I think Johnny’s always have the best debut songs and everyone else needs to take a note with their new artists. A Johnny’s group’s discography might not always be good as a whole, but their debut songs are generally epic – cheesy, exciting, infective, which, when all put together, mean totally awesome.Unlike many other artists, who try to gain momentum with their later releases, JE debut songs always have a strong impact and often stay as one of the group’s most popular songs throughout their career.

Here’s a ranking of the best 10!… or, since I’m only considering the still active groups (aka nothing BS: Before SMAP) the best and worst. (…what, my title isn’t that deceiving.)

10. SMAP – Can’t Stop!! -LOVING-

By putting SMAP in last place, I know I’m coming off as a total SMAP hater (I’m not really, honest) – but even the biggest SMAP fans can’t help but admit the group’s early musical releases aren’t exactly… good. Debut songs are supposed to be embarrassing and overdone in Johnny’s universe, but the song is such terrible bubblegum idol pop that it’s no wonder they didn’t get popular when they first debuted, and no wonder the group doesn’t sing this song EVER.
Can’t Stop!! -LOVING’- Live

9. V6 – Music for the People

Firstly, isn’t it odd when the song comes out around when half the members had barely broken voices, but still sound deeper and huskier than they do ten years later? Hard techno, deep voices – the song is actually really catchy, but sounds much better when they sing it years later without all the seriousness – yeah, V6 sounding really serious while singing a ridiculous song is probably what puts it in this spot. (This is where every song on the list becomes good, and the rankings are, to be honest, pretty arbitrary.)
Music for the People PV || Music for the People live, 2006

8. Tackey & Tsubasa – True Heart

Okay, so technically this was on a debut album – but let’s not be technical, okay? The song should otherwise be a bad song – cheesy lyrics, boring instrumentals, mediocre vocals – but the simple tune wedges into your head in your head, and before you know it, you’re singing along to “I feeeel… I dooo” in all of this debut song’s melodramatic glory.
True Heart PV || True Heart live at Hatachi concert (hilarious!)

7. Hey!Say!JUMP – Ultra Music Power

“Ultra Music Power” is catchy, catchy, catchy. I know, some of you aren’t fans of this group because it’s like watching a group of middle school (primary, if you stare too long at Morimoto or Chinen) boys try to be sexy, but it’s just hard to not sing along. Musically, it’s somewhat standard, and the longevity of this song might be limited by how long Chinen can keep his voice from breaking, but this is just catchy to death.
Ultra Music Power PV || Ultra Music Power live

6. Kanjani8 – Naniwa Iroha Bushi

I wouldn’t say “Naniwa Iroha Bushi” is a song most people listen to often anymore unless they’re big Kanjani8 fans, but there’s no way you could get this out of your head when you first hear it. The mix of semi-rap parts and enka (both good (from Subaru) and bad (from everyone else, sadly)) so unique and unforgettable.
Naniwa Iroha Bushi PV || Naniwa Iroha Bushi rock version live

5. NEWS – NEWS Nippon

The song had fast paced pop portions, ballad portions, and rap portions – it’s like they tried to fit every genre into this song. Actually, each portion is charming and catchy in its own way, but the pop chorus is what sticks with you for days. You’ll never forget their name (I am 100% in support of sneakily placing your group name into the song MULTIPLE times) and never forget the chorus either.
NEWS Nippon PV || NEWS Nippon live 2004 || NEWS Nippon live, 2007

4. KinKi Kids – Garasu no Shounen

Put together two boys with the same last name, have them sing about glass boys (yeah, everyone first snickers at the song title) in a catchy tune against a really dramatic backing track – and you’ve got a hit that no one forgets. Even as KinKi Kids become KinKi Men, this is still one of their title songs that represents the duo – which says something about its awesome staying power.
Garasu no Shounen PV || Garasu no Shounen live, 1997 || Garasu no Shounen live, 2007

