Kouhaku Uta Gassen is a Japanese TV tradition which pits the top male singers of Japan against the top female singers. And now, NHK has announced the Red vs. Blue battle’s participants. And for the first time in her career, LiSA finally makes it to the contest!

NHK selected the performers based on their music sales for the year, as well karaoke sales and official NHK polls. The line-up for this year includes:

Red Team (Girls):

  • aiko
  • Ikimono-gakari
  • Sayuri Ichikawa
  • AKB48
  • Midori Oka
  • Keyakizaka46
  • Fuyumi Sakamoto
  • Ringo Shiina
  • Aya Shimazu
  • Superfly 
  • Yoshimi Tendo 
  • TWICE
  • Nogizaka46 
  • Perfume
  • Hinatazaka46
  • Foorin
  • Seiko Matsuda
  • MISIA
  • Kaori Mizumori
  • LiSA
  • Little Glee Monster

White Team (Guys):

  • Arashi
  • Hiroshi Itsuki 
  • Official HiGE DANdism
  • KANJANI∞
  • Kis-My-Ft2 
  • King & Prince
  • King Gnu
  • Hiromi Gou
  • GENERATIONS 
  • Junretsu
  • Masaki Suda
  • DA PUMP
  • Kiyoshi Hikawa
  • Masaharu Fukuyama
  • Hey! Say! JUMP
  • Gen Hoshino
  • Daichi Miura
  • Hiroshi Miyama
  • Keisuke Yamauchi
  • YUZU

For this year’s contest, Haruka Ayase is leading the Red Team, while Arashi member Sho Sakurai is leading the white team. Comedian Teruyoshi Uchimura will be acting as the emcee, while NHK newscaster Mayuko Wakuda will be serving as announcer. This year’s theme is “Let’s Sing Our Dreams,” which the program is using for the four years leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

source: NHK