NEWS (acronym for "North East West South")[1] is a Japanese boy band consisting of Keiichiro Koyama, Takahisa Masuda and Shigeaki Kato.
[8] Their next two singles, "Akaku Moyuru Taiyō" (紅く燃ゆる太陽, Burning Red Sun) (2004) and Cherish (チェリッシュ, Cherisshu) (2005), both debuted atop the charts, as did NEWS' first album, Touch, which sold 164,016 copies in its first week.
[12][13] Despite having lost a member, NEWS released their fourth single, "Teppen" (てっぺん, Top), which like its predecessors debuted at number one.
[13][16] On December 30, 2006, it was announced that NEWS would make their return at Johnny's Concert Countdown 2006-2007 as a six-member group, since Hiroki Uchi and Hironori Kusano had been demoted to trainees.
[7][13][17] To mark their return, NEWS embarked on a tour and released their sixth single "Hoshi wo Mezashite" (星をめざして, Aim For the Stars).
[18] "Hoshi wo Mezashite" became their sixth number-one single, which went on to be used as the theme song for the Japanese version of Happy Feet.
Because tickets were in such high demand, two more dates were added to the concert, which resulted in NEWS performing at the Tokyo Dome for the first time.
[4] In February 2008 NEWS released their eighth number-one single, "Taiyō no Namida" (太陽のナミダ, Tears of the Sun), which was used as the theme song for the movie Kurosagi, starring Tomohisa Yamashita.
[22] The release of "Happy Birthday" made NEWS the second group, after the KinKi Kids, to have ten consecutive number-one singles since their debut.
NEWS continued as a four-member group with Keiichiro Koyama, Takahisa Masuda, Shigeaki Kato and Yuya Tegoshi.
[5][26] On April 15, 2012, a countdown appeared on the Johnny's Entertainment website, revealing the four current member's outlines, suggesting a comeback.
Fans voted for their "Top Four Favorite NEWS songs" on Johnny's Entertainment site starting April 18 at 12 noon, JST.
The group's logo, a purple square, a pink heart, a yellow triangle, and a green circle, was commonly used in this time period.
[27] On September 6, 2024, the group posted on a special site, information about the worldwide release of their 500 songs on streaming sites, starting with 150 songs from 32 singles on September 15, with that day also having a special live stream celebrating the group's 21st anniversary in both YouTube and Line Music.