3. Real Face – KAT-TUN

It’s not often you debut with a catchy single that sells a million plus copies. That’s “Real Face” for you. No matter how much good singing, rock, tough rapping, beat-boxing, or obscene sound effects KAT-TUN tries to throw in the future, nothing can exceed this song because it has all of the aforementioned and does each aspect to perfection. Not only does the song have terrific composition and production, it’s iconic and established KAT-TUN as Japan’s hip-thrusting, tough-looking slutty idols wth just one song.
Real Face PV || Real Face live

2. TOKIO – Love You Only

“Love You Only” is an amazingly sweet and fun song and, quite honestly, is one of the best songs the group has ever had. TOKIO obviously agrees with me, because they even re-recorded this song in their more modern rock style at their tenth anniversary. Aside from the normal cheese factors of being a Johnny’s song and singing about love as if the entire group were middle schoolers, the song is actually pretty good just as a song. Plus, who can forget the short-shorts Nagase wore that are almost synonymous with this song? Whether it’s because you love Nagase’s legs or is just traumatised by them, the answer would be no one.
Love You Only live, 1994 || Love You Only PV || Love You Only, 2004 ver PV

1. Arashi – A.RA.SHI

It’s one thing to have your fans love your debut song ten years after your debut – it’s another to have everyone still love this song everywhere. “A.RA.SHI” is catchy, employs rap, ballad, and tempo changes, and name drops the group the most out of any debut song on here. You know it’s a good song when it’s still performed on national television even a decade after its debut and, not only does it manage to not sound too dated, people still love it despite your popular image and sound being completely different now. Ten years later, people can still associate the “arashi, arashi for dream” dance motion with the song. Now that’s a debut song done right!
A.RA.SHI PV || A.RA.SHI live, 1999 || A.RA.SHI live, 2008

Because this is the new years countdown I really care about.

Arashi were the hosts again this year, and the Tokyo Dome stage used NEWS’ layout since they had dome concerts at the same time. Different was this this year the broadcast was split – KinKi Kids were broadcast from Osaka Dome, and Tackey and Kazukiyo Nishikiori (of Shounentai) were broadcast from the stage of the upcoming Tackey stage show.

The full setlist of songs performed was this:

Step and Go – Arashi
DON’T U EVER STOP – KAT-TUN
LIPS – KAT-TUN
Taiyou no Namida – NEWS
Summer Time – NEWS
Happy Birthday – NEWS
Wahaha – Kanjani8
Musekinin Hero – Kanjani8
Mayonaka no Shadow Boy – Hey!Say!JUMP
One Love – Arashi
Happy Happy Greeting – KinKi Kids + all
Garasu no Shounen – KinKi Kids + all
Aisareru Yori Aishitai – KinKi Kids
Yakusoku – KinKi Kids
DAYBREAK (Otokogumi) – Uchi Hiroki
Aoi Inazuma (SMAP) – Uchi Hiroki
A.RA.SHI – Arashi
Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi – Arashi
Sakura Sake – Arashi
Love so Sweet – Arashi + all
Happiness – Arashi + all
truth – Arashi
Beautiful days – Arashi
Mezamero! Yasei (Matchy with QUESTION?) – Imai Tsubasa
Made in Japan – V6 + all
LIGHT IN YOUR HEART – V6
Sorafune – TOKIO
Amagasa – TOKIO
Ai Kakumei – Takizawa Hideaki
Daite Senorita – Yamapi + all
Sushi Kuine (Shibugakitai) – all
LOVE YOU ONLY (TOKIO) – all
Kamen Budoukai (Shounentai) – Tackey + Kazukiyo Nishikiori
Real Face (KAT-TUN) – all
weeeek (NEWS) – all
Sukiyanen Osaka (Kanjani8) – all
Seishun Amigo – Shuji to Akira + all
Ai Nanda (V6) – all
Midnight Shuffle (Masahiko Kondo) – all
Hatsuta – all

All indicates one of those huge everyone-join-in singfests.

