SEOUL: Blackpink’s new album "Born Pink" is looking at No. 1 in the United States Billboard 200 chart as the first K-pop girl group act.
According to Billboard’s website on Sunday, Blackpink’s latest release is expected to top the main albums chart on Saturday, with 102,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending Sept 22 in the US, Pulse reported.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the US based on album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.
The latest feat comes in just a few days after it took the top spot on the Official UK Albums Chart for the first time as an Asian girl group. The quartet commanded the first spot both in the US and the UK, a rare feat for a girl group after Destiny’s Child in 2001.
Uplifted by the news, Blackpink’s label YG Entertainment shares rose 2.53% to trade at 48,700 won (1,300 baht) in Seoul trading at 11.43am on Tuesday.
Pre-released single “Pink Venom” gained huge traction from global audience, with its music video drawing over 100 million views within a day after its release on Sept 16. Pre-orders for the album exceeded 2 million, and 1.54 million albums were sold in the first week of release.
The title song “Shut Down” topped the world’s largest music streaming service Spotify’s weekly chart as the first K-pop act.
Blackpink can set a turning point in K-pop history with girl power. Earlier, aespa’s “Girls” and TWICE’s “Between 1&2” made a debut at No. 3 on Billboard 200 albums chart, and ITZY’s “Checkmate” at No. 8.
