Stray Kids joined Billboard‘s Jeff Benjamin and Jason Lipshutz via Twitter Spaces on Monday afternoon (Mar. 28), fresh off the announcement that the group’s Oddinary EP debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated April 2).
“Woah, so exciting!” the South Korean pop group was heard cheering about hte news, before Bang Chan chimed in, “We heard the news a few moments ago and are like, ‘Is this real? Is this actually happening?’ We were really surprised too.”
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The Billboard 200 milestone for Oddinary isn’t just the first chart-topper for the act, but its first chart entry. The seven-song set, recorded mostly in the Korean language, launches atop the list with 110,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending March 24, according to Luminate, formerly MRC Data. Of that sum, album sales comprise 103,000 — the biggest sales week for an album in 2022.
The group then ran through their favorite tracks off the EP, with Seungmin choosing “Lonely St.” as his top song, Lee Know and Felix opting for “Venom,” and Hyunjin and Changbin revealing that they love “Maniac.”
“We wanted to show you the maniac side of Stray Kids on stage,” Changbin joked.
Speaking of being onstage, while the group was reluctant to give away any tour spoilers, Lee Know laughed as he promised “handsome people” will be present for the tour, while Felix noted that “the concept that we’re going to showcase is ‘Out of the Ordinary.’”
And, of course, Stray Kids thanked their fanbase, affectionally called the Stays, for their success. “Throughout the week, we were trying to se what their reactions are, what they think about the album,” Bang Chan explained. “Seeing how much they give interest to music and the album itself, it’s the reason we could get this far. I don’t know if we deserve it, but it’s a really big gift that Stays gave us. It makes us want to try harder. It’s a really good start for 2022, so a really big thank you to Stays.”
To wrap up the Twitter Spaces discussion, Bang Chan left fans and listeners with a thoughtful word of advice. “Like our album says, being odd is ordinary. If you have anything you think is odd about yourself, we don’t think there’s any reason to hide it or be anxious or nervous about it. It’s still a part of you. you being an individual, human being on Earth is special […] Stay Oddinary!”
Listen to the full Twitter Spaces discussion with Stray Kids below.
ICYMI: Billboard’s @jasonlipshutz and guest host @Jeff__Benjamin chatted with @Stray_Kids about all things #ODDINARY https://t.co/Au1eApb4vB
— billboard (@billboard) March 29, 2022
