(LEAD) TXT secures first No. 1 on Billboard 200 for 'Temptation'

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with more details of Billboard report; RECASTS headline)

SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- Boy group Tomorrow X Together claimed the first No. 1 in its career on Billboard 200 as its latest album, "The Name Chapter: Temptation," debuted atop the U.S. Billboard's main albums chart.

Billboard said Sunday (U.S. time) the South Korean band topped the upcoming Billboard 200 chart for this week for the first time since its debut in March 2019.

The EP earned 161,500 equivalent album units in the United States, largely driven by CD album sales, it said, citing data from Luminate.

The chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the country, measured by equivalent album units comprising physical album sales and other digital sales records.

It became the fifth K-pop act to achieve the feat, following BTS in 2018, SuperM in 2019, Stray Kids in 2022 and BLACKPINK in 2022.

The achievement by TXT made its management agency, BigHit Music, the only K-pop agency to chart two or more teams that it manages on the Billboard 200.

"The Name Chapter: Temptation" is the fifth EP from the quintet, which depicts youths swaying in front of the temptation to live in the present while enjoying freedom and entertainment even though they know they have to grow up.

It consists of five tracks, including the main single "Sugar Rush Ride," "Devil by the Window" and "Happy Fools."

The EP became a big hit in South Korean upon its release on Jan. 27, selling more than 2 million copies in the debut week. It has also been staying high on a real-time chart of Melon, South Korea's largest music streaming platform, unusually for a boy group.

The group has five members -- Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai. "The Chaos Chapter: Freeze," its second full-length album released in 2021, was the only K-pop album ever to appear on the Best Album of the Year lists by British music magazine NME and Rolling Stone in the U.S.

"The Name Chapter: Temptation" is the third top 10-charting album from TXT, which reached No. 4 with "Minisode 2: Thursday's Child" in 2022 and No. 5 with "The Chaos Chapter: Freeze" in 2021.

sshim@yna.co.kr
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