Stray Kids Claims Billboard 200 No. 1 with Album “HOP,” Setting New Record of Six Consecutive No. 1 Debut Albums

K-POP group Stray Kids secured the top spot on the Billboard 200 chart with their new album “HOP.” This marks the 19th time a K-POP album has reached the summit of the Billboard 200 since BTS’s “Love Yourself: Tear” took the lead in June 2018. What is even more notable is that Stray Kids have made all six of their debut albums enter the chart reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200. This represents an entirely new record, as they previously shared this achievement with the late rapper DMX after their album “ATE” achieved five consecutive No. 1 debuts last summer. Stray Kids and BTS now jointly hold the record for the most Billboard 200 No. 1 albums among K-POP groups, each having six such albums. As K-POP’s global growth becomes increasingly evident, K-POP album victories on the Billboard 200 have continued annually since 2018 (with one exception in 2021) following BTS’s “Love Yourself: Tear.” Five K-POP albums reached No. 1 in 2023, while four each appeared at the top in 2022 and 2024. To date, 19 K-POP albums or EPs have topped the Billboard 200, with ATEEZ having two, and SuperM, BLACKPINK, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, NewJeans, and TWICE each having one No. 1 album. Stray Kids’ success on the charts for “HOP” relied heavily on physical album sales, particularly CD sales, rather than music streaming. This example illustrates both the global spread of K-POP music and the strong purchasing power of their fanbases. As of now, a total of 27 albums by non-English language artists have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, with exactly 18 out of those—two-thirds of the total—being Korean-language albums, all released after 2018.