Stray Sheep (stylized in all caps) is the fifth album by Kenshi Yonezu, released on August 5, 2020.[1][2][3] The song "Kanden" has been used as the theme song of the comedy TV series MIU404.[4] The album sold over 879,000 copies in its first week, debuting atop the Oricon Albums Chart.[5] It was the top selling album of 2020 in Japan according to both Billboard Japan[6] and Oricon. The latter calculated that the album had sold 1,970,930 copies in Japan by the end of 2020, summarizing CDs, vinyls, downloads, and streaming equivalents.[7]
The album was released digitally worldwide on August 5, 2020. It was available on physical formats in South Korea and Taiwan on October 16, 2020.[9]
Singles
"Lemon" is the first single of the album and was released on February 27, 2018. It served as the theme song for the TBS television drama Unnatural.[10] "Spirits of the Sea (Umi no Yuurei)" was chosen as the theme song of the animated film Children of the Sea.[10] "Uma to Shika" is the theme song of TBS television drama No Side Manager.[11] "Paprika" is the representative song for 2020 Summer Olympics.[12]
Commercial performance
The song "Kanden" was released on YouTube on July 10, 2020, and reached 10 million views in four days, breaking Yonezu's own record.[13] The studio album has sold one million copies within 10 days.[14] Besides, the album hit number one under the J-Pop category in over 30 countries in iTunes Chart and hit number one in 54 countries under the J-Pop Apple Music Albums Chart. And the topped 20 All Genres category in 22 Countries/Regions, 6 of which hit Number one.[15][16]