NHK announced the lineup Thursday for the 67th edition of its annual "Kohaku" year-end music contest, but the country's top boy band SMAP was not on the list.
The five-member group, comprised Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori, announced in August that they will split up on Dec. 31, and many fans had anticipated their appearance in Kohaku on their final day as a band.
With their 2003 single "The Only Flower in the World" selling nearly 3 million copies, SMAP is considered one of the most successful boy bands in Asia.