“Congratulations Queens”: Fans rejoice as TWICE becomes the first female Korean act to achieve the biggest U.S. single-week sales

On March 19, Billboard officially made an announcement that TWICE has become the first Korean act to achieve the biggest U.S. single week sales after debuting at No.2 on the Billboard 200 with their mini-album, READY TO BE.

Released by JYP Entertainment and Republic Records, TWICE released their 12th mini-album READY TO BE on March 10, 2023 and it consists of seven tracks, including group’s second English single, Moonlight Sunrise.

As expected, fans were elated as they took to social media to celebrate the feat achieved by the girl group. Fans are also ecstatic about the fact that the group is now the first female K-pop artist in Billboard history to have three albums in the top three of the Billboard 200.

Fans can’t keep calm as TWICE continues to "make history" on the Billboard charts

READY TO BE is now renowned as the biggest female debut album in pure sales in the U.S., coming just after Taylor Swift’s Midnights, which recorded 1.40 million sales. READY TO BE has also surpassed the record set by BLACKPINK’s THE ALBUM.

The mini-album recorded approximately 153.000 pure sales in the first week of March and has also debuted at the No.3 spot on the physical sales chart. They also have six entries on the Billboard chart, including Eyes wide open, MORE & MORE, Taste of Love, Formula Love: O+T<3, and BETWEEN 1& 2.

Additionally, fans are happy and proud of TWICE for creating history in the Circle Chart by bringing in the second-highest number in the first week of sales. It also recorded an overall 651,205 sales in the first week of sales on Hanteo.

READY TO BE debuted on the French SNEP albums chart at No.15, marking their first entry on the chart. The mini-album is also at No.2 as the highest charting K-pop album on the Billboard Vinyl Chart.

The mini-album consists of seven tracks, including Set Me Free (both Korean and English versions), Moonlight Sunrise, Got the Thrills, Blame it on Me, Wallflower, and Crazy Stupid love.

More about TWICE

With JYP Entertainment as their agency, the girl group consists of nine members - Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Jihyo, Momo, Sana, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. The group was formed through the program Sixteen and debuted in 2015. They specialize in K-pop, J-pop, bubblegum pop, dance-pop, and other genres.

The group rose to domestic fame and recognition with their single Cheer Up, which charted on No.1 on the Goan Digital Chart and also graced the title of Song of the Year at the Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. They are also the first female Korean act to top both the Billboard’s World Albums and World Digital Song Sales charts by releasing their first studio album Twicetagram.

The group has been credited with albums like Celebrate, BETWEEN 1 & 2, Perfect World, Eyes Wild Open, The year of “YES”, Summer Nights, Merry & Happy, and others.

About the author

Kirti holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism & Mass Communication and has been a Kpop writer at SK POP since 2022. She has been following Kpop and Kdramas since the last 6 years and but has worked in the genre only in the last 3-4 years donning several several caps - social media intern, copywriter, article writer and academic writer.

Kirti likes to pen down insightful features based on Korean dramas, especially the 'Ending Explained' categories. It gives her the satisfaction of creating the most authentic content rather than simply replicating what media outlets generally do.

Her process of creating content is time-consuming, yet methodical; she prefers to use original sources of information, which in her case are Korean outlets. She watches entire episodes, writes them down, cross-checks/fact-checks the details/event timelines off the web and eventually creates her copy.

Kirti likes Lee Je-hoon, IU, and Kim Seon-ho since she feels that their dramas are inspiring and have good plotlines. When she is not writing about K-dramas, she can be found watching them.

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