From BTS to Stray Kids: every K-pop group with a Billboard 200 no 1

1 Billboard 200 no 1 album: SuperM: The 1st Mini Album

Billed as K-pop’s answer to a superhero team-up, SuperM brought together members of Shinee, Exo and NCT under SM Entertainment and Capitol Music Group. Their self-titled mini-album debuted at number one in October 2019, making them the first Korean act to top the Billboard 200 with a debut album. The group’s touring life was short, but the experiment mattered: it showed that cross-label collaborations and coordinated fandom power could out-muscle major Western releases on their turf.

9 Billboard 200 no 1 albums: Oddinary, Maxident, 5-Star, Rock-Star, Ate, Hop, Karma, Do It, This & That

The group’s first Billboard 200 number one came with Oddinary in April 2022—and it never stopped. Stray Kids, who write and produce their own material through in-house unit 3RACHA, followed it with eight more consecutive chart-toppers, an unprecedented run for any act this century.

Their self-described “mala taste” hip-hop, layered with EDM and metal-rap, proved that uncompromising, self-produced music could still dominate America’s toughest chart, propelling them from arena dates on the Maniac tour in 2023 into major global stadiums and domes on the Run It World Tour in 2026.

1 Billboard 200 no 1 album: Born Pink

When Born Pink topped the Billboard 200 chart dated October 1, 2022, Blackpink became the first all-female Korean group to do so—and the first girl group from any country to lead the chart since 2008. The YG Entertainment quartet had spent years building crossover appeal through trap-pop singles and stadium tours, and the number one confirmed what their ticket sales already suggested.

Their 2025–2026 Deadline World Tour became one of the highest-grossing runs ever staged by a female act, with sold-out dates spanning their all-stadium run across Asia, the Americas and Europe.

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1 Billboard 200 no 1 album: The Name Chapter: Temptation

Tomorrow X Together earned their first Billboard 200 number one in February 2023 with The Name Chapter: Temptation, a concept record built around the anxieties of growing up. The Big Hit Music quintet had spent years developing an interlocking narrative universe across their discography, and it paid off in strong pure sales in the United States.

The win proved that story-driven concepts, not just singles built for virality, could still move serious numbers, cementing worldwide sell-out status on the back of their Act: Sweet Mirage and Act: Promise tours.

1 Billboard 200 no 1 album: Get Up

NewJeans needed just one year from debut to reach the top of the Billboard 200, doing so with their second EP, Get Up, in August 2023. Their sound, a breezy mix of Y2K-inspired UK garage and Jersey club, felt deliberately unhurried compared with the genre’s usual maximalism, and it worked as well on streaming as it did in physical sales. The group has since become a genuine global streaming force, their aesthetic filtering into youth style and fashion far beyond Korea.

3 Billboard 200 no 1 albums: The World EP.Fin: Will, Golden Hour: Part.2, Golden Hour: Part.5

Ateez’s breakthrough number one with The World EP.Fin: Will in December 2023 mattered beyond the group itself: it made them the first boy group from outside K-pop’s traditional “big four” agencies—Hybe, SM, JYP and YG—to top the chart. KQ Entertainment’s powerhouse went on to claim two more chart-toppers with Golden Hour: Part.2 and Golden Hour: Part.5, the latter debuting atop the chart with a career-high 228,000 equivalent album units.

Their independent label, KQ Entertainment, leaned on relentless world touring and cinematic, high-concept performances, packing venues across multiple continents on The Fellowship: Break the Wall tour to build the fandom that got them there.

1 Billboard 200 no 1 album: With YOU-th

Twice had already spent close to a decade as one of K-pop’s most consistent girl groups before finally reaching number one with With YOU-th in March 2024. The JYP Entertainment act’s win stood apart from the rest of this list for what it wasn’t: a viral breakout or a debut-era milestone. Instead, it rewarded years of steady retro synth-pop hits and a loyal global fandom built up through tours, a reminder that longevity, not just momentum, can still carry a group to the top of America’s biggest album chart.

1 Billboard 200 no 1 album: Wild

Katseye’s August 2026 number one with Wild made a different kind of point. Formed under Hybe and Geffen Records with a deliberately multinational line-up, the group applied K-pop’s idol-training methodology outside Korea entirely, and it worked. Their breakthrough EP topping the chart showed the industry’s development system, not just its music, had become exportable across borders and languages.

It also set up an extraordinary run: Katseye’s win kicked off three consecutive weeks of K-pop releases at number one, followed immediately by Stray Kids and then Enhypen.

1 Billboard 200 no 1 album: The Sin: Bliss

Enhypen’s first Billboard 200 number one arrived in September 2026 with their eighth mini-album, The Sin: Bliss, which moved 98,000 equivalent album units. The Belift Lab group’s win continued an unprecedented three-week stretch in which K-pop releases held the top spot back-to-back, following Stray Kids and Katseye.

For a group whose Fate World Tour had already packed arenas worldwide, it was a dark-fantasy concept milestone years in the making, pushing the tally of K-pop acts to have led the Billboard 200 to an even ten.

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