SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JANUARY 27: Red Velvet performs during the 11th Gaon Chart Music Awards at … [+]
Nearly a decade after they began releasing music, Red Velvet appears to be bigger than ever in America, at least according to one Billboard ranking. The South Korean girl group hits a new high on one chart with their latest EP, which became a bestseller immediately as it arrived.
Red Velvet’s new EP Cosmic debuts on this week’s Top Album Sales chart at No. 6. It marks the first appearance inside the top 10 on Billboard’s ranking of the bestselling titles in the U.S. for the band.
In its first full tracking frame of availability, Cosmic sold just over 8,500 copies throughout America, according to Luminate. That proved to be enough to grant the vocal troupe their initial placement inside the highest tier on the all-genre list, which is known to be especially competitive, as all acts are welcome.
Before this week, Red Velvet had never even come close to the top 10 on the Top Album Sales chart. Their previous peak was No. 40, which they reached in 2020 with their The ReVe Festival: Finale EP.
The band has placed just one other title on the Top Album Sales list. In 2018, when the ranking featured 100 spaces, instead of the 50 it does now, they earned their debut win. Summer Magic once stalled at No. 91 for a single frame before disappearing.
This week, Red Velvet earns the second-loftiest debut on the Top Album Sales tally. They come in behind only Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) and Ty Dolla $ign’s Vultures 2. That set opens, appropriately, in second place on the roster.
Cosmic is also a hit on the Billboard 200, where Red Velvet collects their first career appearance. The EP launches at No. 145 with slightly less than 9,500 equivalent units shifted, and all but about 1,000 of those are pure purchases. It’s also new to the World Albums list, where it opens at No. 4, bringing the girl group back to the uppermost region for the fifteenth time.
