Stray Sheep

Stray Sheep (stylized in all caps) is the fifth album by Kenshi Yonezu, released on August 5, 2020.[1] The name of the album was inspired by the New Testament.[2] The song "Kanden" has been used as the theme song of the comedy TV series MIU404.[3] The album sold over 879,000 copies in its first week, debuting atop the Oricon Albums Chart.[4] It was the top selling album of 2020 in Japan according to Billboard Japan.[5]

Stray Sheep
Studio album by Kenshi Yonezu
Released	August 5, 2020
Genre	J-pop
Length	59:26
Label	Sony Music
Kenshi Yonezu chronology
Bootleg (2017) Stray Sheep (2020)

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.[6] "Spirits of the Sea (Umi no Yuurei)" was chosen as the theme song of the animated film Children of the Sea.[6] "Paprika" is the representative song for 2020 Summer Olympics.[7] "Uma to Shika" is the theme song of TBS television drama No Side Manager.[8]

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.[9] The studio album has sold one million copies within 10 days.[10] 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.[11][12]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Kenshi Yonezu.

Stray Sheep track listing[13][14]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Campanella" (カムパネルラ)	3:55
2.	"Flamingo"	3:16
3.	"Kanden" (感電)	4:24
4.	"Placebo" (featuring Yojiro Noda)	4:00
5.	"Paprika" (パプリカ)	3:22
6.	"Uma to Shika" (馬と鹿)	4:25
7.	"Yasashī Hito" (優しい人)	3:28
8.	"Lemon"	4:15
9.	"Machigai Sagashi" (まちがいさがし, rearrangement)	4:27
10.	"Himawari" (ひまわり)	4:02
11.	"Stray Sheep" (迷える羊)	3:46
12.	"Décolleté"	3:29
13.	"Teenage Riot"	3:45
14.	"Spirits of the Sea" (海の幽霊)	3:54
15.	"Canary" (カナリヤ)	4:58
Total length:		59:26

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance of Stray Sheep

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[15]	1
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[16]	1

Year-end charts

2020 year-end chart performance of Stray Sheep

Chart (2020)	Position
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[5]	1

References

1. "米津玄師、ニュー・アルバム『STRAY SHEEP』トラックリスト公開。". Tower Records.
2. "米津玄師の新アルバム『STRAY SHEEP』Lemon、パプリカなど新曲9曲を含む全15曲収録". ファッションプレス. Carlin.
3. "米津玄師の新曲"感電"が主題歌の綾野剛＆星野源W主演ドラマ『MIU404』第1話を観た！". Yahoo.co.jp.
4. "オリコン週間 アルバムランキング 2020年08月03日～2020年08月09日". Oricon. Archived from the original on August 14, 2020. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
5. "YOASOBI Tops Billboard Japan's 2020 Year-End Charts With Song Not Released on CD". Billboard. December 3, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
6. Parker, Esme (2020-06-09). "Kenshi Yonezu To Release Fifth Album STRAY SHEEP". OTAQUEST. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
7. "Japanese hit song "Paprika" goes global with English version by new singers and dancers". SoraNews24 -Japan News-. 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
8. G Andrew White (2019-09-12). "Kenshi Yonezu belts out a ballad in "Uma to Shika"". JROCK NEWS. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
9. "米津玄師さん「感電」MV、公開4日と7分で自身最速1000万再生達成". Tokoshima Shinbun. 2020-07-14. Retrieved 2020-07-15.
10. "米津玄師『STRAY SHEEP』ミリオン突破". Billboard Japan.
11. "Kenshi Yonezu's album, Stray Sheep hits #1 in over 54 countries".
12. "KENSHI YONEZU STORM THE CHARTS AND GETS A COLLAB".
13. "米津玄師アルバムに菅田将暉提供曲セルフカバー、アートブック盤には初のフル尺ライブ映像収録（写真18枚）". 音楽ナタリー (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-07-06.
14. Ryusenkai (2020-06-21). "Kenshi Yonezu unveils all of the info. about his upcoming Album "STRAY SHEEP"". Arama! Japan. Retrieved 2020-07-06.
15. "Billboard Japan Hot Albums: 2020/08/17 付け". Billboard Japan (in Japanese). Retrieved August 14, 2020.
16. "Oricon Top 50 Albums: 2020-08-17" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved August 14, 2020.