Distance is the second Japanese album (third overall) released by Japanese-American J-pop singer Utada Hikaru, released on March 28, 2001 in direct "competition" with A Best by Ayumi Hamasaki (see 2001 in music).

Distance is the fourth-best-selling album in Japan of all time with over 4.47 million copies sold, and sold over 3 million copies in its debut week, setting Japan's one-week sales record and the world's highest one week sales in a single territory, Hamasaki's album having the second highest ever, a record held by the two albums until 2015, when Adele's third album 25 sold 3.4 million copies in its first week in the United States. According to Oricon, Distance is the highest selling Japanese album of the decade.

Globally, the album was one of the best-selling of 2001, being listed at #10 on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's Top 50 Global Best Selling Albums for 2001.

For this album, Utada worked with American producers for a few tracks: Rodney Jerkins, who has worked with the likes of Toni Braxton, produced (and performed rap vocals on) the track "Time Limit", while songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced both "Wait & See: Risk" and the Up-in-Heaven mix of "Addicted to You".

The melody of "Kotoba ni Naranai Kimochi" was originally introduced in the track "Interlude" found on the First Love album. Due to time constraints, the song couldn't be finished on time for release in full on First Love, and was carried over to this album. The title of the track "Hayatochi-remix" is a portmanteau Utada created of "Hayatochiri", the name of the original song on the "Wait & See: Risk" single, and the word "remix".

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