Stray Kids' new EP "THIS & THAT" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated Aug. 22, the eight-member K-pop group's ninth consecutive chart-topping release. The feat ties Stray Kids with the Rolling Stones for the second-most No. 1 albums by any group in the chart's history, behind only the Beatles' 19, according to Billboard.
The EP earned 369,000 equivalent album units in the tracking week ending Aug. 13 — the group's biggest sales week in the U.S. to date. That total broke down to 357,000 in traditional album sales, the week's best-selling album outright, plus roughly 11,000 streaming-equivalent units built on 12.21 million on-demand audio streams and about 1,000 track-equivalent units. Billboard and Soompi both noted the debut makes Stray Kids the first act in the Billboard 200's 70-year history to send all of its first nine chart entries straight to No. 1.
"THIS & THAT" is the group's tenth EP overall, and its eight songs were written and produced in-house by 3Racha, the production unit made up of members Bang Chan, Changbin and Han. The title track blends hip-hop and R&B textures the group has described as aiming for a "chill" and "cool" register, a shift from the harder-edged sound that built its early fan base.
A decade of chart dominance
Stray Kids debuted in 2018 under JYP Entertainment and has now spent its entire eight-year album run topping the U.S. chart, a run that also gives the group the most No. 1 albums by any act this century, per the Korea Times. The milestone lands in the same week Ariana Grande's "Petal" and Olivia Rodrigo's "you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love" occupy other top spots on the same chart, underscoring how thoroughly K-pop acts now compete directly against English-language pop's biggest names rather than in a separate lane.
The achievement is the latest data point in K-pop's decade-long climb up the American charts, following breakthroughs by BTS and Blackpink, and cements Stray Kids' position as the genre's most consistent commercial force in the U.S. market.
The group is expected to support "THIS & THAT" with additional U.S. tour dates later this year, continuing a pattern of arena and stadium runs that have accompanied its last several chart-topping releases.