I always love Countdown – seeing all the Johnny’s groups together being total dorks is something that only happens at Countdown now. Also, it’s just pure energy – they’re mostly lipsyncing but you can hear some real vocals too, there’s so many people the sound people always mess up and mute or amplify the wrong mikes so sometimes you hear some really offtune parts, everyone is jumping around and hugging or mauling their friends from other groups – just pure fun.

Overall, this year was pretty good – which doesn’t really say much because I always think it’s pretty good. I don’t like having everyone be split up though – no Tackey + everyone else love! – so I’m hoping everyone reconvenes at Tokyo Dome next year. I think the show is lacking a bit in more intergroup songs, but it’s understandable since Arashi sang a lot by themselves for their anniversary.

So definitely notable this year was the Arashi 10-year anniversary. It’s pretty awesome to be in the business for 10 years and have that year be the biggest year in your entire career. Arashi is arguably the hottest thing in Japan right now, and it’s great to see them get the loudest screams (fangirls went crazy when truth came on). Arashi also did a good job hosting this year – not as loud and nervous as last year.

I am sad at the lack of camera time for my favorites though – throughout the whole show I only saw fleeting glimpses of my beloved NEWS members. ):

So props for Tackey for being so cheery even when he’s in an empty auditorium. Also, look at the Dome stage! Hooray to NEWS for being the ones to host the dome over the new years.

Of course, you can’t do countdown without some celebration of Koichi’s birthday (January 1st.) While there’s no Nagase mauling Koichi this year, Tsuyoshi gives us a nice photo of young dorky Koichi.

Uchi Hiroki gets stage time without NEWS or Kanjani8 – indication of his career direction, I guess? Also, epic Arashi medley – when you can trump all your young and shiny peers and get the loudest cheers singing your old songs while wearing shiny gold sequined outfits – you’ve made it.

Speaking of epic, Tsubasa contributes with his epically ugly hair.

V6 still are perkier than their younger kouhai. Also, TOKIO still rocks – Subaru and Jin, two of the company’s best singers, sang the intro to “Sorafune” and couldn’t hold a candle to Nagase.

Tackey shows us how epically dramatic “Ai Kakumei” is. As if the emo spoken word at the beginning wasn’t enough, he also throws in jets of water and flying and a thousand gaudy fluffy juniors.

Yamapi and Jin slap each others’ butts during “Daite Senorita.” This is true friendship.

In order to get over child labor laws that don’t let the underaged members of Hey!Say!JUMP perform after midnight or something, they just show them on camera. As audience. Don’t worry, it’s only another five years before all the jailbait can appear on stage! …it’s going to be sad when everyone gets old and only one or two of them still get stuck offstage.

It is confirmed that everyone sucks at dancing “Seishun Amigo.” Okada and Nagase are terrible, Nino is pretty bad, and Ryo still sucks even though he did this at last year’s Countdown too. Even Yamapi and Kame are pretty lackluster at it, but Yamapi is forgiven because he looks really good. Hah. Also, in an odd decision, everyone sings “Midnight Shuffle,” not a happy or danceable song, while all squeezed on a rotating idol cake stand.

2009 is the year of the ox. Four people fit into this cycle – Yamapi, Koki and Taguchi from KAT-TUN, and Ohkura from Kanjani8. Cow = “ushi,” four = “shi”, so management decides to name them the “Ushishi4.” The next day, Yamapi complained during the NEWS concert about how stupid this name is, and I agree.

Matsujun is manhandled by TOKIO. Just goes to show you can be the most popular member in the most popular group and Nagase will still grope you mercilessly on national television.

And just some more caps filled with good looking boys to round out this recap.

