Working for the agency Johnny & Associates, Kondō was signed to the record label RVC.

[2] The single topped the Oricon charts for five consecutive weeks,[3] and eventually sold over one million copies.

The song was the theme of Japanese television drama Ginrō Kaiki File: Futatsu no Zunō o Motsu Shōnen, in which then-Johnny's Jr. Koichi Domoto played a main role.

Kondō appeared on NHK's Kōhaku Uta Gassen annual TV show, performing "Midnight Shuffle".

Kondō concentrated his efforts to his full-time racing career starting from 1998, rarely appearing on TV and not putting out any new songs.

On the same year he made his first and only season in JGTC's GT300 class as the driver NISMO's GT300 team, finishing 6th in the standings.

Yasei" was used for the ending theme of anime series Naruto: Shippuden and was released as a CD single on January 23, 2008.

[15] In November 2020, Johnny & Associates announced that Kondō's activities were suspended indefinitely after he admitted he had an extra-marital affair.

[16] At the end of April 2021, Kondo took responsibility for the scandal he had caused and left Johnny's, to which he had belonged for 44 years.

[17] Kondo talked about the circumstances leading up to his departure in a radio program he appeared on in September of the same year, "Sayuri Matsui's 'new normal' small room" on Nippon Cultural Broadcasting.

[18] In November of the same year, he resumed his performing career with his first concert after independence, Masahiko Kondo ReSTART 20+21+1×1-2 at Nakano Sun Plaza Hall.

Shortly after the initial reports of Kondō's affair with Mui surfaced, a second cheating scandal surfaced when the magazine Friday released photos of Kondō and Seiko Matsuda (who was married at the time to Masaki Kanda) on a secret rendezvous at a hotel terrace in New York.

[22][23] A press conference was held on December 31 by both Kondō and Johnny's & Associates, with Nakamori present by invitation.

Nakamori, although being an invited guest, read a prepared speech apologizing (reportedly under duress by Mary Kitagawa of Johnny's & Associates)[24] for her suicide attempt and publicly forgiving Kondō.

[23] In November 2020, Shukan Bunshun reported allegations that Kondō was having an extramarital affair with a 31-year-old woman since 2015,[23] which he confirmed.