Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (6/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 6 December 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. My Chemical Romance / Danger Days
3. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
4. Utada / Utada the Best
5. Beast / Beast - Japan Edition
6. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
7. Rihanna / Loud
8. Norah Jones / Featuring
9. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
10. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

Oh my god, this week was the first week for Japanese version of the Kings Of Leon's "Come Around Sundown" and it went to #26. I expected its chart position for the first week could be like #26 but might be higher at the same time. What do you think about the chart position? I was honestly so surprised...

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (1/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 1 November 2010

1. The Beatles / The Beatles 1967-1970
2. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1966
3. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
4. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1970
5. JYJ / The Begining
6. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
7. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
8. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
9. Eric Clapton / Clapton
10. Bruno Mars / Doo Wops & Hooligans

source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/
also check the last week's chart here

The Beatles take over the chart (as widely expected). Nothing exciting in Top 10 but Top 30. Kings Of Leon's long-awaited 5th album "Come Around Sundown" positioned at #17, which is pretty amazing to me. You'd think "What?! It's amazing?! That's the no.1 album in the UK!!". Yes, you're right. But here is the fact: they are far less popular in Japan for some reasons. I have to tell you that they're known amongst the Japanese rock fans that they are big in many countries *except* Japan. I won't name other bands of which this time but there are a lot of that sort of cases. Another point I'd like to make is that I don't think the album has been well promoted here. They appeared on the cover of an indie rock/club music magazine Snoozer, which was nice. Apart from that, however, their Japan label seems less passionate about promoting the album. At least less than about the Hurts' debut album, which got a tie-up with a TV drama and a lot of TV spots. Bearing these things in mind, #17 is still a good position for them as far as I can tell.

*edit (30/10): Japanese version of "Come Around Sundown" is actually set to release on 24 November. It means only sales of imported CDs were reflected to this week's chart. I assume their Japanese label delibrately sets the release date one month behind its original release date. Think this way: the album released one month earlier in the US and the UK and it's easy to assume that it would go straight to the #1 (2 or 3) in the album charts of these two countries. Then the Japanese label would release PR (as they already did: ro69.jp/news/detail/42308), which raises the band's profile and makes bigger buzz in Japan ahead of the Japanese release date. Let me see what will happen when it goes on sale.