So the Oricon half year charts are finally out. Out of the top 100 singles, the Johnny’s releases are:

2. KAT-TUN – DON’T U EVER STOP – 433,168
3. KAT-TUN – LIPS – 421,902
5. Arashi – Step and Go – 374,449
7. NEWS – Taiyou no Namida – 291,447
10. NEWS – SUMMER TIME – 251,056
11. Kanjani8 – Wahaha – 228,563
13. Hey! Say! JUMP – Dreams come true – 220,072
16. SMAP – Dangan Fighter – 173,586
18. SMAP – Sonomama / White Message – 158,837
20. V6 – way of life – 143,599
22. Maizu Tsukasa (Domoto Koichi) – No more – 127,905
32. 244 ENDLI-x – Kurikaesu Haru – 94,044
33. V6 – Chou – 89,871
49. Tackey & Tsubasa – Koi Uta/PROGRESS – 68,973
54. MATCHY with QUESTION? – Mezamero Yasei – 59,035
59. KAT-TUN – Keep the Faith -55,580
66. 20th Century (V6) – Ore ja Nakya, Kimi ja Nakya – 50,011
67. Hey!Say! JUMP – Ultra Music Power – 49,732
82. NEWS – weeeek – 42,405

19 entries on the top 100; 20% of the charts, and 44% of the top 25. Very nice. I think everything released this year is on the list, not surprisingly. More un-surprises? KAT-TUN is still the best selling JE group, Arashi is doing very well, as is NEWS, Kanjani8 is a little behind, SMAP is still loved, Japanese love little children aka Hey!Say!JUMP, Koichi sells more than Tsuyoshi despite having more mediocre music, and a bunch of Tackey and Tsubasa’s fans have jumped ship. You know, same old same old. A lot of last year’s releases have done extremely well.

As for the top ten though, it looks like KAT-TUN and Arashi will be the only ones on it for sure; NEWS’ “Taiyou no Namida” might make the cut. Their “Summer Time” will, inevitably, get pushed off the top ten by GReeeeN’s “Kiseki” though. As for the top spot, if JE wants a top yearly hit it’d have to put out something really good, because I don’t see “DON’T U EVER STOP” getting enough sales to beat out “Soba ni Iru ne.”

Overall, JE sales still aren’t as great as they were two years ago – remember the great year of Seishun Amigo, Real Face, and Daite Senorita being a power trio at the top of the charts? But JE still has the Japanese fangirls (and the fangirls’ money) wrapped around its well manicured in a manly way finger. And I am glad to have contributed to their pot of gold v.

Domoto Tsuyoshi is half of the prolific Johnny’s duo KinKi Kids. On his own, he has released music under both his real name and ENDLICHERI☆ENDLICHERI. In his newest solo project, releasing the single Kurikaesu Haru and album I AND Ai last week on April 2, he now uses the name 244-ENDLI-x (a play on words – it’s supposed to sound like Tsuyoshi Endlich, a mix of his real and stage names).

Kurikaesu Haru is the single and it is gorgeous – the smooth vocals blend seamlessly into the catchy electronic track. It manages to sound almost raw, even though it’s electronic. Check out the PV – the song is set to a beautifully animated story.

While the album is also “techno and funk” influenced, the PV released from the album, “Help Me Help Me” starts as a simple acoustic, sorrowful ballad that starts to become more complex and abstract. I’m still working through it, but as a whole, “I AND Ai” does have the techno and funk flavored tracks that it promises.

Tsuyoshi’s blatantly un-Johnny releases have always been creative and mostly enjoyable. He has a great voice and creative vision – on his solo projects, he has displayed a range of sounds from raw rock on his “ROSSO E AZZURO” album to retro funk during his ENDLICHERI☆ENDLICHERI time.

I am especially taken by the sound he has right now. His voice has great tone and range, but also has a wavery, stringy quality – questionably good, definitely unique. Some people like it, some don’t. I think it’s fine on its own, but it works surprisingly well in his new dreamy, more transient sound.

Some of you are going to automatically shy away from giving this a try because “it’s a Johnny’s release!” – don’t, because you would miss out on a creative and refreshing take on mainstream J-pop.