Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (11/7)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 11 July 2011

1. Lady Gaga / Born This Way
2. Beyoncé / 4
3. V.A. / DJ Kaori's Party Mix2
4. Kim Hyun Joong / Break Down
5. Limp Bizkit / Gold Cobra
6. Lady Gaga / The Monster
7. Simple Plan / Get Your Heart On!
8. V.A. / Songs For Japan
9. Lady Gaga / The Fame
10. Pitbull / Planet Pit

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

Lady Gaga again. In this chart week she sold over 54,000 copies, whereas she had sold just about 35,000 copies a week before. You can see a massive increase in sales. Total sales of the album is now expected over 300,000. She also enjoyed other albums of hers re-climbing the chart as you can see.

She stayed in 11 days in Japan in the end of the last month. She was everywhere during her stay. In particular, TV appearance was strong enough to get everybody from kids to elders keep her in mind. This clearly resulted in the sales as I explained above.

You may know "Born This Way" has been seen it underperforming. In its first chart week, impressively one million copies were sold in the states only. It got no.1 title in multiple countries. Yes, it looks brilliant. Nevertheless, this possitive news was soon overshadowed by the following sharp fall in sales and Adele winning back no.1 position in US after just two weeks of "Born This Way" release. Similar thing happened in the UK as you may know. It looks like Gaga wasn't able to respond to expectations by people from the music industry to the media to the masses.

In the meantime, in Japan, the album has never fall down from no.1 spot of the international album chart since its release. Additionally, the 82% drop wasn't interestingly a big news here (I think the Japanese don't like to report something bad and things that they don't want to know). Therefore "Born This Way" looks it's been doing very well here and is "looked" like it's been doing very well worldwide. I think Japan can be one of the countries that sold the album most physically if the trend continues. Every country has a different music market, doesn't it?

How about in your country? If you are from non-US/UK country, I'm strongly interested to know about that...!

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (20/6)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 20 June 201

1. Lady Gaga / Born This Way
2. Il Divo / Love Songs - Inspired By The Film Andalucia
3. Arctic Monkeys / Suck It and See
4. V.A. / Songs For Japan
5. Jennifer Lopez / Love?
6. Avril Lavigne / Goodbye Lullaby
7. Night Ranger / Somewhere In California
8. Jessie J / Who Are You
9. Amaranthe / Amaranthe
10. All Time Low / Dirty Work

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

Lineup of this week's Top 30 is really interesting. There are pop stars such as Briteny Spears to Justin Berber. There are also legends like Journey and Ozzy. There are even indie bands Death Cab For Cutie and Atari Teenage Riot. Genres of music within Top 30 vary really much. That represents what kind of music the Japanese people listen to - it's varied, I mean.

But here is Top 10. Although Lady Gaga is now away from the top position in the US/UK album chart, her new album "Born This Way" still shows a strong sales here in Japan. Let's see what happens next.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (6/13)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 13 June 2011

1. Lady Gaga / Born This Way
2. Arctic Monkeys / Suck It and See
3. V.A. / Songs For Japan
4. Jennifer Lopez / Love?
5. Journey / Eclipse
6. Avril Lavigne / Goodbye Lullaby
7. Ozzy Osbourne / Diary of a Madman (Legacy Edition)
8. FTIsland / Return
9. Lady Gaga / The Monster
10. Ozzy Osbourne / Blizzard of Ozz (Legacy Edition)

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

It's been a while since I posted the last blog entry. I have been deadly busy for the last few months. So busy like bees. Sorry for the people who are interested in the Japanese music and constantly checking this blog to see what's hot record here. I'm back and getting the weekly chart update back on the track.

Above is the latest weekly international album chart. Lady Gaga stays at #1 spot for 2 consecutive weeks, while an English rock hero Arctic Monkeys reached #2 for its first chart week. As far as I heard, "Born This Way" seems to fall down from US and UK #1 spot next week. However, the situation for the American #1 album is totally different here in Japan. Physical sales still dominates the whole recorded music sales. It's hard to think her album's physical sales in Japan suddenly fall down. In fact, the album sold sixfold more than "Suck It and See" for this chart week, whereas in the US she sees 84% sales drop after Amazon MP3 store's massive discount campaign.

