KUALA LUMPUR: Lay, of popular South Korean-Chinese K-Pop group EXO, has created a personal milestone for himself with the release of his solo album Namanana on Oct 19.
According to Soompi, the album which charted on Billboard 200 at No. 21 for the week ending Nov 3 was a first for the Chinese singer-songwriter on the famous chart.
It is also considered the highest position ever achieved for a Chinese artiste.
Nielsen Music reported that the release had earned 24,000 equivalent album units in the week ending Oct 25, with 23,000 of it being from traditional album sales.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the US based on multi-metric consumption, from traditional album sales to the streaming equivalent of albums.
Namanana also took the No. 1 spot on the Independent Albums chart and the World Albums chart, with the latter being the hunky 27-year-old’s highest ever entry on it.
Aside from that, the release by SM Entertainment was No. 4 on the Top Album Sales chart and No. 7 on the Social 50 chart as well.
The album, which sees Lay composing, arranging and writing the lyrics to all of its 22 tracks, is made up of 11 Chinese songs and 11 English equivalent tunes including the pre-release track, Give Me A Chance.
Lay, whose real name is Zhang Yixing, is expected to stage a fan event in New York on Nov 6 and will be making a comeback with EXO for its fifth studio album, Don’t Mess Up My Tempo, set for a Nov 2 release.