Stray Kids scores 5th Billboard 200 No. 1; BTS’ Jimin at No. 2

K-pop boy group Stray Kids has claimed its fifth No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard's main albums chart with its latest EP, "Ate." The eight-track album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart for this week with 232,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States, Billboard said in a chart preview Sunday (U.S. time). The latest chart will be released Tuesday. This marks the band's fifth No. 1 on the chart, following "Oddinary" and "Maxident" in 2022 and "5-Star" and "Rock-Star" last year. The 232,000 album units represent the most sold in a single week of 2024 for any K-pop album and the sixth-biggest debut for any album this year, according to Billboard. The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S., measured by equivalent album units, comprising physical album sales and other digital sales records. Of the 232,000 units, 218,000 came from physical album sales, which is the highest among albums of all genres this year, following Taylor Swift's latest "The Tortured Poets Department ," Billboard said. Apart from Stray Kids, BTS is the only K-pop group to have achieved more No. 1s on the Billboard 200 chart, doing so six times. BTS member Jimin's second solo album, "Muse," debuted at No. 2 with 96,000 equivalent album units. Of the sum, physical album sales comprised 74,000. "It marks the first time the top two on the Billboard 200 are K-pop albums," Billboard said. Source: Yonhap News Agency