In Japan, I guess "Born This Way"will comfortably remain at the top spot for a while. Watch out this space and let's see if my guess is going to become a reality.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (11/4)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 11 April 2011

1. Avril Lavigne / Goodbye Lullaby
2. PiNK / Greatest Hits
3. CNBLUE / First StepFact / Eat Your Words
4. Fact / Eat Your Words
5. Beady Eye / Different Gear, Still Speeding
6. Whitesnake / Forevermore 
7. The Strokes / Angles
8. In Paradisum / Symfonia
9. Lady Gaga / The Monster
10. Rihanna / Loud 

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

Very few new releases for this week's Top 30 international album chart. As mentioned last time, most of the record companies pushed back release dates for new albums due for release in the second half of March due to the massive earthquake. These include new albums of Radiohead, Sum 41 and Britney Spears. All of these big releases all went on sale this week so we will see significant changes in the next week's album chart.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (7/3)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 7 March 2010

1. Beady Eye / Different Gear, Still Speeding
2. PiNK / Greatest Hits
3. V.A. / Grammy Nominees 2011
4. Pink Friday / Nicki Minaj
5. Rihanna / Loud
6. JYJ The Beginning
7. Boom Boom Satellites / Experienced
8. Lady Gaga / The Monster
9. Bruno Mars / Doo-Wops ＆ Hooligans
10. Charice / Charice

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

Liam Gallagher's new band Beady Eye went straight to #1 spot with their debut album "Different Gear, Still Speeding". Ex-Oasis' guy and co. sold more than 28,000 copies for its first chart week in Japan.

Here is a little note. There is a limited-Japan-only edition - a CD+DVD set. Adding a DVD to an original album makes the edition an exception of Retail Price Maintenance system. This means that the retail price of CD+DVD can be understandably cheaper so that more retailers can aggressively order the 2-disc edition. Let's see the retail prices of them on amazon.co.jp:

Beady Eye "Different Gear, Still Speeding"
Limited Japan-only edition: 2,441 yen (bonus DVD containing 5 bonus content)
Regular Japan-only edition: 2,520 yen (2 bonus tracks)

CD+DVD is cheaper than 1CD?! Yes it is!I think more record labels adopt this strategy as few people nowadays buy a record at full price. There is a big debate on this here but I still can't judge it's really good or bad. Hope will see sometime soon...

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (28/2)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 28 February 2010

1. Super Junior / Super Junior Japan Limited Edition - Super Show3-
2. PiNK / Greatest Hits
3. V.A. / Grammy Nominees 2011
4. Rihanna / Loud
5. Lady Antebellum / Need You Now
6. Charice / Charice
7. Bruno Mars / Doo-Wops ＆ Hooligans
8. Lady Gaga / The Monster
9. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
10. Nick Carter / I'm Taking Off

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

Super Junior is a Korean idol group (again!), who I didn't know until I checked this week's album chart. Over 12,000 copies of their lates album were sold for its first chart week. Is this figure great or not? If you were told that they played three sold-out Yokohama Arena shows in this month and will play at a baseball stadium Tokyo Dome in April for 2 days in row, you will feel 12,000 copies sold is actually under expectation.

Modern-look Yokohama Arena can accommodate 17,000 people and the biggest in-door concert venue Tokyo Dome can 55,000 people for a concert. I don't know if both Tokyo Dome shows are already sold out. However, if so, it means more than 160,000 people in total go to see the artist. 160,000 is a far big number compared to 12,000 because it means literally only less than 1/10 of the concert goers buy the album. You have to bear in mind that there are the certain number of fans who go to more than one concert of them in a year. There's however also a number of people who can't go to see the Super Junior play live.

What would that mean?　Fans don't buy their favourite group's recordings, although they go to their shows? Do they illegally download them? I think we'll see what's happening in K-Pop movement in Japan soon.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (21/2)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 21 February 2010

1. PiNK / Greatest Hits
2. Rihanna / Loud
3. V.A. / Grammy Nominees 2011
4. Nick Carter / I'm Taking Off
5. Bruno Mars / Doo-Wops ＆ Hooligans
6. Charice / Charice
7. OST / Burlesque OST
8. Lady Gaga / The Monster
9. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
10. Tokio Hotel / Darkside Of The Sun

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

London's dubstepper James Blake at #19 is quite impressive. His Japan edition is not yet released, which means he reached that position with only imported CDs. In Japan, dubstep hasn't been as popular as it is in the UK. However, is his success by now in Japan a sign that dubstep will finally make a big step forward here in Japan? Will he hit the International music scene here when the Japan edition goes on sale?

