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|}, is a four-member Japanese boy band consisting of Keiichiro Koyama, Takahisa Masuda, Shigeaki Kato and Yuya Tegoshi. The group's name is an acronym based on the cardinal directions (North, East, West, South) and the members locations. Formed in 2003 by Johnny Kitagawa as a nine member group under the label Johnny's Entertainment, NEWS released a promotional single

|}, which was used for the World Cup of Volleyball Championships. In 2004, Takahiro Moriuchi left the group and the remaining eight members released their debut single,

|}, which debuted atop the Oricon charts.

In 2006, the group released their fifth consecutive number-one single,

|}, as the current six-member group due to the controversy surrounding then-members Hiroki Uchi and Hironori Kusano. After a brief hiatus, they released their seventh number-one single,

|}. In 2008, they released their tenth single, "Happy Birthday," which made NEWS the second Japanese group after label-mates KinKi Kids to have ten consecutive number-one singles since their debut.