NAYEON‘s debut at No. 7 on the Billboard 200 with her solo effort didn’t just make her the first-ever K-pop star to enter the Top 10 of the main U.S. albums chart, but it landed the TWICE member a slew of record-setting achievements.
For its first week out, IM NAYEON: The 1st Mini Album earned 57,000 equivalent album units, which marks the largest week of 2022 for any album by a woman or female-led group, as previously reported.
Of that sum, album sales comprise 52,000 units to make it the top-selling album of the week and debut at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart to make her the only K-pop soloist to start atop the chart to date.
The “Pop!” star also earned another No. 1 on World Albums, making her the first female artist to debut at the tally’s summit in 2022.
NAYEON shared an exclusive statement with Billboard reacting to her chart success, looking back on how it happened and giving a special shout-out to TWICE’s fandom, named ONCE.
“It was my first time preparing a solo project which I felt quite a burden,” NAYEON says. “However, I did my best to prepare the album and enjoyed a lot. The result was satisfactory, which made me happy. First and foremost, ONCE encouraged me and supported me a lot during this preparation and schedule, and this definitely made everything possible. Thank you so much!”
This week, IM NAYEON sits pretty at No. 31 on the Billboard 200 to mark the first time a K-pop soloist has spent two weeks in the Top 40 of the chart. It’s the latest bit of happy news for NAYEON and TWICE after the group announced a new mini album, Between 1&2, dropping in late August.
Plus, on July 11, the nine members of the girl group revealed that they had renewed their contracts with current label JYP Entertainment before the seven-year expiration.
“JYP is proud to announce that all members of TWICE have renewed their contracts prior to their exclusive contract expiration in the coming fall,” the Seoul-based label said in a statement shared with Billboard.
“The potent mutual trust between TWICE, who played a crucial role in establishing JYP’s reputation, and JYP, which provided resolute support for TWICE to bloom as the top K-pop girl group, confidently confirms the flourishing future that lies ahead with this renewal of all members’ contracts. JYP will provide robust and endless support for TWICE to further prosper as the Top global girl group. We ask for your strong support and wide interest.”
