ITZY Score Highest Billboard 200 Position With ‘Checkmate’

ITZY have scored their highest position on the Billboard 200 with their latest EP, Checkmate.

The K-pop girl group, who were formed by JYP Entertainment, released the new record earlier this month (July 15) – marking their first release since their debut album Crazy In Love was shared last September.

The new record has given the five-piece their highest position on the Billboard 200 so far, rocketing into the Top 10 for the first time. Checkmate landed at No.8 on this week’s chart and racked up 33,000 equivalent album units. A total of 31,000 of those units were made up of album sales.

According to Billboard, 98 percent of the first-week sales for Checkmate were comprised of CDs, with digital album sales accounting for the other two percent of the total.

Prior to Checkmate, ITZY’s highest position on the Billboard 200 chart was No.11 – the peak position for Crazy In Love.

Checkmate is ITZY’s sixth EP and was led by the single “Sneakers” – a bright electro-pop track that encourages listeners to keep running forward. “I want to run freely, others’ eyes are on me,” they sing on the track. “But I don’t care now/I don’t know how far I’ll go/But I’ll start right now.”

In August, ITZY will kickstart their new world tour, which will see them hold two concerts in Seoul at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium on August 6 and 7. The US leg of the tour will then begin on October 26 with a show at Los Angeles’ YouTube Theater. Tickets for the US tour sold out instantly earlier this year – for more information on the tour, visit ITZY’s official website.

Buy or stream Checkmate. View ITZY’s tour itinerary below.

Aug 6 – Seoul, SK – SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium
Aug 7 – Seoul, SK – SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium
Oct 26 – Los Angeles, CA – YouTube Theater
Oct 29 – Phoenix, AZ – Arizona Federal Theatre
Nov 1 – Dallas, TX – The Pavillion at Toyota Music Factory
Nov 3 – Sugar Land, TX – Smart Financial Centre at Sugar Land
Nov 5 – Atlanta, GA, Fox Theatre
Nov 7 – Chicago, IL – Rosemont Theatre
Nov 10 – Boston, MA – MGM Music Hall at Fenway
Nov 13 – New York, NY – Hulu Theater