Stray Kids’ New Album Sets Record for Highest Pre-order Sales in K-pop History, Surpassing BTS and SEVENTEEN
The pre-order sales for the upcoming album of Stray Kids have exceeded 4.93 million, marking the highest pre-order sales in K-pop history.
On May 30th, Stray Kids’ company, JYP Entertainment, announced that the pre-order quantity for the group’s third full album, ‘★★★★★ (5-STAR)’ (Five Star), reached 4.93 million copies.
Previously, SEVENTEEN held the record for the highest pre-order sales among all K-pop acts. They achieved domestic and international pre-order sales of 4.64 million copies with their 10th mini-album ‘FML’ released on April 24th.
The previous record was set by BTS. With their fourth full album, ‘Map of the Soul: 7’, released in 2020, BTS surpassed 4.02 million pre-order sales, establishing the record for the highest pre-order sales in K-pop.
Stray Kids has now surpassed BTS and SEVENTEEN, reclaiming the top spot for album pre-order sales. BTS, SEVENTEEN, and Stray Kids are the only Korean acts that have surpassed 4 million copies in pre-order sales.
The growth trajectory of Stray Kids is increasingly astonishing. With their second full album, ‘NOEASY’, released in August 2021, they recorded a total sales of approximately 1.675 million copies (based on the Circle Chart as of May 20th). This was achieved within three years since their debut.
In March 2022, they sold approximately 1.856 million copies with their sixth mini-album, ‘ODDINARY’. Their seventh mini-album, ‘MAXIDENT’, released in October of the same year, achieved sales of approximately 3.4217 million copies. With this, Stray Kids earned the title of “Triple Million-Selling Artist”.
At the current pace, achieving Quadruple Million Seller (4 million copies) seems possible. So far, only BTS and SEVENTEEN have achieved the “Quadruple Million Seller” title in K-pop.
In particular, Stray Kids’ popularity in North America is particularly high. They have achieved two consecutive No. 1 on Billboard 200. They also became the second K-pop boy group, following BTS, to hold a stadium concert in North America, which was sold out.
Stray Kids has also set records such as being the first 4th gen K-pop boy group to reach 400 million views on a MV. Given these circumstances, there is a high possibility that their latest album will also top Billboard 200.
Stray Kids’ third full album will be released on June 2nd at midnight EST/1 PM KST.
Source: Insight.
