The Japan Composers Association awarded Love the Best Album Award.
Nakashima's second album, Love, which was released in November 2003, sold nearly 1.45 million copies, surpassing that of her debut. She also won the "New Artist of the Year" award from the 44th Japan Record Awards. In 2002, the singer received the "New Artist of the Year" award at the Japan Gold Disc Awards and "Best New Artist of the Year" at the All Japan Request Awards 2002. On December 18, a documentary video, Kiseki: The Document of a Star, was released. Then, as a commemoration of one year since her debut, Nakashima released a Premium EP: Resistance, which hit the charts' number 1 spot for two weeks in a row. In 3 weeks, True sold a million copies, and has sold nearly 1,174,000 copies to date. The album boasted a mature mixture of jazz and contemporary pop. Nakashima's first album, True, released in August 2002, was a number 1 hit on the Oricon charts. Both were top ten hits and sold around 100,000 copies, proving Nakashima's rising star appeal. This was followed in May by her 4th single, "Helpless Rain", and in August, by her 5th single "Will", which went on to rack up sales of over 140,000. In March 2002 she released her third single, "One Survive," and her first video collection, "Film Lotus". It sold out the first day of its release. Her second single "Crescent Moon", an 80s themed song, was limited to 100,000 copies. In November 2001, "Stars" became her debut on Sony Music Associated Records, which would go on to become her best-selling single.
She was chosen from 3,000 girls to be the actress of the fall 2001 Fuji TV drama Kizudarake no Love Song ( 傷だらけのラブソング, Tainted Love Song), in which she played the heroine Mirai Shimazaki, and also sang the theme song, "Stars." Career Īt the age of 17, she attended an audition not knowing what it was for. At the age of 15 she moved to the city of Fukuoka where she room-shared with two others. Nakashima decided not to attend high school after completing junior high and began working. She grew up in the small town of Hioki, Kagoshima, where she has said there was "nothing there, only enka." She began listening to enka singer Eiko Segawa and studied classical Japanese dance, but as she loved dressing-up and make-up, she hoped to work in fashion magazines since she was too short to become a model.