In a surprising announcement AKB48’s head honcho Yasushi Akimoto has announced that there will be no Senbatsu Election this year. The announcement was made today on his official blog.

Akimoto never gave a specific reason for why it wouldn’t happen. He simply thanked fans for their continued support, stating that last years election (the 10th one overall) was a new milestone. His message can be seen below.

Last year Haru Nemuri more than made her mark with the release of her very first studio album “Haru to Shura”. Blending together her own flavour of J-pop with noise-pop, rap, and even shoegaze resulted in one of the most ambitious debut in years.

Haru made her debut in 2016 with the mini-album “Sayonara, Youthtopia“, following that with another mini-album and single in 2017.

With the release of “Haru to Shura” Haru quickly courted the attention of overseas media, mostly notably from the YouTube channel theneedledrop. With over 1.7 million subscribers it’s the most popular music review channel on the platform, and Haru’s album received a glowing 8/10 score.

This week’s guests were Ohara Sakurako, Okazaki Taiiku, and Maneki Kecak.

Ohara Sakurako – Chippoke na Ai no Uta (Reprise version)

Okazaki Taiiku – PTA

Maneki Kecak – One Chance

This week, Keyakizaka46 topped the Combined Single chart with their new single “Kuroi Hitsuji”, with 771,135 points in its first week.

SEKAI NO OWARI topped the Combined Album chart with their new album “Lip”, with 81,409 points in its first week.

Keyakizaka46 also topped the Single chart with “Kuroi Hitsuji”, selling 750,382 copies in its first week.

SEKAI NO OWARI also topped the Album chart with “Lip”, selling 77,253 copies in its first week.

back number topped the Digital Single chart for the second consecutive week with their digital single “HAPPY BIRTHDAY”, selling 69,710 copies in its second week.

Matenro topped the Digital Album chart with their new album “The Champion”, selling 9,183 copies in its first week.

Aimyon topped the Streaming chart for the ninth consecutive week with her single “Marigold”, with 2,409,374 streams in the chart’s 12th week.

On March 7, the SPACE SHOWER MUSIC AWARDS 2019 took place. The big prize of the night, ARTIST OF THE YEAR, went to Hoshino Gen. He also won the PEOPLE’S CHOICE award and ALBUM OF THE YEAR for this album “POP VIRUS.” SONG OF THE YEAR went to Yonezu Kenshi’s “Lemon.” RADWIMPS‘ “Catharsist” won VIDEO OF THE YEAR. Nulbarich won BEST BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST. Kenshi won BEST MALE ARTIST, while Utada Hikaru won BEST FEMALE ARTIST. BEST GROUP ARTIST went to [ALEXANDROS]. Ariana Grande was named BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST. See who else won below!

Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw STU48 defeat Yonezu Kenshi and Aimyon. Aimyon and Kenshi are back is back this week, facing off against a newcomer. Find out what Ronald thought of the songs that topped the singles charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!

LDH group Sandaime J Soul Brothers has returned to the scene with a brand new single called “Yes we are“

This is the groups first single release since 2017’s “J.S.B Happiness”. In 2018 the group did release a new studio album and went on tour, but there was mainly a focus on individual solo activities between all the members.

Co-ed avex trax group lol is back with a brand new single. “Sayonara no Kisetsu/ lollilLolli” is their 9th single overall, and the groups very first new material for 2019.

lol shows off their “cool” side in both the song and MV for “lolli-lolli”. The primary setting of the MV takes place at a house party. Where the members can been dancing and enjoying themselves. “lolli-lolli” is an upbeat rap-dance song, where both the male and female members get to show off their rapping skills.

Check out the full MV below!