Tohoshinki and Super Junior top the weekly Oricon charts! 12/15-12/21

The Oricon physical music charts for the (super Korean) week of 12/15-12/21 have been released!

For the album charts, “WITH“, the eighth studio album (and fourth since the group became a duo) released by Tohoshinki, soared to the number one spot pushing 233,216 units. SUPER JUNIOR come in first on the singles chart with the Japanese version of their song “Mamacita (Ayaya)” selling 65,216 copies.

In other news, this is the final weekly ranking of 2014. The chart data will be released as follows (Japan Local Time):

Daily Ranking:

The daily ranks for 2014 end on Monday December 29, 2014. During the period of December 30, 2014 to January 4, 2015, daily rankings will be paused. Daily rankings from December 29, 2014 to January 3, 2015 will be announced by January 5, 2015 at 6PM JST and daily rankings will resume at a normal update period by the next hour or later.

Weekly Ranking:

The weekly ranks for 2014 have already ended on December 24, 2014 with the release of this chart. The weekly rankings for the period of December 22, 2014 to December 28,2014 will be announced on January 5, 2015.

With that said, check out the charts below!

Kusano Hironori opens official Instagram account

Kusano Hironori surprised fans with an early Christmas present, he officially joined the world of Instagram! Earlier today he tweeted his first picture, asking fans for a follow and wishing everyone a happy Christmas.

Kusano is a former member of Johnny’s Entertainment group NEWS. In 2005 he, and another former member Hiroki Uchi were involved in an underage drinking scandal leading to their dismissal from the group, as a result both boys were demoted to “trainee” status. Kusano eventually parted ways with JE and resurfaced in 2012 with a brand new website and fanclub, unfortunately both of those domains quickly went defunct.

2015 is looking to be a much better year for the former idol, his band porehead will be releasing their debut mini-album “Amethyst” on February 4th. A trailer for the mini-album, as well as the cover and tracklist can be seen below!

Ayumi Hamasaki Releases Full PV for “Zutto…”

As previously reported, on December 24 Ayumi Hamasaki releases her new single “Zutto… / Last minute / Walk.” To promote the single, she has now released the music video for the single’s first A-side, “Zutto…” The video finds Ayumi in a contemplative mood in soft, feminine surroundings. This is Ayumi in her iconic winter ballad mode. Check out the video after the jump!

Digital Singles Chart for the Week of 12/17 – 12/23

Recochoku
1. Che’Nelle – Happiness
2. Nishino Kana – Darling
3. Sandaime J Soul Brothers – O.R.I.O.N.
4. Hata Motohiro – Himawari no Yakusoku
5. AI – Story
6. Leo Ieiri – Silly
7. SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night
8. Namie Amuro – BRIGHTER DAY
9. Ayumi Hamasaki – Zutto…
10. e-girls – Mr.Snowman

iTunes
1. Che’Nelle – Happiness
2. Southern All Stars – Tokyo VICTORY
3. Sandaime J Soul Brothers – O.R.I.O.N.
4. Leo Ieiri – Silly
5. Southern All Stars – Hotaru
6. Nishino Kana – Darling
7. SEKAI NO OWARI – Dragon Night
8. Hata Motohiro – Himawari no Yakusoku
9. GD x Taeyang – GOOD BOY
10. Sandaime J Soul Brothers – R.Y.U.S.E.I.

#1 Song Review: Week of 12/10 – 12/16

Hello AramaJapan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Kanjani8 come out on top of Che’Nelle. This week we have two new acts! 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!

GENERATIONS Announces New Single, “Sing It Loud”

Recently it was revealed that GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE will be releasing a new sinlge, “Sing It Loud”, on January 28th. The song will serve as the theme song for the Monday night mystery theatre, “Keibuho Sugiyama Shintarou ~Kichijou Jisho Jiken File” (Air date: Jan, 12th at 19:00JST).

The song is described as being a dance number showcasing the group’s true worth. Furthermore, the vocalist, Katayose Ryota tries his hand at writing lyrics with the coupling song “STORY”.

This will be the group’s first release of 2015 and will be released ahead of their February 18th album, “GENERATION EX”. After which the group will start their country-wide hall tour and world tour.

The tracklist can be seen below!

Live Monster for December 21

Sukima Switch – Kanade / Hoshi no Utsuwa

CDTV performances for December 20

Kis-My-Ft2 – Thank you Jan!

Ikimonogakari – Netsujou no Spectrum