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (14/2)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 14 February 2010

1. Nick Carter / I'm Taking Off
2. V.A. / Grammy Nominees 2011
3. Rihanna / Loud
4. Charice / Charice
5. PiNK / Greatest Hits
6. OST / Burlesque OST
7. Bruno Mars / Doo-Wops ＆ Hooligans
8. Mogwai / Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will
9. Taylor Swift /Speak NowKeri Hilson / No Boys Around
10. Tokio Hotel / Darkside Of The Sun

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

Tokio Hotel is this week's pick up artist!! They I thought was not popular in Japan compared to in Germany and Europe. Their first stay in Japan and showcase scheduled in 2007 were even cancelled at the last minute. However, I understand their Japanese label Universal Japan has done a big promotion campaign for their new album "Darkside of the Sun". It I believe led the band to a #10 spot in this album chart.

Although I'm not a fan of them, I've been interested in what the band and Universal Japan have been doing in Japan for promo for two reasons. Firstly, they set up a Japanese fan group on Facebook. I think few international artists have their own Japanese fan group page as the SNS is seen it's not big enough in Japan to run a fan group in Japanese for Japanese fans. However, I guess Universal Japan understands many of their target audience members are on Facebook so that can make use of the website as a place of communicating with them. Now the fan group has 12,229 members. I don't think all of them are Japanese but the figure is still quite impressive.


Another reason why the campaign caught my attention was it was a part of the 150th Aniversary of Germany Japan Diplomatic Friendship. I always like popular music as a tool of cultural exchange. Both parties have substantial merit of running such type of the campaign. An embassy has a chance to draw more people in its nation's culture. In the meantime, an artist from the country and its record label can have more promo opportunities and reach potential fans who they really don't in normal ways of promo. Addicionally they possibly can receive financial support from the embassy. Why not using such opportunities, ambassadors in Japan and you guys from Japanese record labels?

I'm ending this blog entry by introducing this video beneath - Tokio Hotel visiting German Embassy and having a press conference with Germany ambassador:

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (7/2)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 7 February 2010

1. Rihanna / Loud
2. Charice / Charice
3. OST / Burlesque OST
4. Bruno Mars / Doo-Wops ＆ Hooligans
5. PiNK / Greatest Hits
6. V.A. / Grammy Nominees 2011
7. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
8. Hibria / Blind Ride
9. Keri Hilson / No Boys Around
10. Michael Jackson / Michael

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

If you are reading this from the states, you may know about Charice, who jumped up to #2 from #8 from the last week. She was not even on Top 10 just before that. Her pedigree of singing career is just amazing. She was born to a poor family in Philippines. Her mum loves singing and told her how. Charice started joining singing competitions and blew away every time she sung there. After performing for one of the most popular S.Korean TV programme, that invited her to sing for, its video on youtube hit people around the world and brought her to the states. She was then featured by famous American talk shows such as The Ellen DeGeneres Show and The Oprah Winfrey Show. Her specutacular performance again stormed people there and the rest is her history.

I am writing about this moving story behind her success to explain why her first album "Charice", that released in July last year, suddenly went up to #2 in this week's chart. As far as I understand, for the last two chart weeks, she appeared on two big music programmes on national and commercial TV stations: Songs (NHK) and The Best House 123 (CX TV) respectively. After googling, I found both of the TV programmes focused on how she from a poor Philippino family made her American dream reality. I guess it touched the TV audience and brought her album to #2.

I am now thinking how influence TV is, despite the fact the internet is taking over it. It may depend on what type of music you play. If you are a pop singer and target a mainstream market, then TV appearance can be a must to get. If you are in an indie band, then it might not the case.

Finally, here is Charice making people there speachless and opening up the door to success.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (31/1)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 31 January 2010

1. Rihanna / Loud
2. OST / Burlesque OST
3. Bruno Mars / Doo-Wops ＆ Hooligans
4. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
5. Michael Jackson / Michael
6. PiNK / Greatest Hits
7. Lady Gaga / The Monster
8. Charice / Charice
9. V.A. / V.I.P. Hot R&B Hip-hop Trax 7
10. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning

Source: http://www.oricon.co.jp/rank/wa/w/

I've been away for a while. I missed updating international album charts for the last couple of weeks. However, I'm back here and will update Oricon chart every week from now on!

