Stray Kids Make History Atop Billboard 200 Chart

As Stray Kids’ new album HOP debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart (dated Dec. 28), they become the first act to debut at No. 1 with their first six charting albums. The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March of 1956.

Stray Kids previously debuted atop the chart with ODDINARY and MAXIDENT (both in 2022), ROCK-STAR and 5-STAR (both in 2023) and ATE (earlier in 2024).

Previously, Stray Kids were tied with the late rapper DMX, who saw his first chart entries debut at No. 1 between 1998-2003: It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot (1998), Flesh of My Flesh Blood of My Blood (1999), …And Then There Was X (2000), The Great Depression (2001) and Grand Champ (2003).

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 Dec. 28, 2024-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Tuesday, Dec. 24. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Since March 1956, more than 1,200 different albums have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Until the chart began utilizing Luminate’s electronically monitored tracking information in May 1991, only six albums debuted at No. 1. After that, it became the norm that albums would debut atop the list. In 2024, for example, of the 24 albums that have spent time at No. 1, 22 of them debuted at No. 1.