![[New Year’s Songs] Timeless classics and popular New Year tunes you’ll want to listen to at the start of the year](https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/aBUHpi7MmLo/maxresdefault.webp)
For New Year’s, you want to listen to songs that fit the season, right?
You might think of traditional pieces like “Haru no Umi,” but isn’t it surprisingly hard to find J-pop that feels perfect for New Year’s?
In fact, while there are tons of Christmas songs, there are relatively few songs for the New Year.
In this article, we’ll introduce lots of tracks you’ll want to play as the year begins, focusing mainly on J-pop!
Be sure to read to the end and soak up the New Year’s spirit!
Of course, we’ve also picked out the classic New Year’s staples!
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[New Year’s Songs] Classic and Popular Tracks to Listen to at New Year (1–10)
the Twelve Zodiac Signs (the Chinese/Japanese zodiac)Jaa Baabonz
Songs that make it fun to learn the zodiac are perfect for New Year’s, aren’t they? The album “Challenger,” released by Jaabourbons in April 2020, includes a lively track that lets you sing, dance, and memorize the order of the twelve zodiac signs.
It runs through each animal in sequence—from the Rat as nezumi to the Ox as ushi—layering their sounds to the rhythm, so with onomatopoeia like “chū-chū,” “mō-mō,” and “gao-gao,” humming along with your kids will naturally fix the zodiac order in your mind.
Looking at New Year’s cards or otoshidama envelopes and asking, “I wonder what next year’s zodiac is?” while singing together as a family sounds like a great way to spend the holiday.
With harmonies from a three-vocal lineup hailing from Okinawa and an arrangement that invites handclaps, it’s a song everyone—young and old—can enjoy.
SHOW-GUTSOmede-tai atama de nani yori
Brimming with humor, this track gives a playful push to those spending New Year’s lazing around at home.
It’s one of the title songs from the double A-side single “SHOW-GUTS / Daruma-san wa Korobanai” released on January 1, 2017.
The lyrics—urging listeners to spend the first three days of the year with more spirit instead of lounging under the kotatsu eating mandarins—make you laugh while giving you a boost of energy.
Featuring witty lines that riff on traditional New Year’s shrine-visit etiquette and an intense loud-rock sound, it was also chosen as the opening theme for TV Kanagawa’s music program “Ongaku-kan” in January 2018.
It’s the perfect song for anyone who wants to kick off the New Year with rock-fueled excitement or wow the crowd at karaoke!
New Year’s DayELLEGARDEN
There are a lot of kids who will tell you that you can’t talk about youth without mentioning ELLEGARDEN.
Their song “New Year’s Day” is included on their third single, “Jitterbug,” released in 2003.
The title screams New Year vibes, but unlike traditional Japanese New Year songs, the lyrics are in English and have a rock edge.
Many people live away from their hometowns and go back for the New Year to meet up with friends, right? This is a perfect track for those folks—a song that brings back memories of youth, just right for the New Year.
Happy Happy GreetingKinKi Kids
New Year’s makes everything feel fresh, and for some reason it fills you with excitement, doesn’t it? The song “Happy Happy Greeting” is KinKi Kids’ fifth single, released in 1998 as a limited edition of one million copies.
It’s a laid-back, mellow number, yet it captures that special New Year thrill and a sense of rising hope.
It’s perfect both as a birthday celebration song and for a party where everyone rings in the New Year together.
A HAPPY NEW YEARMatsutōya Yumi
How about a love song that straightforwardly sings, “I want you to be the first person I see in the new year!”? It’s a track by singer-songwriter Yumi Matsutoya, who has produced numerous classics like “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” included on her 12th album, “Shabon Oai Shimashou” (Shall We Meet Last Night), released in 1981.
It was also used as an insert song in the film “Take Me Out to the Snowland.” Even though it’s a winter song, it conveys a wonderfully warm atmosphere—perhaps thanks to her gentle vocals.
O-SHO-GA-TSUONIGAWARA
A celebratory dance-pop track themed around the New Year by the SUPER J-POP unit ONIGAWARA.
Produced in December 2016 as a B-side, this uniquely playful song—its title written in Roman letters with interpuncts—overflows with the uplifting energy and brightness that bring smiles and ring in the new year.
With a four-on-the-floor beat layered with brass and handclaps, the arrangement radiates pure festival vibes.
It’s the perfect track for welcoming a brand-new year in high spirits—whether during the countdown, on your way home from your first shrine visit, or at a New Year’s party with friends!
Mochi GirlGesu no Kiwami Otome.
When it comes to New Year’s, it’s all about mochi.
It’s delicious and you could eat it year-round, but for some reason a lot of people only have it during New Year’s, don’t they? Shining a spotlight on mochi is this song: Gesu no Kiwami Otome’s “Mochi Girl.” I think many of you felt the same shock I did when I first heard it.
The song is included on the 2013 mini-album “Odorenainara, Gesu ni Natte Shimae yo.” The lyrics and the composition are very strange, and yet it somehow makes you want to eat mochi when you listen—another mysterious aspect of this track.