Girls’ Generation’s latest full Japanese studio album titled “Love & Peace” released on Dec. 11 not only topped the Oricon Daily Album Chart upon its release, but has ranked No. 1 on this week’s Oricon’s Weekly Album Chart, making the group the first Korean girl group to have two albums top the weekly chart.

SNSD had previously topped the Oricon ― Japan’s leading music ranking chart ― Weekly Album Chart two years ago with their eponymous album. “Love & Peace” marks the third Japanese studio album for the popular K-pop group. SNSD had pre-released a number of singles from the album including “Love & Girls,” “Galaxy Supernova” and “My Oh My,” with none of the singles reaching higher than the No. 3 spot on the Oricon Singles Chart. However, the album itself sold 37,486 copies on the first day of its release and in less than a week sold more than 129,000 albums.

In April 2014, SNSD will embark on the group’s third Japan arena concert tour with performances in Hokkaido, Hiroshima, Kobe, Nagoya, Osaka and Tokyo. 

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)