''Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best'' (

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

: 感謝!!!!! -Thank You for 20 Years New and Best) is the fourth

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Ai. It was released on November 6, 2019, through

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

and

Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

. Released in two physical configurations, disc one contains three new songs and six re-recorded gospel tracks of her previous hit singles while disc two contains material previously not available outside of Asia. The album served as Ai's first international compilation release. ''Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best'' debuted and peaked at number 29 on the Japan ''

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in Nov ...

'' weekly albums chart, charting for nine weeks.

Background and release

To celebrate her twenty-year anniversary in the music industry and the then upcoming

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

, Ai traveled to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to record new material, which later was revealed to be ''

It's All Me, Vol. 1 ''It's All Me, Vol. 1'' (stylized IT'S ALL ME VOL 1) is an extended play by Japanese Americans, Japanese-American singer-songwriter Ai (singer), Ai. It was released on July 8, 2020, through EMI Records and features a departure from the traditional ...

'' (2020) and ''

It's All Me, Vol. 2 ''It's All Me, Vol. 2'' (stylized IT'S ALL ME VOL 2) is an extended play by Japanese-American singer-songwriter Ai. It was released on February 24, 2021, through EMI Records, as a follow-up to ''It's All Me, Vol. 1'' (2020)''.'' Ai primarily colla ...

'' (2021). While recording new material, Ai recorded gospel arrangements of her previously released hit singles. Recording too many songs, the staff of Ai's label, EMI Records, decided to split her recordings into different releases. The album was announced by Universal on September 17, 2019 along with a series of projects by Ai. The album was teased in a video posted by Ai on her social media, including the album cover, title and tracks later that month.

Promotion

To promote the album, Ai embarked on a national tour in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

with a gospel choir from November 2019 to December 2019.

Commercial performance

''Kansha!!!!! - Thank You for 20 Years New and Best'' debuted and peaked at number 29 on the Japan ''

'' weekly albums chart for the week of November 18, 2019. The album continued to stay on the chart for nine weeks. On the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot Albums chart, the album debuted and peaked at number 28.

Track listing

Credits adapted from

Tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

and official album profile. All tracks written by Ai Uemura unless noted.

Charts

References

{{Ai (singer) 2019 compilation albums Compilation albums by Japanese artists Compilation albums by American artists Japanese-language compilation albums Ai (singer) compilation albums Universal Music Group compilation albums EMI Records compilation albums Albums produced by Ai (singer)