SMAP's last song together: the final "SMAP×SMAP," December 26, 2016

About the artist

SMAP were Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Shingo Katori^[1]. The group was formed in 1988, and its name is said to come from the initials of "Sports Music Assemble People"^[1][2]. On September 9, 1991, they debuted with the 8 cm CD single "Can't Stop!! -LOVING-". There were six of them then, including Katsuyuki Mori; the eldest, Nakai, was 19 and the youngest, Katori, 14. After the first five years they carried on as five^[3]. ORICON NEWS notes that they debuted in what it calls the "winter" of music shows on TV^[4].

Their own variety show, SMAP×SMAP, began on April 15, 1996, and reached its highest rating, 34.2 percent in the Kanto region, on January 14, 2002^[5]. "Yozora no Mukō" ("Beyond the night sky," 1998) was their first million-seller^[6], and "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" ("The only flower in the world"), released on March 5, 2003, sold 2.43 million copies that year alone, according to Billboard Japan^[7].

Why this counts as the last

SMAP never played a farewell show. Their last concert tour, Mr.S -SAIKOU DE SAIKOU NO CONCERT TOUR-, opened at Tokyo Dome on September 4, 2014: 22 dates at Japan's five big domes, expected to draw more than a million people in all^[8]. The opening night ran about three and a half hours, with more than 40 songs^[9]. The tour ended at Nagoya Dome on January 12, 2015^[9][10]; we have not found a press report of what they sang that night.

They went on singing on television. On December 31, 2015, on their 23rd appearance on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen, they performed "Triangle" and "Otherside" as a medley^[11]. On March 12, 2016, they appeared on NHK's Shinsai kara 5-nen "Ashita e" Concert, marking five years since the 2011 earthquake and tsunami and broadcast live from Aizu Fugado, a hall in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima^[12]. The five came in from the back of the hall singing "Original Smile," high-fived the audience on their way to the stage, and sang three songs^[13][14]. ORICON NEWS later called it the last time the five appeared together on live television^[15].

On August 14, 2016, their agency, Johnny & Associates, announced that SMAP would disband on December 31^[1]. By the agency's account, the members had told it in January that they wanted to stay and keep the group going, and over more than six months of meetings it had been preparing concerts, among other things. In those talks came the view that, as things stood, the five could not easily work as a group. The agency suggested a temporary break, but several members said they would rather disband than rest^[16]. Kansai TV and Fuji TV, which made SMAP×SMAP, decided to end the show within the year^[5]. On December 23 came word that SMAP had withdrawn from that year's Kohaku, and the year drew to a close with no farewell concert^[15].

What is known about the day

The final SMAP×SMAP aired on Monday, December 26, 2016, from 6:30 to 11:18 p.m., 4 hours and 48 minutes in all^[17]. It was mostly a look back through past footage, and at the very end the five sang one of their own songs together for the first time in nine months^[18].

A little after 11 p.m., in black suits, with brightly colored flowers behind them, they began "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana." It ran 4 minutes 41 seconds^[19]. There was no chorus from Noriyuki Makihara in the refrains, only the five voices^[18]. Nakai added an improvised gesture, folding his fingers down one by one and opening them again^[19][18]. When the song ended, a white curtain fell, and for the 1 minute 28 seconds before it rose again, the five kept their heads bowed^[19]. Then the studio filled with applause, and Kimura could be seen silently mouthing a reply to the staff's thanks^[20].

None of this was live. The song and the closing scene had been recorded in Tokyo on December 1, 25 days before the broadcast^[20]; this page is dated by the broadcast, not the recording. According to Video Research, the third part of the episode, from 10 p.m., drew a 23.1 percent rating in the Kanto region, and the peak, 27.4 percent, came at 11:07 p.m., during "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana"^[17].

What they left behind

Before the split, a 13-year-old single sold again. According to Daily Sports, "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" reached No. 3 on Oricon's daily chart dated the day the breakup was announced^[21]. In December its Oricon total reached 3.008 million, third on Oricon's all-time singles list^[22]; the two above it both date from the vinyl era^[21]. ORICON NEWS put the more than 400,000 copies sold since January, with no new edition or bonus, down to a buying campaign that arose spontaneously among fans^[4].

On December 21 came SMAP 25 YEARS, a three-CD best-of whose 50 songs were chosen from more than 400 by about two million fan votes^[23]. On December 28 a video collection, Clip! Smap! Complete Singles, followed, with 63 songs, 43 of them music videos^[24][25]. In Oricon's half-year rankings, covering charts dated December 26, 2016, to June 19, 2017, SMAP were the top act in total music and video sales, at 8.67 billion yen, and SMAP 25 YEARS was the top album, with 1.16 million copies^[26].

SMAP disbanded on December 31, 2016^[27]. Inagaki, Kusanagi and Katori left Johnny's on September 8, 2017^[28], and on September 22 the three opened an official fan site called Atarashii Chizu ("New Map")^[29]. Nakai left the agency at the end of March 2020^[30] and announced his retirement from show business on January 23, 2025^[31].

There was no farewell concert; the last image of the five singing together reached the public through the final episode of a TV show that had run for more than 20 years.