Namie Amuro brings last puzzle piece to music streaming services!

Popular Hesei hip-hop-pop Queen Namie Amuro announced that her all-time best album Finally will be available for streaming on Apple Music starting today, June 16! Amuro, who has retired from the music industry since last year, dropped this shocker of news on her official YouTube channel. Finally, at the time of this reporting, has sold an impressive 2.4 million copies. With the album’s new release, Apple Music will have every single and album release by Amuro to date.

However, Finally isn’t the only thing that is being available for Apple Music. It was also announced that the live sound rip of Amuro’s 25 ANNIVERSARY LIVE in OKINAWA —with a twenty-seven-song track listing— and various live performances from her namie amuro Final Tour 2018 ~Finally~—with a thirty-song track listing— will be dropping the same day.

Check out the trailer for this groundbreaking announcement. If you are interested in owning a physical copy of Finally instead, you can purchase it below!

Standard CD-only edition

Ayumi Hamasaki proves she is reigning Japanese music queen

Avex trax all-star, Japanese pop vocalist and songwriter Ayumi Hamasaki proves she is the reigning Japanese music queen in a recent poll from Yahoo! Japan. The poll held a survey asking its subscribers to vote on the most popular female solo artist of the Heisei era. There were eight artists to choose from, with options being: Ayumi Hamasaki, Namie Amuro, Utada Hikaru, aiko, MISIA, Kana Nishino, AIMYON, Shiina Ringo, and “Other/I Don’t Know”. The voting commenced March 12 until 31. In total there were over 158,000 votes. Ayumi Hamasaki smashed the competition and took number one with a massive 78,751 (49.8%) votes. Namie Amuro came a close second with 64,263 (40.6%) votes. Between Ayumi Hamasaki and Namie Amuro they took over 90% of the votes, showing the massive influence these ladies have in the industry (poll details below). Who is your J-pop queen?

1. Ayumi Hamasaki - 78,751 (49.8%)

2. Namie Amuro - 64, 263 (40.6%)

3. Hikaru Utada - 6,343 (4.0%)

4. Other/I Don’t Know - 2,697 (1.7%)

5. Kana Nishino - 1,968 (1.2%)

6. aiko - 1,821 (1.2%)

7. MISIA - 1,096 (0.7%)

8. Shiina Ringo - 844 (0.5%)

9. AIMYON - 405 (0.3%)

King and Prince wins big at Japan Golden Disc Awards!

The thirty-third Japan Golden Disc Awards ceremony happened this past week and none other than Johnny’s new group King & Prince took home the gold, becoming 2018’s New Artist. 

There were certainly other points of interest from the award show. For the second year in a row, Amuro Namie became Artist of the Year for domestic side—with this being her third time winning the award overall. While not surprising, with their hit movie taking Japan, the band Queen took Artist of the Year for the western side—it has been fourteen years since they have last done so. Korean group BTS also won the award for Best Asian Artist while—also not surprising—Kiyoshi Hikawa won Best Enka Singer of the Year.

Check out a full breakdown of the winners below!

▽Winners of the 33rd Annual Japan Golden Disc Awards
■Artist of the year
【Domestic】Amuro Namie（Second year consecutively, third time overall ）
【Western】Queen（Fourteen years since last won and second overall） 

■Best Asian Artist of the year
【Asia】BTS

■Best Enka or Traditional Artist of the year
Kiyoshi Hikawa

■New Artist of the year
【Domestic 】King ＆ Prince
【Western】Alan Walker
【Asia】SEVENTEEN 

■Album of the year
【Domestic】『Umi no Oh, Yeah!!』（Southern All-Stars）
【Western】『Bohemian Rhapsody: The Original Soundtrack』（Queen）
【Asian】『FACE YOURSELF』（BTS） 

■Single of the Year
「Teacher Teacher」（AKB48）

■Song of the year/ Most popular downloaded
【Domestic】「Lemon」（Kenshi Yonezu）
【Western】「The Middle」（Zedd, Maren Morris, Grey）
【Asia】「Candy Pop」（TWICE） 

■Best Music Video
【Domestic】『namie amuro Final Tour 2018 ～Finally～』（Amuro Namie）
【Domestic】『ARASHI LIVE TOUR 2017-2018 「untitled」』（Arashi）
【Domestic】『Hey! Say! JUMP I/Oth Anniversary Tour 2017-2018』（Hey! Say! JUMP）
【Western】『From From The Vault: No Security - San Jose 1999』（The Rolling Stones）
【Asia】『2017 BTS LIVE TRILOGY EPISODE III THE WINGS TOURIN JAPAN ～SPECIAL EDITION～ at KYOCERA DO』（BTS） 

■Special Award
「U.S.A.」DA PUMP

Oricon Reveals Their 2018 Rankings!

Oricon released their official 2018 ranking with Namie Amuro taking Top Artist Sales, thus winning this ranking two years consecutively—a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a female solo artist since Koda Kumi in 2007. Amuro totaled the year out with close to 19 billion yen in sales, making 2018 the second consecutive year Amuro has sold past 10 billion yen.

As the Hesei Era ends in Japan, so too will Hesei Pop Queen Namie Amuro. Following Amuro is Nogizaka46 with 1.3 billion yen in sales—making them one of the only groups with shorter careers to make the Top 3 in two consecutive years—and AKB48 taking third.

Speaking of AKB48, they also broke an amazing record by “Teacher Teacher” and “Sentimental Train” taking both #1 and #2 for Top Selling Singles. This marks the ninth consecutive year they have achieved this. Following AKB48 is Nogizaka46’s “Synchronicity” tailing in at third, with additional artists such as Keyakizaka46’s “Glass wo Ware” taking eighth and King & Prince’s “Cinderella Girl” rounding out at tenth.

On the album side of accomplishments, Namie’s Finally took number one, albeit selling only 630,000 copies. AKB48’s 僕たちは、あの日の夜明けを知っている (Bokutachi wa, Ano Hi Yoake) trailed close behind with a 20,000 copy differential. With Southern All-Star’s 海のOh,Yeah!! (Umi No Oh, Yeah!!) taking third. Not to be ignored, Korea’s BTS’s FACE YOURSELF and Twice’s BDZ taking seventh and eighth respectively .

We at Ongaku To You would like to thank and congratulate all of the artists for their hard work throughout this year and we are excited for what they have in store for 2019!

Billboard Japan Releases Mid-year Rankings!

Billboard Japan announced today their mid-year ranking. Kenshi Yonezu took the first spot for TOP ARTIST  with both TWICE and BTS taking second and third respectively.

For HOT 100, “Lemon” took first which is understandable with its amount of digital sales. “Glass wo Ware” from Keyakizaka 46 took second and Gen Hoshino’s song “Doraemon” took third.

For HOT ALBUMS Namie Amuro’s Finally took first --once again, very understandable with close to two million copies sold as of this post. AKB48’s Bokutachi wa, ano Hi no Yuake wo Shitteiru took second and Kenshi Yonezui‘s BOOTLEG took third.

We congratulate everyone for all their hard work to secure their place on the list and we can’t wait to hear what is next for these artist!