Arashi to make their compilation albums available on music streaming sites
J-pop idol group Arashi, who is now on hiatus, has recently announced that they will be making another 129 of their songs — coupling songs, premium disc tracks and bonus tracks — available on music streaming sites from 16 July.
Currently, Arashi only has the A-side of their singles and regular-edition albums on music streaming sites, like Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music.
Arashi said on their Instagram that this was to “commemorate the release of #ARAFES2020 at the National Stadium on Blu-ray & DVD” on 28 July. The idol group had held a livestream of the Arafes concert last year without any audience in the stadium, due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The 129 songs will be arranged into four compilation albums, sorted into four periods: 1999-2007, 2008-2011, 2012-2015, 2016-2020. There will also be a special edition of the 5x20 All The Best! 1999-2019 compilation album, which broke Guinness World Record for biggest-selling album worldwide in 2019.
Making these songs available on music streaming sites would mean that most, if not the entire of their discography can be streamed anytime, anywhere. This is also likely in support of what Jun Matsumoto said during their final concert in 2020, “When times get rough and you are troubled, our music will always be by your side. When you're down, please listen to the songs of Arashi.”
Prior to the digital releases, the Arashi members will also be sharing their personal “Ura Ara Best” — their favourite Arashi song that has not been made available on music streaming sites. Taking the lead is Sakurai Sho, who has shared the song Still. It seems the song has made an impression on him as among all the songs he wrote the rap for, “the RAP in "Still..." was a lot longer at 16 bars”.
Owing to the fact that Arashi is now on hiatus, mainly because their leader Satoshi Ohno wants to take a break, it is more intriguing whether we will see Ohno’s “Ura Ara Best”.
