Stray Kids ‘Hop’ to Number One and Break a Chart Record

Stray Kids new album Hop tops the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated Dec. 28), making the K-pop group the first act to debut at Number One with their first six charting albums, the publication reports.

The  K-pop group previously bowed at Number One with 2022’s Oddinary and Maxident, and 2023’s Rock-Star and 5-Star. They also topped the chart earlier this year with ATE. Their chart-setting record beats the late DMX with whom they were previously tied with each having their first five entries debut at Number One.

Hop enters the chart with 187,000 equivalent album units earned, with 176,000 comprising album sales, and 10,000 garnered from streaming equivalent albums, and 1,000 track equivalent albums earned, according to Luminate.

Rounding out the Top Five are albums that have all hit Number One before: Kendrick Lamar’s GNX continues to hold at Number Two with 100,000 album units, Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department falls from Number One to Number Three with 85,000 units sold, Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet moves up a spot from last week  to Number Four with 69,000 units, and Michael Bublé’s Christmas climbs from Number Seven to Number Five with 68,000 units sold.

Speaking of the holiday that is just around the corner, recently released Bing Crosby compilation Ultimate Christmas jumps from Number Eight to Six with 65,000 units. Meanwhile, perennial favorite Mariah Carey’s Merry Christmas rises from 14 to Number 10 with 56,000 equivalent album units earned to close out the Top 10.

From Rolling Stone US.