40] In 2009, a new set of MikuMiku Gals were introduced; these girls wore outfits based on all three Character Vocal series females and not specifically Hatsune Miku alone.

They finished 6th with Ian Lougher after a fatal accident struck Yoshinari Matsushita (who rode another bike, a Suzuki 600cc) during practice at Ballacrye Corner.

The illustrator was Taiki, the lead visual designer from Square Enix and Sega's games Lord of Vermilion and Rise of Mana.

[80] Started by Hatsune Miku fan Sumio Morioka (known online as "chodenzi-P", his producer name), this project has received the backing of Dr. Seiichi Sakamoto of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

[84] The Vocaloid software has had a great influence on the character Black Rock Shooter, who looks like Hatsune Miku but is not linked to her by design.

An original video animation made by Ordet was streamed for free as part of a promotional campaign running from June 25 to August 31, 2010.

[88] Geoffrey Cain of GlobalPost has argued that the phenomenon of Hatsune Miku is partly due to the love of Japanese for giving inanimate objects a soul, which is rooted in Shintoism or animism, and in the long tradition of Karakuri ningyō or automated wooden puppets.

The manga explores the many possibilities of story-telling and has featured numerous adventures, ranging from giant-sized battles with Miku to home exploits.

Hatsune Miku is briefly referenced in the game Recettear, where a young man stargazing sees "The Green-Onion Girl" constellation.

Miku's clothes appear in Phantasy Star Portable 2 as a costume for the player's female character, as well as her hairstyle and leek-themed weapons.

[104] In 2012, a collaboration between Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Hatsune Miku was produced in promotion of an opera titled The End, where Vocaloids take the place of all human actors.

On July 23, 2015, Miku was announced as a DLC character in Persona 4: Dancing All Night, a video game released in 2015 for the PlayStation Vita and developed by Atlus.

[citation needed] She also appeared as the featured artist for Season 7 of Epic Games and Harmonix's Festival mode within Fortnite, as a playable character with two outfits included in the Music Pass and Item Shop, and a new design for the in-game stage.

[citation needed] In September 2023, a collaboration project between Pokémon and Hatsune Miku was announced, featuring 18 illustrations and 18 songs with music videos.

Hatsune Miku teamed up with designer Louis Vuitton and director Toshiki Okada for a Vocaloid opera, titled The End.

[134] Another operatic work starring Hatsune Miku, a short opera buffa entitled "Weebmalion", appeared in 2018, this time featuring a real soloist, tenor Aleksander Kunach, singing with the character in a love duet written by Polish composer, Krzysztof Żelichowski.

[citation needed] Pharrell Williams made a remix of Livetune's song "Last Night, Goodnight" featuring Hatsune Miku.

[138] On October 8, 2014, Miku debuted on American network television as the character performed "Sharing the World" on the Late Show with David Letterman on CBS.

[citation needed] In January 2020, Hatsune Miku was announced as a performer at Coachella 2020 in Indio, California, which was later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.