Stray Kids Notch Second No. 1 on Billboard 200 With ‘Maxident’
Written by djfrosty on October 16, 2022
Stray Kids ring up their second No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 — and second of 2022 — as MAXIDENT debuts atop the list (dated Oct. 22). The eight track set bows with 117,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending Oct. 13, according to Luminate. The South Korean group notched its first chart-topper on the April 2 list, with its first charting effort, ODDINARY.
Both ODDINARY and MAXIDENT were released via JYP/Imperial/Republic Records.
Maxident is the fourth album by a South Korean act to lead the Billboard 200 in 2022, following BLACKPINK’s Born Pink, BTS’ Proof and ODDINARY. In 2021, there were zero No. 1s by a South Korean act, and in 2020 there were two (BTS’ Map of the Soul: 7 and BE).
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Takeoff and Quavo’s collaborative album, Only Built for Infinity Links, debuts at No. 7, G Herbo’s Survivor’s Remorse: Side A bows at No. 9, and Charlie Puth’s Charlie debuts at No. 10.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Oct. 22, 2022-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday (Oct. 18). For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of MAXIDENT’s 117,000 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 110,000, SEA units comprise 7,000 (equaling 9.61 million on-demand official streams of the set’s eight tracks) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum.
MAXIDENT’s 110,000 sold marks the fourth-largest sales week of any album in 2022. Of that sum, 97% were CD sales (107,000), while 3% were digital album sales (3,000). The set was not available in any other configuration (such as vinyl LP or cassette).
The CD configuration of the album was issued in collectible packages (10 total, including exclusive variants for Barnes & Noble, Target and the group’s official webstore), each with a standard set of internal paper items and randomized elements (such as photocards, mini posters and stickers). CD sales were also aided by autographed editions sold via the act’s webstore.
MAXIDENT bows at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 only six months and three weeks after ODDINARY opened atop the list. The last act with a shorter wait between new No. 1s was Young Thug, with six months between the Young Stoner Life: Slime Language 2 (credited on the chart to Young Thug & Various Artists; May 1, 2021, chart) and Punk (Oct. 30, 2021). The last act with a shorter wait between No. 1s excluding those co-billed with a cast of various artists was Taylor Swift, who waited a more scant four months between the first weeks at No. 1 for Evermore (Dec. 26, 2020) and Fearless (Taylor’s Version) (April 24, 2021). The last group to have a shorter wait between No. 1s was BTS, with just three months and one week between its first two No. 1s: Love Yourself: Tear (June 2, 2018) and Love Yourself: Answer (Sept. 8, 2018).
ODDINARY and MAXIDENT are Stray Kids’ first two albums to chart on the Billboard 200. Thus, the group maintains a perfect record on the list, landing No. 1 albums with its first two entries. Stray Kids made their overall Billboard chart debut in 2017 on the World Digital Song Sales chart (which ranks the week’s top-selling world music digital songs) and landed their first entry on a Billboard album chart in 2018 with Mixtape. In 2018-21, the act accumulated 10 top 10-charting albums on Billboard‘s World Albums chart (which ranks the week’s most popular world music titles). Stray Kids did not reach the all-genre Billboard 200 with any release until this April with ODDINARY, which marked the act’s first release in the U.S. through JYP’s partnership with Imperial/Republic.
MAXIDENT is mostly in the Korean language, but includes a fair amount of English lyrics. Notably, itis the 16th mostly non-English language album to hit No. 1 and the fourth in 2022. Earlier in the year, there were mostly non-English No. 1s from BTS’ mostly-Korean Proof, Bad Bunny’s all-Spanish Un Verano Sin Ti and the mostly-Korean ODDINARY.
While Stray Kids have yet to chart a song on the U.S.-based Billboard Hot 100 chart (through the most recently published list, dated Oct. 15), the group has notched a trio of songs on the Billboard Global 200 and six on the Billboard Global 200 Excl. U.S. tally. The act last charted on both lists with the ODDINARY single “Maniac,” peaking at Nos. 21 and 15, respectively.
Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti falls to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 after 13 nonconsecutive weeks atop the list (76,000 equivalent album units earned; down 9%).
Beyoncé’s former No. 1 Renaissance rallies 6-3 with 75,000 equivalent album units (up 145%) after the wide release of its vinyl album on Oct. 7.
Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping Dangerous: The Double Album dips 3-4 on the Billboard 200 with 46,000 equivalent album units earned (down less than 1%).
Dangerous: The Double Album has now accumulated 91 nonconsecutive weeks in the top 10 on the Billboard 200. It now solely has the fifth-most weeks in the top 10 among all albums since the chart began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956. The all-time top 10 record-holder is the original cast recording of My Fair Lady, with 173 weeks in the top 10 between 1956-60. See list, below.
Albums With Most Weeks in Top 10 on Billboard 200 Chart (March 24, 1956-onwards):
Weeks in Top 10, Artist, Title, Year First Reached Top 10
173, Original Cast, My Fair Lady, 1956
109, Soundtrack, The Sound of Music, 1965
106, Soundtrack, West Side Story, 1962
105, Original Cast, The Sound of Music, 1960
91, Morgan Wallen, Dangerous: The Double Album, 2021
90, Soundtrack, South Pacific, 1958
87, Original Cast, Camelot, 1961
87, Soundtrack, Oklahoma!, 1956
85, Peter, Paul and Mary, Peter Paul and Mary, 1962
84, Adele, 21, 2011
84, Bruce Springsteen, Born in the U.S.A., 1984
(through the Oct. 22, 2022-dated chart)
The Weeknd’s compilation The Highlights falls 4-5 on the Billboard 200 with 40,000 equivalent album units earned (up 1%), while Harry Styles’ former leader Harry’s House moves 5-6 with 34,000 (down 1%).
Takeoff and Quavo’s collaborative set, Only Built for Infinity Links, bows at No. 7 with 33,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 31,000 (equaling 41.13 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 18 tracks), album sales comprise 2,000 and TEA units comprise 500. It’s the second top 10-charting set for Takeoff (following The Last Rocket, No. 4 in 2018) and the second for Quavo (after Quavo Huncho, No. 2, also in 2018).
Takeoff and Quavo also comprise two-thirds of Migos, which logged three top 10s, including a pair of No. 1s in Culture and Culture II (in 2017 and 2018, respectively). Migos’ third member, Offset, is due to release a solo album on Nov. 11. He’s previously logged two top 10s on the Billboard 200 (Without Warning, with 21 Savage and Metro Boomin, No. 4 in 2017; and Father of 4, No. 4 in 2019). As for Migos, the act is on an indefinite hiatus.
Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak is pushed down 7-8 on the Billboard 200 despite a 1% gain (to 28,000 equivalent album units).
G Herbo notches his third top 10 album on the Billboard 200 with the No. 9 debut of Survivor’s Remorse: Side A, which launches with 27,500 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 27,000 (equaling 36.44 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 500 units and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The project was initially released as a 12-track standard album on Oct. 7, and was reissued in a deluxe form on Oct. 10 with 13 additional tracks (dubbed Survivor’s Remorse: Side A & Side B).
Charlie Puth rounds out the top 10 of the new Billboard 200 with his third full-length album, Charlie, which bows at No. 10. All three of his full-length studio projects have debuted in the top 10. The new set starts with 26,500 equivalent album units earned, of which SEA units comprise 16,000 (equaling 21.26 million on-demand official streams of the set’s 12 tracks), album sales comprise 9,500 and TEA units comprise 1,000.
Charlie was preceded by a pair of top 30-charting hits on the Billboard Hot 100: “Light Switch” and “Left and Right,” the latter featuring Jung Kook (of BTS).
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.