According to a preview article published by Billboard on the 22nd (local time), Stray Kids’ album SKZHOP HIPTAPE ‘HOP’, released on the 13th, sold approximately 187,000 copies in the US in the first week of release. With the sales volume of the album, it ranked first on the ‘Billboard 200’ on the 28th, becoming the sixth number one on that chart. Since debuting at number one on the ‘Billboard 200’ chart, Stray Kids is the first artist to have six consecutive albums reach number one in about 69 years since the chart began in March 1956. In addition, with this record, Stray Kids became the group with the most number one positions on the ‘Billboard 200’ chart in the 2000s, putting them on par with BTS, Linkin Park, and Dave Matthews Band.
They took first place on the chart for the first time with their 2022 mini album ‘Ordinary’. This is the third record for a K-pop artist, following BTS and SuperM, and the second record for a single artist. Afterwards, they ranked first for the fifth time with the mini-album ‘Maxidant’ in the same year, the 3rd full-length album ‘Five Star’ and mini-album ‘Rockstar’ in 2023, and the mini-album ‘Eight’ in 2024.
In December 2024, 6 years after their debut and 2 years after their debut on the ‘Billboard 200’ chart, Stray Kids achieved the feat of ‘entering first place on the chart for 6 consecutive years’ with their new song ‘Hap’. Beyond K-pop, the group’s name was engraved in world music history as the ‘first artist in the world’. In particular, all of these records shine with valuable meaning as they are written as ‘self-produced’ albums produced by the members themselves, led by the group’s producing team 3RACHA.
The album topped the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart on the 13th, 14th, and 16th on the day of release, and ranked first on the iTunes Top Album Chart in 28 overseas regions, including Japan and Brazil, on a cumulative basis until the morning of the 16th. ‘Walkin’ on Water’ ranked first on the iTunes Top Song Chart in 25 overseas regions, including Mexico and Chile, based on cumulative cumulative results at the same time, and the music video ranked first on YouTube’s music video trending worldwide for five days until the morning of the 17th, in the US, UK, Canada, etc. It was ranked among the most popular videos on YouTube in 43 regions around the world.
Additionally, Stray Kids won the Top Global K-Pop Artist category at the ‘2024 Billboard Music Awards’ held on the 12th. In addition, in the Top Album Sales category of the Billboard Year-End chart announced on the 13th, ‘Rockstar’ ranked 4th, the highest among domestic artists, and ‘ATE’ ranked 9th, as well as 1st and 2nd place in World Album, and 1st place in World Album Artist. Ranked 2nd among Top Album Sales Artists.
Stray Kids, who are successfully carrying out their ‘largest world tour’ in 32 regions and 48 times around the world, will begin a large-scale stadium tour in all 20 regions of Latin America, North America, and Europe starting in March 2025.
Economy Queen Reporter Kim Kyeong-eun Photo News 1
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