Stray Kids achieve 9 consecutive No. 1s on the Billboard 200... K-pop record holder tied for 2nd place with The Beatles

Stray Kids set the record for the most number-one albums by a K-pop artist by achieving their ninth consecutive No. 1 on the US Billboard main album chart, the Billboard 200. This record was achieved with Stray Kids’ mini-album ″THIS & THAT,″ released on August 7. Billboard announced in a chart preview article on the 16th (local time) that the album reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart dated the 22nd. With this, Stray Kids has topped the chart with nine consecutive albums starting from 2022’s ″ODDINARY.″ ″THIS & THAT″ recorded a total of 369,000 units, combining 357,000 album sales, 11,000 streaming equivalent albums (SEA), and 1,000 track equivalent albums (TEA). This figure represents a 25% increase compared to the previous release and is Stray Kids’ highest first-week sales in the US. According to the domestic album chart site Hanteo Chart, the initial sales volume was counted at 3,289,269 copies. With this, Stray Kids tied with Taylor Swift for the most number-one albums among artists in the 2020s. Among groups historically, they ranked joint second with the Rolling Stones (9 times), following the Beatles (19 times). They also set a record as the artist to achieve nine number-one albums in the shortest period since the Beatles. The ″THIS & THAT″ album contains a total of eight tracks, including the title track of the same name. The group’s in-house producing team, 3RACHA, participated in the production of all songs. The album is said to embody an attitude and confidence of doing what they want without being confined by conventions. Member Seungmin recently said at a press conference about the ninth consecutive No. 1 on the Billboard 200, ″Every time we prepare an album, we always approach it with the mindset of doing our best rather than focusing on the results.″ The Billboard 200 ranks albums based on album units, which combine physical album sales, streaming equivalent albums (SEA), and digital track equivalent albums (TEA). This year’s highest weekly sales record was held by BTS’s ″ARIRANG″ with 532,000 copies.