We are now heading towards the midpoint of 2018, meaning that mid-year charts are here! Billboard Japan has now released their version! This chart covers the period from 11/27/17 to 5/27/18.

Yonezu Kenshi is the Top Artist of 2018 so far. His song “Lemon” also topped the Hot 100 single chart.

Namie Amuro’s finale best album “Finally” topped the Hot Albums chart.

DAOKO x Yonezu Kenshi’s “Uchiage Hanabi” topped the Streaming Songs chart.

Kenshi’s “Lemon” also topped the Download Songs chart.

The “Greatest Showman” soundtrack topped the Download Albums chart.

Singer Miliyah Kato is gearing up for the release of her tenth studio album “Femme Fatale“.

This album is quite special for Kato, as it will be the final album she will release in her 20s. Two physical versions will be available for purchase, a CD only and limited edition CD+DVD. It will contain 13 tracks including “Shinyaku Dear Lonely Girl” , “ROMANCE”, and “I HATE YOU”.

Popular series Rurouni Kenshin has finally made it’s return. The series originally went on hiatus after it was revealed the creator of the series, Nobuhiro Watsuki, was found to be in possession of child pornography.

The repercussions for his crime were quickly implemented. The latest manga arc of Rurouni Kenshin was immediately put on hiatus, and a high profile television airing of the live-action Rurouni Kenshin films was canceled. It seems like Watsuki was able to use his high profile connections to just get a “slap on the wrist”.

This year singer/songwriter Masashi Sada will be celebrating the 45th anniversary since his debut in the music industry.  As such, he has chosen to mark the occasion by releasing a brand new studio album on July 4th.

Titled “Reborn ~Umaretate no Sada Masashi~”, this will be Sada’s first full-length album since he transferred to Victor Entertainment.  It will feature 11 new songs, including “Kimi no Tonari ni” and “Password Syndrome”, which were co-written with Naoto Inti Raymi, and “Ougon Ritsu”, which was produced and arranged by Rekishi.

Read on below to find the cover and track list for “Reborn”.

Up-and-coming post-rock quintet aint have announced that they will be releasing their first mini-album, titled “Akashi”, on August 22nd.  Well ahead of this date, the group have chosen to upload the music video for the release’s lead track “Moondrop” to their label’s Youtube channel.

The video for “Moondrop” primarily focuses of the band’s performance of the song, juxtaposing these shots with a series of thematically appropriate visuals.  Of note, this track was produced by BIGMAMA’s Masato Kanai, who has been serving as a mentor to the group ever since they signed their contract.

You’ll find this music video, plus the track list for “Akashi” right after the jump.

Back in March, singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Baku Furukawa released his latest full-length album “Seascape”.  Now, as he wraps up the promotion for this release, he has published the music video for the record’s closing track “Love Genzaichi” to his label’s Youtube channel.

Directed by Kazuhito Asai, who is known for his work with both cero and BiSH, the PV chronicles the lives of parents and their children amidst a peaceful cityscape.

You’ll find this music video, the PV for the album’s lead track “Halo”, and the cover and track list for “Seascape” right after the jump.

BALLISTIK BOYZ is a brand new group that has yet to debut under LDH, their formation was announced in May 2018.

Overall the group consists of 7 members. 4 vocalists and 3 MCs, all of them are “performers” which is a title LDH uses in reference to their dancers. Before even debuting it seems the group already has their first “scandal”.

Rumblings that the group was copying South Korean group BTS began to appear on the net and started to spread like wildfire. The story was even reported by the news website Allkpop.

June 6th has been a very exciting and busy day for new releases, and among them is the former C-utie Queen herself Airi Suzuki.

“Do me a favor” has been released today worldwide! Physical copies hit store shelves earlier today in Japan, but the album is available for both digital download and streaming from select retailers.

Ever since her former group C-ute parted ways last year in June, Suzuki revealed that she wanted to continue her career as a singer. The track “DISTANCE” was selected to be her first digital single since officially becoming a solo artist.

Prior to the album release, Suzuki released three MVs for “DISTANCE”, “start again”, and “DMAF”. All of them can be viewed here. In celebration of the albums release another brand new video has been released for the song “To the Light” (Hikari no Hou e)

For this song Suzuki teamed up with the all girl pop-rock band Akai Ko-en. While wearing stylish pink & white outfits Suzuki and the rest of the members all jam out together.

This weekend Suzuki will be holding mini lives for the album at Tokyo Dome City LaQua & Airport Walk Nagoya.