Apart from Rihanna at #1 spot, this week's Top 10 chart doesn't look that different from the last chart of the last year.

Looking at Top 30, Adele's second album "21" was released one week earlier in Japan and only reached #17. If you live in the UK, you would know the album is currently storming the UK chart. Its mid-week sales surpasses sales of the other Top 10 albums' sales combined. Adele is not a small artist in Japan. Her first album sold well here. But I think generally UK pop artists always get less attention than the US artists do. Adele is just one of the UK artists in my opinion. As I always mention, someone who is big in your country is not necessarily big in other countries.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (27/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 27 December 2010

1. Michael Jackson / Michael
2. Mr. Big / What If...
   
3. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
4. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
5. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
6. PiNK / Greatest Hits
7. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
8. Lady Ga Ga / The Remix
9. Lady Ga Ga / The Fame
10. Kesha / Cannibal

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

K-POP idol groups 2PM and U-Kiss, who were both in Top 10 last week, now can be seen nowhere in Top 10 this week. Their names are even not seen in Top 30 now. It's so interesting. I reckon many Japanese people seem to think K-POP are so popular and Korean pop stars have a huge fan base here in Japan. I think they do actually. However, I am now wondering if K-POP really can be said it reaches the mass. Of course some K-POP artists such as TVXQ (東方神起) and Girls' Generation (少女時代) are so hot and selling more CDs than many of the J-POP artists this year. Nevertheless, I now guess other smaller K-POP artists are only popular amongst many of the K-POP fans. Let's think in this way: if they really succeeded in drawing the mass to their music, 2PM and U-Kiss, for example, should have been remained at least in Top 30 this week. Their large decline in the chart shows they actually don't.

I hope this hypothesis will be proved with more examples soon.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (20/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 20 December 2010

1. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
2. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
3. 2PM / 01:59PM Japan Special Edition
4. Kesha / Cannibal
5. U-Kiss / First Kiss
6. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
7. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
8. V.A. / What's Up Greatest Hits 
9. Lady Ga Ga / The Fame
10. Rihanna / Loud

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

2PM and U-Kiss are both a K-POP (Korean Pop) idol group and others are the artists who you know. Yesterday was the day that some great and interesting things were announced. I will address them later on - stay tuned!

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (13/12)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 13 December 2010

1. Black Eyed Peas / The Beginning
2. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
3. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
4. My Chemical Romance / Danger Days
5. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
6. Rihanna / Loud
7. Lady Ga Ga / The Monster
8. Nelly / 5.0
9. V.A. / What's Up Greatest Hits
10. Norah Jones / Featuring

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

Kanye West "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy", which was crowned Pitchfork's "Best New Music" with an amazing 10.0 review, reached only #14 in this chart. US Rap/Hip-hop is one of the most popular genre here but Kanye is not that popular compared to his popularity in the rest of the key music markets. On the other hand, Black Eyed Peas has well done really. They even successfully managed to get in Top 10 all Japan album chart, which covers both domestic and international releases. For your information, they headlined one of two biggest festivals Summer Sonic few years ago and I think their popularity remains high regarding this week's chart.

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 (29/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 29 November 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
3. Norah Jones / Featuring
4. Rihanna / Loud
5. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
6. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
7. Mariah Carey / Merry Christmas ll You
8. Paul McCartney & Wings / Band on the Run
9. Nelly / 5.0
10. Suzan Boyle / The Gift

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

Sorry for the delay in updating the chart. I came back in Japan last weekend and have been busy since then.

This is the album chart announced last week. I'll soon update the latest one.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (22/11)

I'm writing this in LONDON! I arrived here tonight and then immediately went down to a venue in Kilburn to see Smith Westerns play. They were awesome low-fi kids. Besides that, I'll also see We Are Scientists, Wichita night (Les Savy Fav, Sky Larkin and Cloud Nothings) and Local Natives (and their opening act Cloud Control!). I can't wait for all of them! I will round up some stuff in relation to this trip when I'm back in Japan but here is the latest International Album Chart.

