Stray Kids scores second No. 1 on Billboard 200

K-pop boy group Stray Kids has claimed No. 1 on U.S. Billboard’s main albums chart for the second time in their career with their new EP “Maxident.”

The eight-track album debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart for this week with 117,000 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 made the group the second K-pop act to record more than one No. 1 on the chart after BTS. Stray Kids first entered the chart in March with the EP “Oddinary.”

“Maxident” is the fourth album by a Korean act to lead the chart this year, following “Oddinary,” BTS’ “Proof” and BLACKPINK’s “Born Pink.”

In total, BTS has topped the chart six times, Stray Kids twice, and SuperM and BLACKPINK one time each.

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.

Debuting in 2018, the eight-piece group has been known for its intense stage performances and unique music style.

Of the 117,000 equivalent album units earned by “Maxident,” album sales comprise 110,000, with 97 percent of the sales coming from CD sales, Billboard said.

It added the 110,000 EPs sold mark the fourth-largest sales week of any album in 2022.

“Maxident is mostly in the Korean language, but includes a fair amount of English lyrics. Notably, it is the 16th mostly non-English language album to hit No. 1 and the fourth in 2022,” the music magazine said.

The title “Maxident” combines the words “maximum” and “incident” to mean a big incident, according to the group.

The EP led by the song “Case 143″ had been expected to become a big success since early on as it surpassed 2.18 million copies in the first week of sales.

The song was written and composed by the group’s own producing unit, 3RACHA, composed of Bang Chan, Han and Changbin.

Speaking during a press conference in Seoul earlier this month to promote the album, Bang Chan said the bandmates always feel a lot of pressure whenever they work on new songs, but the pressure serves as a stimulus for development.

Stay Kids will begin their second world tour titled “Stray Kids 2nd World Tour Maniac” next month.