Stray Kids is on fire once again — and this time, they’ve set a new record in Japan!
The group dropped their 3rd Japanese mini album Hollow on June 18, and it’s already a massive hit. Even before the official release, the album sold over 610,000 copies through pre-sales on June 17 alone, instantly hitting half a million sales.
This marks the second time Stray Kids has pulled off a half-million seller in Japan before the release date — the first time was in September 2023 with their EP Social Path (feat. LiSA) / Super Bowl -Japanese ver.-.
From June 16 to 22, Hollow topped the Billboard Japan Top Album Sales chart with 730,000 copies sold in just one week. It also swept the Oricon weekly album chart and the weekly combined album ranking, both released on June 24.
With this, Stray Kids broke their own record and set a new all-time record for first-week sales among all 4th-generation K-pop groups!
What’s more impressive? In Japan this year, only three artists sold over half a million albums in the first week — and Stray Kids is the first non-Japanese act to do so. That makes their success even more meaningful and groundbreaking.
Hollow is also shining on digital platforms. The album topped Apple Music and iTunes charts in Japan, including overall album, pop album, and K-pop album categories. It also claimed No. 1 on Oricon’s digital album ranking and other big-name Japanese charts.
Globally, the album hit No. 1 on iTunes album charts in 21 regions, including Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia, proving once again that Stray Kids has fans all over the world.
This is the group’s first Japanese mini album in nearly 3 years since Circus in 2022 — and it’s even more special because all the tracks are original Japanese songs. Members Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han (a.k.a. 3RACHA) participated in writing and producing every track, showing off their strong self-producing talents.
The title song Hollow combines the English word “hollow” (empty) and the Korean word “hollo” (alone/lonely), expressing deep emotions of emptiness with powerful synths, electric guitar, and touching piano melodies.
The music video for Hollow, pre-released on June 11, immediately hit No. 1 on YouTube’s Worldwide Trending Music Videos chart — and as of June 25, it’s about to surpass 10 million views!
Stray Kids keeps proving they’re in a league of their own — and with Hollow, they’ve made K-pop history once again.
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