NHK names 41 acts for New Year’s Eve Kohaku show, with ILLIT the only K-pop group

NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster, announced in Tokyo on Friday, 13 November, the performers for the 77th Kohaku Uta Gassen, its New Year’s Eve music show. The line-up has 41 acts, 20 on the red team and 21 on the white team. Seven of them will appear on the show for the first time.

Kohaku Uta Gassen, or the Red and White Song Battle, is one of Japan’s most-watched television programmes and is broadcast by NHK every year on 31 December. Performers are split into two teams, and viewers and judges pick the winner at the end of the night.

ILLIT for a third time

ILLIT, a South Korean girl group formed in 2024 by BELIFT LAB, a subsidiary of HYBE, will perform for the red team for a third year running. The group was first invited in 2024, before its official debut album in Japan. ILLIT is the only K-pop act on this year’s list, BELIFT LAB confirmed on 13 November.

&TEAM, HYBE’s Japanese boy band, returns for a second time on the white team. Other well-known names include rock band L’Arc-en-Ciel and pop group Mrs. GREEN APPLE, while singer Sayuri Ishikawa will make her 49th appearance.

Seven newcomers

Making their Kohaku debut are girl groups =LOVE and CUTIE STREET, singer Ayumu Imazu, boy bands Ae! group and EBiDAN, rock band Macaroni Empitsu and the group Monaki. The Japan Times said the newcomers reflect the boom in idol groups in Japan in recent years.

The show will be hosted by actors Masato Sakai, Kazunari Ninomiya and Mana Ashida, with NHK announcer Nahoko Suzuki. It airs live on 31 December from 19:20 to 23:45 Japan time (12:20 to 16:45 Riga time) on NHK’s main channel, its satellite channels and radio.