TOMORROW X TOGETHER Lands First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart
Written by djfrosty on February 5, 2023
TOMORROW X TOGETHER lands its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION debuts atop the tally (dated Feb. 11). The five-song set earned 161,500 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 2, according to Luminate, largely driven by CD album sales.
The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION is the third top 10-charting effort for the South Korean vocal group, which reached the top 10 previously in 2022 with Minisode 2: Thursday’s Child (No. 4) and in 2021 with The Chaos Chapter: Freeze (No. 5).
The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION halts the chart-topping run for SZA’s SOS, which falls to No. 2 (100,000 equivalent album units; down 10%) after spending its first seven weeks at No. 1.
Also in the top 10 of the new Billboard 200, Sam Smith achieves their fourth top 10-charting effort as Gloria debuts at No. 7, while Lil Yachty notches his third top 10 set with the No. 9 arrival of Let’s Start Here.
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 Feb. 11, 2023-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Feb. 7. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Of The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION’s 161,500 equivalent album units earned, album sales comprise 152,000, SEA units comprise 9,000 (equaling 13.24 on-demand official streams of the set’s five songs) and TEA units comprise 500.
The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION scores the largest sales week for any album since Taylor Swift’s Midnights debuted at No. 1 with 1.14 million copies sold on the Nov. 5, 2022-dated chart. Of The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION’s 152,000 sold, 98% were CD sales (148,500), while 2% were digital album sales (3,500). The set was not available to purchase in any other configuration (such as vinyl or cassette).
The CD configuration of The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION was issued in collectible packages (14 total, including exclusive editions for Barnes & Noble, Target and the Weverse webstore), each with a standard set of internal paper items and branded randomized mystery elements (photo cards, photo books, post cards). CD sales were also enhanced by autographed editions sold via the act’s webstore.
The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION is TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s seventh charting album on the all-genre Billboard 200, though the act has yet to reach the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 songs chart. TOMORROW X TOGETHER is the second act to top the Billboard 200 in the last year without also having previously logged a hit on the Hot 100, following fellow K-pop group Stray Kids, which notched two No. 1 albums in 2022 (ODDINARY and MAXIDENT).
The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION is recorded mostly in the Korean language, with some English lyrics. It is the 17th mostly non-English language album to hit No. 1. In 2022, there were four non-English No. 1s from BTS’ mostly-Korean Proof, Bad Bunny’s all-Spanish Un Verano Sin Ti and Stray Kids’ mostly-Korean ODDINARY and MAXIDENT. Of the 17 mostly non-English No. 1 albums, 10 have been Korean-language projects (six from BTS, two from Stray Kids, one from SuperM and one from TOMORROW X TOGETHER).
Four former No. 1s are Nos. 3-6 on the new Billboard 200, as Swift’s Midnights falls 2-3 with 68,000 equivalent album units earned (though up 1%), Metro Boomin’s Heroes & Villains rises 5-4 with 47,000 (down 12%), Drake and 21 Savage’s Her Loss climbs 6-5 with 44,000 (down 4%) and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album bumps 8-6 with 42,000 (up 5%).
Sam Smith collects their fourth top 10-charting effort on the Billboard 200 as Gloria debuts at No. 7 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 23,000 (equaling 30.75 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs), album sales comprise 14,000 and TEA units comprise 2,000. Gloria was preceded by its hit single “Unholy,” a co-billed collaboration with Kim Petras, which became both artists’ first No. 1 on the Hot 100 in October.
Bad Bunny’s former leader Un Verano Sin Ti falls 7-8 on the Billboard 200 with 39,000 equivalent album units earned (down 5%).
Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here begins at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 with 36,000 equivalent album units earned. Of that sum, SEA units comprise 31,500 (equaling 41.34 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 4,500 and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. It’s the third top 10-charting effort for Lil Yachty on the Billboard 200.
Let’s Start Here is a sonic left turn for the artist, who previously charted six entries on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The new project has been described by the artist as “non-rap” and as “a psychedelic alternative project.”
Rounding out the new Billboard 200’s top 10 is Zach Bryan’s American Heartbreak, falling 9-10 with 31,000 equivalent album units earned (down 4%).
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.