Stray Kids, the eight-piece K-pop group that was formed on a South Korean reality TV show, has scored its fourth No. 1 in two years on Billboard’s album chart, bumping Taylor Swift to No. 2 after two blockbuster weeks at the top.
“Rock-Star,” an eight-track mini album — including two versions of a song called “Lalalala” — becomes Stray Kids’ latest No. 1, selling 213,000 copies in the United States, mostly on CD, and racking up a modest 16 million streams, according to the tracking service Luminate. It was available to American fans in 11 collectible CD editions, with variant packaging and goodies inside like posters, stickers and a photo book.
After striking a deal in the United States in 2022 with Republic Records — also the label for Swift, Morgan Wallen, Drake and other stars — the group landed two albums at No. 1 that year (“Oddinary” and “Maxident”), and another one this summer (“5-Star”).
Swift’s “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” her latest rerecording, falls to No. 2, while the gritty singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton opens at No. 3 with “Higher,” which draws from the sound of classic Memphis soul. Drake’s “For All the Dogs” is No. 4 and Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” is No. 5.
