BTS leader RM became the first K-pop artist to land a top 3 entry on the Billboard 200 with his solo album Indigo in its third week of release, thanks to a belated CD release. India first made its digital-only debut at No. 15 and then fell off the list in its second week. This is RM aka Nam-joon’s first solo top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart. Indigo was released on December 2.
With his album Indigo, RM has now broken the record set by TWICE’s Nayeon in July 2022. Nayeon became the highest-charting Korean solo artist that month when her debut mini album, IM NAYEON, peaked at No.7 on the Billboard 200.
According to Variety, data from Luminate shows that ‘Indigo’ sold the equivalent of 83,000 album units in the United States after its December 16 CD release and numerous collector deluxe packages. Two weeks after the 10-song album debuted at number 15 on the chart with 31,000 sales only from streaming and digital downloads, CDs accounted for 77,500 of the album’s total units for the week.
Collaborations on ‘Indigo’ were made with a number of Korean musicians as well as American powerhouses like Erykah Badu and Anderson.Paak. Earlier, speaking to Variety about ‘Indigo’, RM said, “I thought it could be a well-balanced album and a very unique piece if I could harmonize all of these artists, like industry to industry, continent to continent, nation to nation.”
The singer is the first of the group’s seven members to achieve a solo top 10 position on the Billboard 200 chart (J-‘Jack Hope’s in the Box’ peaked at No. 17 on the chart for the week ending July 30). The group has amassed seven top 10s overall, with six of those placing them in the coveted top spot.
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