Every year, the perfomer list for Kohaku Uta Gassen is highly anticipated. Of particular interest are the acts that will make their first appearance on the show. So who is expected to debut on this year’s Kohaku, the 70th edition and the first of the Reiwa era?

In the last few years, there has been an increase in the number of rock acts debuting on Kohaku. That trend is expected to continue this year as well.

One of the most anticipated debuts is that of Spitz. The band’s song “Yasashii Ano Ko” was the theme song for the NHK asadora “Natsuzora” earlier this year. The song was Spitz’s first asadora theme and has in effect become a new representative song for the band. The beautiful, gentle melody and lyrics of “Yasashii Ano Ko” has allowed it to cross gender and age boundaries. The fact that it was the theme song for NHK’s 100th asadora also brought a new level of attention to the song.

This week’s guests were WANIMA and UNISON SQUARE GARDEN.

WANIMA – GONG / Rindou

UNISON SQUARE GARDEN – Phantom Joke

This week, Official HIGE DANdism topped the Hot 100 single chart with their single “Pretender”, with 8,623 points.

Tohoshinki topped the Hot Albums chart with their new album “XV.”

Official HIGE DANdism also topped the Streaming Songs chart for the 22nd consecutive week with “Pretender.”

Yonezu Kenshi retook the top spot on the Download Songs chart with his single “Uma to Shika”, topping the chart for the ninth non-consecutive week.

Hoshino Gen topped the Download Albums chart with his new digital EP “Same Thing.”

This week’s guests were WANIMA, Sexy Zone, and Mukai Taichi.

WANIMA – Rindou

Sexy Zone – Kirin no Ko

Mukai Taichi – ICBU

This week’s guests were OKAMOTO’S, Sexy Zone, Yoshida Rinne, and SASUKE.

OKAMOTO’S – Shinsekai

Sexy Zone – Honey Honey

Yoshida Rinne – Party Up

SASUKE – J-POP wa Owaranai

This week, ONE N’ ONLY topped the Combined Single chart with their new single “Category / My Love”, with 40,702 points in its first week.

Tohoshinki topped the Combined Album chart with their new album “XV”, with 158,852 points in its first week.

ONE N’ ONLY also topped the Single chart with “Category / My Love”, selling 40,215 copies in its first week.

Tohoshinki also topped the Album chart with “XV”, selling 155,153 copies in its first week.

Yonezu Kenshi retook the top spot on the Digital Single chart with his single “Uma to Shika”, selling 29,541 copies in its tenth week, topping the chart for the ninth non-consecutive week.

Hoshino Gen topped the Digital Album chart with his new digital EP “Same Thing”, selling 31,095 copies in its first week.

Official HIGE DANdism topped the Streaming chart for the 22nd consecutive week with their song “Pretender”, with 3,844,999 streams in its 25th week.

This week’s guests were MAN WITH A MISSION, Frederic, DADARAY, and Super Break Dawn(SBD).

MAN WITH A MISSION – Dark Crow

Frederic – VISION

DADARAY – singing i love you baby

Super Break Dawn(SBD) – Vroom Vroom

On October 25, JP THE WAVY will release a new digital single, “CHOTANOSHI.” The song is a collaboration with South African rapper Nasty C. The accompanying music video features both rappers in various costumes along with the rest of the video’s cast, making for good timing with Halloween approaching. Check it out below!