K-pop has been gathering commercial momentum in the US for a decade, and this week it reaches a historic milestone on the Billboard 200. As Advertising sign reported on Sunday, this current chart (dated August 3) marks the first time that the top two spots have both been held by K-pop (Korean pop) albums. Stray children ATE debut at No. 1, while Jimin's MUSEa solo album by the BTS member, opens at No. 2.
ATE arrives with 231,000 equivalent album units earned in the US in the week ending July 25, according to Luminate. This is the biggest week of 2024 for any K-pop album and the sixth biggest debut for any album this year. Of ATE231,000 first week units, album sales are 217,000, SEA units include 13,000 and TEA units include 1,000. With 217,000 sales, ATE is the week's best-selling album. It also earns the biggest sales week for any K-pop album this year and the second biggest sales week of 2024 for any album in any genre (behind only Taylor Swift Department of Tormented Poets).
MUSE moves with 96,000 units and gives Jimin his second solo album to reach No. 2 (following last year's FACE). Of that amount, album sales make up 74,000, SEA units make up 15,000, and TEA units make up 7,000.
This historic week for K-pop got us wondering: When did nine other genres and recording formats hold the top two albums on the Billboard 200 in the same week for the first time? (The chart began as a regular weekly feature on March 24, 1956.) Read on to see our findings — with albums designated as belonging to a genre if they were also included in that genre's album chart.
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Movie Soundtracks: 13 Oct 1956
No. 1: The Eddie Duchin story
No. 2: The King and I
Notes: The previous album was from a biopic about the orchestra leader who had dozens of hits in the 1930s, including “Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?” and “Let's fall in love.” Duchin died of leukemia in 1951 at the age of 40. The latter was from the film adaptation of the Rodgers & Hammerstein stage musical, which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1952.
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Christmas/holiday: January 6, 1958
Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
No. 1: Bing Crosby, Merry Christmas
No. 2: Elvis Presley, Elvis Christmas album
Notes: Fans got what they wanted in the 1957-58 holiday season, whether they preferred a “White Christmas” or a “Blue Christmas.” Crosby's album was first released in 1945. Presley's, which spent the last three weeks of 1957 at No. 1, was a new release. The albums remained in the top two spots the following week, although Presley regained the lead.
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Broadway cast album: March 17, 1958
No. 1: The Music Man
No. 2: My beautiful lady
Notes: The Music Manstarring Robert Preston, won the 1958 Tony for Best Musical. My beautiful ladystarring Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews, had won the same award in 1957. The albums held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for a total of 27 weeks – 15 weeks for My beautiful lady12 weeks for The Music Man. Andrews and Preston went on to co-star in the 1982 film Victor/Victoria. Both actors received Academy Awards for their performances.
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Rock and Roll: January 27, 1962
No. 1: Elvis Presley, Blue Hawaii
No. 2: Joey Dee and His Starlighters, Doin' the Twist at the Peppermint Lounge
Notes: The Blue Hawaii The soundtrack topped the chart for 20 weeks, longer than any other Presley album. Dee and His Starlighters' album included their No. 1 Hot 100 hit “Peppermint Twist – Part I.” The album spent six weeks at No. 2, after which it ceded the number two spot to Chubby Checker's Your Twist Partywhich featured the No. 1 Hot 100 hit that ignited the dance craze, “The Twist.”
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Comedy: December 15, 1962
No. 1: Vaughn Meader, The First Family
No. 2: Alan Sherman, My son, the folk singer
Notes: The First Family was a polite (by today's standards) mockery of President Kennedy's family. My son, the folk singer it was a fragment of the then developing folk scene. The albums held the top two spots for 11 consecutive weeks, ending on February 23, 1963. The following week, The First Family remained at the top, while Sherman's next album, My son, the celebrityrose to No. 2. And Sherman wasn't done with it yet My son franchise — still coming: My son, The Nut. All three albums reached No. 1. Sherman died in 1973 at the age of 48.
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Popular: November 2, 1963
Image credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
No. 1: Peter, Paul & Mary, In the wind
No. 2: Peter, Paul & Mary, Peter, Paul and Mary
Notes: Peter, Paul and Mary was No. 1 for six consecutive weeks in the fall of 1962, then returned to No. 1 on October 26, 1963, the same week the trio's album In the wind opened at No. 12. The following week, In the wind (which featured the hit version of Bob Dylan's classic “Blowin' in the Wind”) took the lead, hitting PPM down to No. 2.
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R&B: August 10, 1968
No. 1: Cream, Wheels of Fire
No. 2: Simon & Garfunkel, Graduation soundtrack
Notes: You might not think of either of these albums as R&B – I don't – but they were both Advertising signThe Best Selling Rhythm & Blues LP chart, as it was then known. Wheels of Fire peaked at No. 11 and remained on the chart for six months. Graduation The soundtrack hit No. 32 in its short five-week run. Both the soundtrack and the film were huge hits. The album topped the Billboard 200 for nine non-consecutive weeks. The Mike Nichols comedy was the highest grossing of all films released in North America in 1967.
Since you probably really want to know the first time R&B albums by black artists held the top two spots in the same week was on October 30, 1976 when Stevie Wonder Songs in the key of life was in its third week at No. 1 and Earth, Wind & Fire's Spirit jumped from No. 4 to No. 2. These two albums also held the top two spots the following week. EWF's previous two albums, This is the way of the world and Gratitudehad both reached No.1, but it was no shame that it peaked at No.2 behind Wonder's masterpiece, which topped the chart for 14 non-consecutive weeks and won the Grammy for album of the year.
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Hip-Hop: November 3, 1990
Image credit: Alan Singer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
No. 1: MC Hammer, Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em
No. 2: Vanilla ice cream, In Extreme
Notes: One or another of these albums was No. 1 for 37 of the 38 weeks between June 9, 1990, and February 23, 1991. (The boy band New Kids on the Block snuck in there for a week in June 1990 with Step by step.)
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Country: September 19, 1992
No. 1: Billy Ray Cyrus, Some gave it their all
No. 2: Garth Brooks, Beyond the Era
Notes: Cyrus' album was in its 15th straight week at No. 1, as Brooks' holiday album jumped from No. 5 to No. 2. A holiday album hits No. 2 in mid-September? Yes: That was the hot Brooks back in the day. Some gave it their all it held the top spot for 17 consecutive weeks – which is still the record for most consecutive weeks at the top by a country album. It was finally displaced on October 10 by Brooks The chasewhich spent its first six weeks at No. 1.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/lists/genres-top-two-billboard-200-k-pop-stray-kids-jimi/
