EXILE's best-of album, "EXILE BEST HITS -LOVE SIDE?SOUL SIDE-" (released December 5th), has sold 382,000 copies in its first week and has topped Oricon's album chart for the week of December 17th.

This is EXILE's 5th consecutive album and 15th total to top the Oricon chart. With this, the group is now tied in 2nd place with Mr.Children for the male artists with the most number of albums to top the chart (1st place is�B'z with 25 albums).

At the same time, EXILE�ATSUSHI's 1st solo single "MELROSE ~Aisanai Yakusoku~" (also released December 5th) has placed 2nd in Oricon's single chart for the same week.

"EXILE BEST HITS~" is a 2-disc set made up of love ballads "LOVE SIDE" and up-tempo numbers "SOUL SIDE". It's a compilation of their hit tracks since their debut in 2001.

Source: Oricon