Billboard on July 28 said K-pop for the first time had the Nos. 1 and 2 albums on the Billboard 200 albums chart. (Screen capture of Billboard's website)

By Margareth Theresia

K-pop took the Nos. 1 and 2 spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart for the week ending on July 25.

The boy band Stray Kids' new EP "Ate" topped the chart, followed by the latest EP "Muse" by Jimin of BTS.

Billboard on July 28 in a preview article said "Ate" sold 218,000 physical CDs, 13,000 streaming equivalent (SEA) and 1,000 track equivalent albums (TEA) to claim the top spot.

The Billboard 200 is based on sales of traditional album formats like physical CDs, SEAs and TEAs.

This is the fifth straight EP of Stray Kids to claim the No. 1 spot following "Oddinary" and "Maxident" in 2022 and "5-Star" and "Rock-Star" last year.

Billboard said, "As ATE is mostly in the Korean language, it is the 25th mostly non-English-language album to hit No. 1, and the second of 2024."

Jimin of BTS on July 28 took the No. 2 spot on the Billboard 200 with his EP "Muse." Shown is the album teaser for his EP. (BTS' official Facebook)

"Muse," the new EP by Jimin of BTS, sold 74,000 physical CDs, 15,000 SEAs and 7,000 TEAs.

The next Billboard 200 comes out on July 30.

margareth@korea.kr