i would imagine that that happened due to good sales and a repress to meet demand as it was a hit .see below taken from song facts website
In the UK, Smokey Robinson & the Miracles had a tough time finding an audience - "I Second That Emotion" made #27 in 1967, and a re-release of "The Tracks Of My Tears" hit #9 in 1969, but that was all they had for UK chart entries to that point. By 1970, their British distributor was so frustrated that he asked Karen Spreadbury, who was head of a Motown fan club in England, to pick a single from the Make It Happen album. She chose "The Tears of a Clown" - the last song on the album. The song was issued as a single in the UK and shot up the charts, rising to #1 in August, 1970. Motown took note and released the song in America a short time later, and in December it rose to #1 on the Hot 100, giving the group their first chart-topper.