This week, Kanjani8 topped the Hot 100 single chart with their new single “Koko ni.”

Bodan Shonen Dan topped the Hot Albums chart with their album “LOVE YOURSELF ‘Gyeol’ ‘Answer’.”

DA PUMP topped the Streaming Songs chart for the 12th non-consecutive week with their single “U.S.A.”

Aimer topped the Download Songs chart with her new single “Black Bird.”

Bodan Shonen Dan also topped the Download Albums chart for the second non-consecutive week with “LOVE YOURSELF ‘Gyeol’ ‘Answer’.”

This week’s guests were Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Kurita Hirofumi, NAOTO, Yoshine Kyoko, and Yamazaki Hironari.

Kanjani8 x Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra – CRAZY GONNA CRAZY (TRF cover)

Back in January, NHK WORLD aired “SONGS OF TOKYO”, a two-part musical special meant to showcase today’s Japanese music scene to the world ahead of the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. A second installment of the series has now been announced!

The first part of this installment will be recorded on October 11 at NHK Hall in Tokyo. The performers are Eir Aoi, [ALEXANDROS], GARNiDELiA, Keyakizaka46, SawanoHiroyuki[nZk], Touken Danshi, and more.

The second part of this installment will be recorded the following day, also at NHK Hall. The performers are Uchida Maaya, Golden Bomber, DA PUMP, Nogizaka46, Daichi Miura, and more.

Alternative rock band [ALEXANDROS] recently announced that they will be releasing a brand new studio album on November 21st.  Titled “Sleepless in Brooklyn”, this new record will arrive just over two years after the release of the group’s previous album “EXIST!”.

“Sleepless in Brooklyn” is planned to include the band’s previous singles “SNOW SOUND”, “Ashita, Mata”, “KABUTO”, and “Mosquito Bite”, plus an undisclosed amount of new tracks.  Notable among these are “Arpeggio” and “Your Song”, which will be used as the theme song and insert song, respectively, for the upcoming video game “Project Judge“, which stars popular idol and personality Takuya Kimura.

You’ll find a partial track list for “Sleepless in Brooklyn”, along with a short preview of “Arpeggio” right after the jump.  Look forward to additional information about the album as it is made available.

The 11th CD Shop Awards 2019 has released its nominee list for the first half of 2018! Fifteen albums were picked that were released between January 1 and June 30. The albums were chosen by 602 CD shop staff from across Japan to highlight releases that caught their discerning ears. Another group of albums released from July 1 to December 31 will be chosen early next year. The albums that were nominated for 2018 will then be narrowed down to a list of final nominees before the winner is chosen next spring. Check out the albums nominated for the first half of 2018 below!

This past week independent rock band Soft Touch released their third full-length album “Rebuild”.  Notably, this is the group’s first record in 11 years, and their first new material since reforming in 2016.

“Rebuild” includes 11 new songs from the band, among them the title track and “Circle”, both of which have accompanying music videos which can be found on the band’s Youtube channel.  The album was produced by ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION’s Masafumi Goto, better known as Gotch, and Turntable Films’ Yusuke Inoue.

You’ll find both of the aforementioned music videos, plus the cover and track list for “Rebuild” right after the cut.

The day has finally come. Namie Amuro has officially retired.

The day before her retirement, Namie held her final concert on her home island of Okinawa. Before Namie hit the stage, special guests Ken Hirai, MONGOL800, and BEGIN performed. Each act performed a selection of their own songs, along with a Namie cover. Ken Hirai sang “WANT ME, WANT ME”, MONGOL800 performed “TRY ME ~Watashi wo Shinjite~”, and BEGIN covered “Tempest.”

Namie performed a mixture of solo songs and collaborations during her segment of the show. These collaborations were “Grotesque” with Ken Hirai, “I’m Not Yours” with Jolin Tsai, “UNUSUAL” with Yamashita Tomohisa, and “BLACK DIAMOND” with DOUBLE. Namie closed the show, and her career, with “How do you feel now?” She then thanked the audience and the concert’s special guests. After she left the stage, the audience chanted Namie’s name in hopes that she would return.

At 12 PM JST on September 17, MUSIC STATION ULTRA FES 2018 will air. There will be peformances by the likes of Utada Hikaru, Arashi, Hoshino Gen, Daichi Miura, Keyakizaka46, Mai Kuraki, Perfume, Suiyoubi no Campanella, and more.

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!