| XTLIKE | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Lead |
| Cover: | Lead - XTLIKE (CD).jpeg |
| Released: | September 4, 2024 |
| Recorded: | 2023–2024 |
| Genre: | Hip hop, pop, R&B, dance |
| Label: | Pony Canyon |
| Prev Title: | Lead the Best |
| Prev Year: | 2022 |
XTLIKE (pronounced "ekstrike") is the tenth studio album released by the Japanese hip hop group Lead, released on September 4, 2024, four years after their previous studio album, Singularity.[1] The album debuted at No. 9 on the Oricon Albums Charts.
The album included their physical single "See Your Heart", along with their digital singles "Billionaire", "Jack in the Beats" and "Don't Stay".
XTLIKE was released in two editions editions; a CD only version and a CD+DVD edition. A limited CD+Blu-ray+Photo Book edition was released to their fan club, which contained a thirty-six page booklet.
XTLIKE is the tenth studio album released by the Japanese hip-hop group Lead, released two years after their previous album Lead the Best. The album debuted at in the top ten on the Oricon charts, taking the No. 9 position, and peaked at No. 6.[2] [3] The album charted No. 12 at the end of the first week, with first week sales of 6,992.[4]
The album was released in three separate editions: a standard CD housing fourteen musical tracks, a standard CD+DVD edition housing the fourteen musical tracks and music videos for select singles, and a limited CD+Blu-ray+Photo Book edition, which contained a thirty-six page booklet. The songs "Sonic Boom" and "Tuxedo" were placed on the album. Both songs had previously been placed on their compilation album Lead the Best, while the music videos had been omitted.
Prior to the album's release, the group released four singles: See Your Heart, Billionaire, Jack in the Beats and Don't Stay.
"See Your Heart" was released on May 24, 2023 and charted No. 5 on the Oricon Singles Charts.[5] The song was used as the ending theme for the Fuji TV series Nariyuki Kaidou Tabi (なりゆき街道旅 / Nariyuki Highway Journey) in the month of April.[6] [7] On May 14, 2023, Lead performed "See Your Heart" at the Sayonara Nakano Sunplaza Music Festival.[8]
"Billionaire" was Lead's first digital single, released on October 6, 2023. The song was advertised as the "sequel" to their 2004 song "Night Deluxe."[9] The day of its release, the group held a campaign to promote the song, offering prizes to those who streamed the song the most on Line Music.[10] It was also utilized as the opening number to their Lead Upturn 2023 ~Jack in the Beats~.
To coincide with their 2023/2024 tour, Lead released the tie-in song "Jack in the Beats" on February 25, 2024.[11] The song was debuted during their Lead Upturn 2023 ~Jack in the Beats~ lives.
"Don't Stay" was released on June 5, 2024, with a promotional music video released the same day on Lead's official YouTube.[12] It was utilized as the ending theme to the Netflix movie Baki Hanma VS Kengan Ashura.[13] [14]
| Peak position | ||
| Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)[15] | 13 |
|---|
| September 23, 2020 | "Tuxedo" | 5 | 9,585[16] | |
| August 25, 2021 | "Sonic Boom" | 10 | 6,716[17] | |
| May 24, 2023 | "See Your Heart" | 10 | 5,815[18] |