Stray Kids become first act in Billboard history to debut 9 consecutive albums at No. 1

Stray Kids have landed nine consecutive albums at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, placing the K-pop group alongside the legends of global pop music history.

According to Billboard, Stray Kids' mini album "THIS & THAT" topped the main albums chart dated Aug. 22.

The album earned 369,000 album-equivalent units in its first week, setting a new personal best for the group. That figure dwarfed the 82,000 units logged by pop star Ariana Grande's "Petal," which debuted at No. 2 — a gap of 4.5 times.

With this achievement, Stray Kids have sent every album they have released to No. 1 since their chart debut with "ODDINARY" in 2022 — nine in a row. No other act in Billboard's 70-year history has debuted nine consecutive albums at No. 1 from their very first chart entry.

The milestone also cements their place in the all-time group rankings. With their ninth No. 1, Stray Kids are now tied with the Rolling Stones (nine No. 1s) for second place among groups with the most Billboard 200 chart-toppers. Only the Beatles, with 19, have more. Among all groups that debuted in the 21st century, Stray Kids stand alone by far at the top.

The nine consecutive No. 1s reflect not just chart dominance but steady, staircase-like commercial growth. After partnering with major North American label Republic Records in 2022 and debuting on the chart with 110,000 units, Stray Kids climbed through "5-STAR" (249,500 units) and their fourth full-length album "KARMA" (313,000 units) before reaching 369,000 units — more than 3.3 times their opening figure.

Particularly notable is that these results came in direct competition with the biggest names in American music, including Bad Bunny's "Un Verano Sin Ti," Morgan Wallen's "One Thing at a Time" and Kendrick Lamar's "GNX" — acts that had dominated the US streaming market.

Underpinning the achievement is the group's strong physical album sales base spanning South Korea and Japan. The new release sold 3.03 million copies in its first week on South Korea's Hanteo Chart, making it the second triple million-seller of 2026, after BTS's "ARIRANG."

In the US market, a diversified strategy spanning 17 CD and vinyl formats drove first-week pure album sales of 357,000 copies — 96.7 percent of the total equivalent units. That ranks second for weekly pure album sales in the US in 2026, behind BTS's "ARIRANG" at 532,000 copies.

Streaming equivalent albums (SEA) accounted for just 11,000 points — roughly 3 percent of the total, based on 12.21 million B-side streams.