Secret is the eighth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki, released November 29, 2006, by Avex Trax.

The album's composition was handled largely by Dai Nagao and Tetsuya Yukumi, both of whom were frequent collaborators with Hamasaki.

"Blue Bird" would have more success: it topped the charts in Japan and was certified Platinum for shipments of 250,000 copies.

With "Blue Bird", which sold around 300,000 copies, Hamasaki became the first solo artist in Japan to sell over 20 million singles.

Secret received positive reviews from critics, who praised its rock influences and thought that every song stood well enough on its own, but felt that it "failed to leave a clear impression" as a cohesive record.

Hamasaki stated that "Until that Day..." was originally intended to be an instrumental track composed by CMJK.

Hamasaki stated that listening to the song now makes her remember the strenuous recording and brings her to tears.

On the Oricon chart, Secret failed to surpass the one-million mark, making it her second album to not do so (the first being (Miss)understood).

However, while (Miss)understood still managed to surpass the one-million mark in accordance to Avex, Secret failed to do so, selling only 900,000 copies.

Not only did Secret top the Japanese charts, the album was an instant number-1 hit in countries as Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong,[4] and China.

During November and December 2006, Hamasaki performed live on Japanese TV shows eleven times.

Jewel was also released as a ringtone, where it went on to be certified triple platinum, meaning it was downloaded over 750,000 times.

Hamasaki was also a guest on two major radio shows during the release of the album; All Night Nippon and DoCoMo Hits from the Heart.

In order of release, they are "Startin'", "Born to Be...", "Blue Bird", "Beautiful Fighters", "Jewel", "Momentum", and "1 Love".

The PVs for Startin, Born to Be, Blue Bird, Beautiful Fighters and Momentum were all directed by Takahide Ishii.

Later, people of all ethnicities around the world, mostly children, are individually projected against a white wall stating what they would like to be when they grow up.

The fans rush in to watch Ayumi and a group of dancers atop a stage dancing and standing on multi-colored cars.

The dancers are shown as a delivery person, a waitress, a pool-cleaner, and a painter; Ayumi plays as a cashier at a mart.

The PV for "1 Love" was first played on Headliner on November 27, 2006, and features an underground human bid, where rich people (covered with venetian masks) buy human beings who are slaves and supposedly have special abilities, like a monster, an eat-it-all man, a prostitute, an otaku, and Hamasaki herself, who appears singing and pole-dancing.

She is also seen in a cage, and later on tries to escape, covering herself with one of the masks, just to be found by the owner of the bid, a circus-master like man.

The album's first single "Startin' / Born to Be..." was used as the opening theme song for Capcom's video game Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams.

Hamasaki's summer single "Blue Bird" was used in a promotional campaign for Zespri Golden Kiwis.

[9] The use of Hamasaki's song in advertisements boosted sales so much that Zespri launched a special press conference to thank her.

[citation needed] The song was also used in advertisements for Japanese music downloading services Dwango and Mu-mo.

[9] Hamasaki appeared playing tennis while using the product in its commercial to demonstrate the portability of the audio player.

[citation needed] Hamasaki appeared in the commercial wearing a traditional Japanese wedding gown as well as various coloured cocktail dresses.

Upon the launch of the Lumix FX07 and the D-Snap and D-Dock audio players, Hamasaki appeared as Panasonic's spokesperson at a press conference in Tokyo.

The album's title track "Secret" was used as the theme song for Hong Kong film Confession of Pain.