In September, ACO release a cover of Billie Eilish‘s “bury a friend” as a digital single. That release has now turned into a new cover album, “SING SING SING”, out November 27. This release will feature ACO cover songs by the likes of Amy Winehouse, Sam Smith, and Nina Simone. It also marks the first time that ACO is singing entirely in English, something that she saw a challenge, but worthy doing. Check out more information on this release below!

Last August, Hoshino Gen announced his international expansion plans, complete with multi-language social media accounts, worldwide streaming, and a world tour. His one tour stop outside of Asia, at New York’s Sony Hall, occurred last night. I attended the show, and while I enjoyed myself, I had several questions afterwards.

Sony Hall has become a favored venue for Japanese artists when they perform in New York, with Ken Hirai, MISIA, and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra performing there recently. When I got to the 46th Street venue around 90 minutes before start time, I found that the line went down the street, snaking around 8th Avenue and onto 47th Street. I noticed something else about the line; with the exception of three people, all the attendees were Japanese. It was a similar situation when I attended MISIA’s concert this past spring.

Every year, Nikkei Entertainment releases a Japanese concert attendance ranking. This ranking is based on seating capacity for venues, not necessarily tickets sold.

Arashi topped the 2019 ranking with 1,818,000 attendees at 36 concerts. They were followed by Sandaime J SOUL BROTHERS with 1,119,000 attendees at 24 concerts. Rounding out the top 3 is AAA with 730,000 attendees at 30 concerts.

Check out the rest of the ranking below!

This week, Kis-My-Ft2 topped the Hot 100 single chart with their single “Edge of Days”, with 17,449 points.

Shiina Ringo topped the Hot Album charts with her new best album “Newton no Ringo ~Hajimete no Best Ban~.”

Official HIGE DANdism also topped the Streaming Songs chart for the 26th consecutive week with their single “Pretender.”

Official HIGE DANdism also topped the Download Songs chart with “Pretender.”

Ringo also topped the Download Albums chart with “Newton no Ringo ~Hajimete no Best Ban~.”

At 7 PM JST on November 27, Best Artist 2019 will air. The first round of performers was previously announced, and now the second round has been as well. This set includes Ikimonogakari, Mai Kuraki, Keyakizaka46, Nakamoto Mizuki, Hinatazaka46, THE RAMPAGE, GENERATIONS, DA PUMP, DEAN FUJIOKA, Ken Hirai, Makihara Noriyuki, Daichi Miura, MIYAVI, Moriyama Naotaro, LUNA SEA, and WANIMA.

There will be several collaborations on Best Artist 2019, including KAT-TUN x MIYAVI, NEWS x DJ Matsunaga (Creepy Nuts), Sandaime J SOUL BROTHERS x “ZIP!” members, and Jaejoong x Matt.

There is a live stream of the show and Arama! Japan will be hosting a chat on Discord so that readers can chat with each other during the show! Links to the show and the chat are after the jump!

Back in September we reported that veteran singer/songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita would be performing the theme song for Takuya Kimura’s latest drama “Grand Maison Tokyo”. It has since been revealed that this track, titled “RECIPE”, will be released as a single on November 27th.

Now that this date has arrived, a music video for the single’s lead song has been uploaded to his label’s YouTube channel. This clip stars ‘Tatsuro-kun’, a CG representation of the singer that springs to life from the release’s cover art and dances through various real world locations – including a concert stage and the studio the track was recorded in.

You’ll find this charming PV, as well as the cover and track list for “RECIPE” right after the jump.

Up-and-coming mixture rock band King Gnu announced today that they will be releasing a new full-length album on January 15th. This record, titled “CEREMONY”, comes just a year after the group’s previous album “Sympa” and will be their third longplay together in total.

“CEREMONY” will include the band’s already released digital singles “Hakujitsu”, “Hikoutei”, and “Kasa”, along with nine new songs – such as Sony Walkman CM track “Teenager Forever” – for a total of 12. The album’s Limited Edition will include a Blu-ray disc that contains footage from King Gnu’s April 2019 concert at Studio Coast.

Read on below to find the cover and partial track list for “CEREMONY”, as well as the audio for “Kasa” and a preview of “Teenager Forever”.

This week’s guests were BLUE ENCOUNT, Miyakawa Airi, and wacci.

BLUE ENCOUNT – Polaris

Miyakawa Airi – Sissy Sky

wacci – Baton