If this year’s NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen is a movie, it would top the boxoffice. If it were an album or single, it would top the charts.

This year’s audience applications broke the 1 million mark and totaled 1,264,923. This year’s hosts are Arashi (second time) and howdoyouspellhername Inoue Mao (first time).

Only 1,234 (what’s with those numbers) applications were picked to be part of the live audience and according to this article, two persons are allowed per request. (Translation here.)

In 2009, when Arashi made its performance debut as part of the white team or shirogumi, requests reached 591,000. In 2010, the first time Arashi hosted, requests totaled 759,000.

This was the first time Arashi performed on the show in 2009:

This was their 2010 performance, singing Furusato, an original composition written for them.

(Videos may be blocked in some countries; they are also private so please no hot links on social media sites and anywhere else.)

Looking forward to this year’s show! 明けましておめでとうございます Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu!

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