Group Stray Kids has maintained their momentum into the new year by topping two categories of the US Billboard album chart for three consecutive weeks.

According to an announcement on Billboard‘s official homepage on the 7th (local time), Stray Kids took first place on the ‘Top Album Sales’ and ‘Top Current Album Sales’ for the week of January 11 with their album SKZHOP HIPTAPE ‘合 (HOP)’ (합 (합)), released in December of last year. This means that they entered the chart at number one on December 28, 2024 and have held the top spot for three consecutive weeks. Stray Kids have achieved the first ‘3 consecutive weeks at number one’ in both categories, becoming the second K-pop artist after BTS to do so and reaffirming the group’s global status.

Billboard‘s ‘Top Album Sales’ and ‘Top Current Album Sales’ charts rank based on ‘Weekly album sales in the U.S.’ and ‘Weekly album sales in the U.S. among albums released under 18 months’, respectively. Stray Kids’ new album ‘合 (HOP)’ topped Billboard‘s main chart ‘Billboard 200’ with approximately 187,000 copies sold in the US in the first week of its release, and they are showing off their immense popularity by topping various album charts that prove the power of local albums.

Stray Kids’ new album ‘合 (HOP)’ has ranked #1 on Billboard 200 for the sixth time overall, making them the first artist in the 69-year history of the chart to have six consecutive albums enter the #1 spot since their debut at #1 on Billboard 200. On the latest chart as of January 11, they ranked high at 13th place.

Stray Kids will hold their fifth official fan meeting ‘Stray Kids 5TH FANMEETING ’SKZ 5‘CLOCK’‘(’SKIZ Five O‘Clock‘) at Incheon Inspire Arena for three days from February 14th to 16th. On the last day of the performance, the 16th, they will simultaneously broadcast the online paid live through the Beyond LIVE platform. They will previously launch their largest-scale world tour ’‘(〈Dominate〉) in Hong Kong from January 18th to 19th, and will hold solo concerts in mega stadiums in 20 regions in Latin America, North America, and Europe starting in March.

Jeon Hyo-jin, Donga.com reporter jhj@donga.com