Stray Kids (Rock-Star): Billboard 200 chart-topper

Stray Kids are no strangers to the top of the Billboard 200 albums chart. They debuted at number-one with “Oddinary” and “Maxident” in 2022 and then “5-Star” earlier in 2023. Now they’re back there with their fourth chart leader in just 20 months with “Rock-Star.” Read more about this week’s chart here at Billboard.com.

“Rock-Star” got started with 224,000 equivalent album units based on its combined record sales, individual track sales and online streaming performance. Most of those units came from collectible CD variants. It makes Stray Kids the first musical act since Alicia Keys in the 2000s to debut their first four albums at number-one. It also marks the 22nd non-English language album to top the chart, a number that’s growing fast as Spanish and Korean music have enjoyed unprecedented crossover success in recent years.

That pushed Taylor Swift‘s “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” down to number-two after two weeks at number-one, though it achieved a still robust 159,000 album units. Launching at number-three with 90,500 units was Chris Stapleton‘s “Higher”; all five of his albums have now debuted in the top three. Drake‘s “For All the Dogs” dropped one spot to number-four with 72,000 units, and Morgan Wallen‘s “One Thing at a Time” took fifth place with 68,000 units.

In our weekly Billboard 200 predictions contest, the two debuts threw a wrench into our forecasts. Most users thought “1989 (Taylor’s Version)” would stay on top and that “Rock-Star” would debut at number-two, instead of the other way around. A majority of users also thought that “For All the Dogs” would be in third position and not pushed down one spot by the aptly titled “Higher.” Our odds were right, though, that “One Thing at a Time” would come in at number-five. How did you do?

Be sure to make your predictions so that artists can see how they’re faring in our racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next tracking week begins every Friday. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our music forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.