In January 2018, Julie Anne started her year with a Sold Out Intimate Concert at Music Museum. #Julie highlighted the different stages of love in the concert. "it's going to be intimate. It will be more mature, especially when it comes to song choices. And as the title suggests, I will show—through music—the different stages of love and tackle relationships and what goes with them," the 23-year-old singer-actress told reporters at a press conference. Right after her #Julie Concert, Julie Anne prepared for another Concert; this time she was joined by Asia's Romantic Balladeer Christian Bautista and Asia's Song Bird Ms. Regine Velasquez-Alcasid. As GMA Network produces First Concert Series, 3 stars 1 heart, they did successful run in Cebu, Dagupan and Dubai before Regine left Gma Network and transfered to ABS-CBN.
In May 2018, as Cosmopolitan Magazine Philippines marked their last print issue, Julie Anne San Jose was featured on the final cover. She is the last cosmo cover girl on their print issue in the month of May as they venture into the digital world.
In July 2018, after months of anticipation, Julie Anne San Jose presented Breakthrough, her first album under Universal Records. Prior to the album's release on 27 July, its first three singles have already garnered multiple achievements. Her originals "Nothing Left" and "Tayong Dalawa" both reached No. 1 on the iTunes Philippines All-Genre Chart only 30 minutes after their release. Along with this, her rendition of the Parokya Ni Edgar classic "Your Song (My One and Only)" has been played over 5 million times on Spotify. Upon its release, the album has already celebrated commercial success in both digital and CD formats. Much like its singles, the album debuted at No. 1 on the iTunes Philippines All-Genre Chart and stayed at the same spot for a whole week – a feat rarely seen for OPM albums. The album also received an impressive amount of pre-orders and sales during the jam-packed Grand Album Launch held 28 July at the Eastwood Mall Open Park, which is a testament to the star's staying power.
In November 2018, Julie Anne had an Opportunity to be part of Gary Valencianos Advocacy Album, Awit at Laro to promote Filipino games and songs through art and music. She is the only Gma Artist that is included in the album; she performed the song Pitik Bulag Composed by Jungee Marcelno.
In May 2018, Julie Anne San Jose starred in a daytime musical serye My Guitar Princess where she plays the main character Celina Raymundo a.k.a. the "Guitar Princess", along two leading stars Gil Cuerva and Kiko Estrada. It also stars Sheryl Cruz, Kier Legaspi, Marc Abaya, Isabella De Leon and many more, and is directed by Nick Olanka. The show features original soundtracks, including the show's theme song Walang Kapalit, created by Roxy Fabian. The featured songs did really well on iTunes Ph Chart and Spotify.
In October 2018, Julie Anne Lead the New Musical Variety Show of GMA Network, Studio 7 along with Christian Bautista and Mark Bautista replacing the Clash on the network's Sunday Grande sa Gabi line-up. Julie Anne is casted and accepted a new challenge to lend her voice not for singing but to do voice acting in The First Filipino Anime series Barangay 143 premiering in GMA Network.