Hello Arama Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Superfly win out over AKB48 and UNISON SQUARE GARDEN. Superfly and UNISON SQUARE GARDEN are back again this week, along with a newcomer. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the physical and digital charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!

Yun*chi has released a short music video for her latest track “Lucky Girl*”. Produced by ☆Taku Takahashi of m-flo, the song is a lighthearted dance pop track perfect for the summer and serves as the opening theme to the new season of anime Wooser’s Hand-to-Mouth Life. In the video, Yun*chi takes on the role of an up-to-date android interacting with an outdated robot, set amidst a chic red and white backdrop. Check it out below!

Singer-songwriters Irie Yo and butaji have teamed up to form the unit Irie Yo to butaji. Both artists are signed to independent label P-Vine Records. They met through the label, hit it off, and decided to collaborate. The result is the mini album “Tantei Monogatari”, out today. “Tantei Monogatari” incorporates a variety of sounds, ranging from funk to folk to R&B to electronic. There’s also a cover of Inoue Yosui & Anzen Chitai’s 1986 hit “Natsu no Owari no Harmony.”

Today, the duo released the music video for the mini album’s title track. It features Yo and butaji running around Tokyo on an investigation, seeing as how “tantei” translates into “detective.”

In related news, today butaji released the album trailer for his debut album “Outside”, out August 5. This release too will be a stew of sounds.

Check out both videos mentioned above, the trailer for the duo’s mini album, and more info on both releases after the jump!

Utada Hikaru has announced on her official website that she has given birth to a healthy baby boy! Back in 2014 Utada married Francesco Calliano, an Italian bartender. The name of the baby and date of birth was not mentioned in the announcement.

Rumors of new music have been circulating for years with no confirmation of a new single or album, and thankfully those rumors can finally be put to rest. While pregnant Hikki confirmed that she began work on a brand new album! In the announcement Hikki says the album will still take a bit more time to complete, but she’s looking forward to adding the finishing touches and getting it out for everyone. Hikki’s last studio album “This Is The One” was released six years ago, and her last Japanese studio album “HEART STATION” just turned seven years old in March.

Congratulations to the couple!

Hello Arama Japan readers! After a brief hiatus, we are back with our monthly wrap up feature. A few of the staff members have come together to share their faves for the months of April and May. Find out what the staff was loving these past 2 months! Also feel free to post what you loved this past April and May in the comments!

The Oricon physical music sales charts for the week of 6/22-6/28 have been released!

After “Kaguya” back in January as well as their album White, NEWS is back with their newest single “Chumu Chumu”, a platonic love song with “India” as its theme. This is a scorching hot upbeat song bopped its way to the number one spot on the charts selling 124,088 copies in its first week.

Hey!Say!JUMP dropped their fourth album JUMPing CAR this week, which featured their hit singles “Weekender”, “Ashita e no YELL”, and “Chau♯”. JUMPing CAR dominated its competition with 176,575 units sold.

Check out the top 10 of each below!

For the fourth week in a row, Superfly topped Recochoku with “Beautiful.”

Meanwhile on iTunes, Hoshino Gen topped the chart with “SUN.” His discography was released digitally last week in celebration of his 5th anniversary.

Ayumi Hamasaki recently released another music video, this one for her song “Progress.” The video appears to have been shot around Los Angeles, where she currently resides. The video features cameos from various locals, most notably former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Tammie Brown. In the video, Tammie Brown makes an appearance out of drag. The drag queen, who competed on the first season of Rupaul’s Drag Race and came back again for the All Stars season, makes their appearance at the 3:55 mark of the video.  Check it out below!