NHK Announces Official Kohaku Performer Lineup

NHK has just announced the performer lineup for this year's Kohaku Uta Gassen. A total of 44 artists have been invited, with an even split of 22 on the Red Team and 22 on the White Team. 5 of them will be making their first appearance on the show, including Kana Nishino and AAA.

Some early news reports proved to be wrong: artists such as BIG BANG, KARA, and Masahiko Kondo did not make the final list.

Artists are listed in Japanese alphabetical order. The performance has not yet been announced.

Red Team:

* aiko
* Angela Aki
* Ikimono Gakari
* Sayuri Ishikawa
* Kana Uemura
* AKB48
* Miyuki Kawanaka
* Kumiko
* Kumi Koda
* Natsuko Godai
* Sachiko Kobayashi
* Fuyumi Sakamoto
* Yoshimi Tendo
* DREAMS COME TRUE
* Mitsuko Nakamura
* Kana Nishino
* Ayumi Hamasaki
* Perfume
* Ayaka Hirahara
* Nana Mizuki
* Kaori Mizumori
* Akiko Wada

White Team:

* Arashi
* Hiroshi Itsuki
* HY
* EXILE
* NYC
* Yuzo Kayama
* Saburo Kitajima
* Hiromi Go
* Kobukuro
* SMAP
* TOKIO
* Hideaki Tokunaga
* AAA
* Kiyoshi Hikawa
* FUNKY MONKEY BABYS
* Masaharu Fukuyama
* flumpool
* Takashi Hosokawa
* Porno Graffiti
* Shinichi Mori
* Yusuke
* L'Arc~en~Ciel

Kohaku Uta Gassen will run from 7:30pm to 11:45pm on December 31.