BTS' V debuts No. 2 on Billboard 200

SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- V of K-pop supergroup BTS entered the Billboard 200 chart at No. 2 with "Layover," his first solo album, Billboard has said.

"Layover" came in second behind Olivia Rodrigo's sophomore album, "Guts," in this week's chart, Billboard said in a chart preview released Sunday (U.S. local time).

This feat made V tie with his bandmates Jimin and Suga as the highest-charting K-pop soloist.

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

Of the 100,000 equivalent album units of "Layover" earned in the week ending Sept. 14, 88,000 came from physical album sales.

V has said he tried to depict his natural self by stripping away his flashy elements as a superstar in the album.

It has six tracks, including the lead single, "Slow Dancing," as well as the prereleased tracks "Rainy Days" and "Love Me Again."

The album has set the biggest first-week sales record for an album by a K-pop soloist with 2.1 million copies sold based on data from Hanteo Chart, a leading local tracker of physical album sales.

sshim@yna.co.kr
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