In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in what’s new in J-pop.

With that in mind, here’s where you come in: I’m one person with one set of musical preferences, so please embed any other new J-pop tracks you’ve enjoyed in the comments so we can get a fuller spectrum each week.

2023-2025 Index

2026 Index: Dec 28 – Jan 3 // Jan 4 – Jan 10 // Jan 11 – Jan 17 // Jan 18 – Jan 24 // Jan 25 – Jan 31 // Feb 1 – Feb 7 // Feb 8 – Feb 14 // Feb 15 – Feb 21 // Feb 22 – Feb 28 // Mar 1 – Mar 7 // Mar 8 – Mar 14 // Mar 15 – Mar 21 // Mar 22 – Mar 28 // Mar 29 – Apr 4 // Apr 5 – Apr 11 // Apr 12 – Apr 18 // Apr 19 – Apr 25

THIS WEEK: April 26 – May 2

Ayumu Imazu – Classic

An enjoyable throwback funk track.

Choshinsei – Hot

This group just continues to chug along, crafting very solid pop music. This song is fun, if a bit generic.

Creepy Nuts – Fright

The performance is very passionate. That’s all I’ve got.

Exile B Happy – Exile B Opapi (Kaze No Fune) (ft. Yoshio Kojima)

Fun but silly.

HATENA – Sanjo

This kind of indie pop/rock always seems to trend in Japan. It does very little for me.

H//PE Princess – Stolen

I wrote about this here. It’s kind of a Korean/Japanese hybrid. It’s okay.

Ji Blue – Keshiki (song of the week!)

I’ll always love a good cheering song.

Mika Nakashima – Look In My Eyes

A nice ballad.

M!LK – IDOLPOWER

A bit frantic. Bring me back my old M!LK, please!

Misia – The Last Dance With You

I like how classic and classy this sounds.

Mrs. Green Apple – Wind And Town

I wrote about this song already but now it has a music video.

MYNAME – Cool

Not nearly as cool as their older stuff.

Orange Range – Dramatic Heibon

Certainly not what I think of when I imagine a Kamen Rider theme.

PERKERS – Pressure Dynamite

The band name is making me giggle for some reason. Song is cute.

PG – Skyrocket

Well… they’ve certainly transitioned to a new sound…

The Rampage – Black Tokyo (song of the week!)

I already wrote about this song, but now it has a music video. I miss Kazuma!

Ryosuke Yamada – Magic Music

Very in line with his group’s occasional swing/big band moments. Not my thing, unfortunately.

SHOW-WA & MATSURI – June Bride

It’s a team-up of the retro acts. This is a nice, melodic bit of yearning.

Tsubaki Factory – Mappira datteba!

A boilerplate Hello Project song.

White Jam – I Miss You

That video thumbnail…
This group is so weird. The song’s not bad, though. The sexy gimmick is such an odd choice, as usual.

Yena – Mirror Mirror

Not as strong as her Korean work, sadly.

2 thoughts on “New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (May 3, 2026)”

H//PE Princess – Stolen / I really like this, but I need it to be in a category, and I’m choosing K-pop.
Misia – The Last Dance With You / Maybe I’m just desperate to add a song, but I agree this sounds appealing. 7.5
SHOW-WA & MATSURI – June Bride / Sounds OK but the unison chorus is too basic.

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The anime ‘Go for it, Nakamura!!’ (for which ‘Sudden Spark’ is the OP) has been using classic 80’s or 90’s J-Pop songs for each of its endings, which has highlighted some great new (old) songs for me. Ep 5 used ‘Fly-Day Chinatown’, which has a great city pop sound to it, and Ep 6 used ‘Sekai Ichiban Atsui Natsu’, which sounded like an angel choir descending from the heavens the way it was used to cap off the episode. Been obsessed with these two songs since!