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 22 November 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. Taylor Swift /Speak Now
3. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
4. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
5. Norah Jones / Featuring
6. Suzan Boyle / The Gift
7. JYJ / The BeginningV.A. / Siam Shade Tribute
8. Girls' Generation（少女時代） / Hoot
9. The Beatles / The Beatles 1967-1970
10. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1966

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

Oh, Girl's Generation is a very popular K-POP idol group by the way.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (15/11)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 15 November 2010

1. Bon Jovi / Bon Jovi Greatest Hits
2. Jamiroquai / Rock Dust Light Star
3. Ne-Yo / Libra Scale
4. Norah Jones / Featuring
5. JYJ / The BeginningV.A. / Siam Shade Tribute
6. Girls' Generation（少女時代） / Hoot
7. The Beatles / The Beatles 1967-1970
8. The Beatles / The Beatles 1962-1966
9. Paul Mccartney & Wings / Band on the Run (Super Deluxe Edition)
10. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI

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

Ok, now everybody is talking about The Beatles finally arriving on iTunes Music Store. I have nothing to say for this week's chart. So please let me get in The Beatles x iTS conversation! The next week's chart will come up very soon. I'll update it before flying to Heathrow!

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (25/10)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 25 October 2010

   1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
   2. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
   3. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
   4. Eric Clapton / Clapton
   5. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
   6. Santana / Guitar Heaven -Greatest Rock Classics-
   7. Olivia Newton-John / Olivia Newton-John: 40th Anniversary Collection
   8. Bruno Mars / Doo Wops & Hooligans
   9. Super Junior / Bonamana
  10. John Lennon / The Hits - Power To The People

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

Linkin Park have sold amazingly more than 10k copies of "A Thousand Suns" by now. One of my co-worker said to me that maybe their Japanese record label (Warner Music Japan) might not be happy with the outcome as their target might be higher than 10k considering the grade of the band's success around the world including Japan. It's still great to me though.

Looking at the entries out of top 10, Belle & Sebastian's new album "Write About Love", that was at #15 for its first week, is now at #13. Antony & The Johnsons' "Swanlights" follows it at #16. I didn't expect that the album would reach that high spot in the chart considering their popularity and recent tendencies of the chart. However, they made it, which was great.

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (18/10)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 18 October 2010

   1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
   2. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
   3. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
   4. Eric Clapton / Clapton
   5. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
   6. John Lennon / John Lennon Box
   7. Santana / Guitar Heaven -Greatest Rock Classics-
   8. John Lennon / The Hits - Power To The People
   9. Underworld / BarkingKaty
  10. Ash / A-Z Vol.2

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

Just a quick update of the latest chart here. You might be surprised that the Northern Irish veteran Ash is one of the most popular indie rock band in Japan. They constantly come and play in Japan, which might be a key to their success in the Japanese international music scene. Or they can come to Japan that constantly as they're popular enough to do so!!

Oricon - Weekly International Album Chart (11/10)

Weekly International Album Chart (Japan) - 11 October 2010

   1. Linkin Park / A Thousand Suns
   2. VA/ DJ KAORI'S INMIX VI
   3. Maroon 5 / Hands All Over
   4. Eric Clapton / Clapton
   5. Santana / Guitar Heaven -Greatest Rock Classics-
   6. David Foster / David Foster Presents Love Again
   7. John Legend & The Roots / Wake Up!
   8. Underworld / Barking
   9. Katy Perry / Teenage Dream
  10. Bad Religion / The Dissent of Man

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

Only one new entry for this week's International album chart (Bad Religion is the one). However, if you check out other albums in the Top 30, you'll see (if you can read Japanese) more new entries - "Invented" by Jimmy Eat World at #16 and Metallica's three reissues at #22, #25 and #29. Metallica's reissues are all SHM-CDs (=Super High Material CDs) in cardboard sleeves. This format features enhanced audio quality. SHM-CDs are compatible with standard audio players but are only adopted and distributed in Japan. These reissues' release coincided with the band's Japan tour that took place a couple of weeks ago. It is said in Japan that metal music fans would buy anything their favourite bands release. They buy anything from "cardboard sleeve" to "Blu-spec" to "deluxe edition". Regarding that, it can be said that the band's Japanese label Universal International releases these reissues at the best time. Nothing new happened with there reissues. It's just a typical strategy.