Stray Kids Earn Seventh No. 1 on Billboard 200 With ‘KARMA’

Stray Kids earn their seventh No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart as KARMA debuts atop the list dated Sept. 6. The set earned 313,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending Aug. 28, according to Luminate. Of that sum, traditional album sales comprise 296,000. Both figures mark career highs for the act.

KARMA also lands the third-biggest week, by units, of 2025 among all albums, as well as the year’s second-largest sales week.

All seven of the group’s Billboard 200 chart entries have debuted at No. 1, beginning with ODDINARY in 2022. Last year, when HOP debuted atop the list, Stray Kids became the first act to debut at No. 1 with their first six entries in the 69-year history of the chart. With KARMA’s arrival, they extend that record. The Billboard 200 began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in March 1956.

In addition, with a seventh No. 1, Stray Kids surpass BTS, Linkin Park and Dave Matthews Band for the most No. 1s among groups on the Billboard 200 this century (since 2000).

Also in the top 10 on the latest Billboard 200 chart, Laufey scores her first top 10 with the No. 4 arrival of A Matter of Time; Deftones land their seventh top 10 with the No. 5 bow of private music; Tyler, The Creator’s Cherry Bomb re-enters the chart at No. 6 following a 10th anniversary reissue; and BigXthaPlug notches his highest-charting effort yet with the No. 7 debut of I Hope You’re Happy.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. The new Sept. 6, 2025-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on Sept. 3, one day later than usual, owed to the Labor Day holiday on Sept. 1 in the U.S. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.

Of KARMA’s 313,000 first-week equivalent album units, album sales comprise 296,000 (it debuts at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart), SEA units comprise 16,000 (equaling 23.12 million on-demand official streams of the sets songs; it debuts at No. 34 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

In 2025, the three largest weeks for albums, by units, are the opening frames of Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem (493,000), The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow (490,000)and KARMA (313,000). In traditional album sales, the two biggest weeks of 2025 belong to Hurry Up Tomorrow (359,000) and KARMA (296,000).

KARMA’s album sales were aided by its availability across 11 CD variants and three vinyl variants (all containing collectible items such as photocards, with some items randomized), including signed editions.

As KARMA is mostly in the Korean language, it is the 29th mostly non-English-language album to hit No. 1, and the second of 2025 (following Bad Bunny’s Spanish-language DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS). Four mostly non-English titles topped the list in 2024, and all were mostly Korean-language efforts. Of the 29 mostly non-English-language albums to reach No. 1, 19 are mostly Korean, six mostly (or all) Spanish, one mostly Italian, one entirely French and two mostly a blend of Spanish, Italian and French.

The KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack is a non-mover at No. 2, its peak, on the Billboard 200 with its best week yet: 125,000 equivalent album units earned (up 16%). The gain was boosted by the film’s sing-along release in movie theaters and on Netflix and the set’s arrival on CD. The CD was sold mostly via online retailers after only being available to purchase as a digital download previously. Album sales (across all configurations) totaled 18,000 for the week (up 236%). A wider release for the CD is due on Sept. 5.

Further, KPop Demon Hunters has spent six nonconsecutive weeks at No. 2. It’s the first soundtrack in the modern era (since May 1991, when the chart began utilizing Luminate’s electronically monitored tracking information) to spend at least six weeks at No. 2 without reaching No. 1.

Morgan Wallen’s I’m the Problem falls 1-3 after a dozen nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, earning 116,000 equivalent album units in the latest tracking frame (down 4%).

Laufey achieves her first top 10 album on the Billboard 200 as A Matter of Time debuts at No. 4 with 99,000 equivalent album units earned — her biggest week ever. Of that sum, album sales comprise 71,000 (her best sales week; it debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 28,000 (equaling 38.57 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs; it debuts at No. 11 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise a negligible sum. The set’s first-week sales were bolstered by its availability across eight vinyl and three CD variants (each with one signed edition) and a cassette.

A Matter of Time is Laufey’s third studio album. The singer-songwriter’s second effort, 2023’s Bewitched, reached No. 18 in 2024, won a Grammy for best traditional pop vocal album and has earned over 950,000 equivalent album units in the U.S.

A Matter of Time marks the highest-debuting jazz album on the Billboard 200 since the Dec. 1, 2018-dated chart, with Michael Bublé’s Love debuted and peaked at No. 2. (Jazz albums are defined as those that are eligible for, or have charted on, Billboard’s Top Jazz Albums chart.)

Deftones score their seventh top 10 effort on the Billboard 200 as private music premieres at No. 5 with 87,000 equivalent album units earned — the band’s best week by units. Of that starting sum, album sales comprise 66,000 (the group’s largest sales week since 2016’s Gore bowed with 69,000; private music starts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales), SEA units comprise 20,500 (equaling 26.72 million on-demand official streams of the set’s songs, it debuts at No. 20 on Top Streaming Albums) and TEA units comprise the remaining sum. (First-week sales were helped by the set’s availability across seven vinyl variants, three CDs, a cassette and a boxed set with a branded piece of clothing and a vinyl LP inside.)

The new album — the band’s 10th full-length studio effort — was preceded by its track “My Mind Is a Mountain,” which became the band’s first No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Airplay chart (dated Sept. 6).

Tyler, The Creator’s Cherry Bomb, first released in 2015, returns to the Billboard 200 following a 10th anniversary reissue. The set reenters the chart at No. 6 with 52,000 equivalent album units earned (up from a negligible sum in the previous week). For its 10th anniversary, the set was reissued on three vinyl variants, CD and in three deluxe boxed sets (each containing a piece of branded clothing and a copy of the CD). Album sales largely drive the set’s reentry, comprising nearly 51,000 of the set’s units for the week. Cherry Bomb debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the May 2, 2015-dated chart.

BigXthaPlug lands his highest-charting album, and second top 10, on the Billboard 200 with the No. 7 bow of I Hope You’re Happy. The set earned 47,000 equivalent album units in its first week, with SEA units comprising 41,000 (equaling 54.59 million on-demand official streams of its tracks; it debuts at No. 3 on Top Streaming Albums), album sales comprise 5,000 (it debuts at No. 22 on Top Album Sales) and TEA units comprise 1,000.

I Hope You’re Happy was preceded by a trio of charted songs on the Billboard Hot 100: “All the Way” (featuring Bailey Zimmerman; No. 4 peak in April), “Home” (featuring Shaboozey; No. 77 in July) and “Hell at Night” (with Ella Langley; No. 49 in August).

Rounding out the top 10 of the latest Billboard 200: Alex Warren’s You’ll Be Alright, Kid drops 5-8 (just over 38,000 equivalent album units earned, down 4%), Gunna’s The Last Wun falls 4-9 (38,000, down 20%) and Morgan Wallen’s chart-topping One Thing at a Time dips 7-10 (nearly 38,000, up less than 1%).

Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.