RM Becomes First BTS Member To Have Top 10 Solo Album With “Indigo” Rising, While SZA Rules Chart For Second Week

BTS member RM earned his debut solo album in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart with “Indigo” rises dramatically to No. 3 in its third week, thanks to a late CD release, after initially debuting as a digital-only album at No. 15 and then dropping out of the chart in its second week.

Boosted with its CD release on December 16 and several deluxe collectible packages, "Indigo" has recorded the equivalent of 83,000 album units sold in the United States, according to Luminate data. CDs accounted for 77,500 units on the 10-song album for the week, two weeks after the record's initial chart launch dated December 17 at No. 15, with 31,000 units coming from streaming and digital downloads alone.

"Indigo" included collaborations with several Korean artists and American heavyweights like Erykah Badu and Anderson. Paak. About the track listing, the K-pop rapper told Variety in an interview, "I thought it could be a well-balanced album and a very unique piece if I could harmonize all these artists, like industry to industry, from continent to continent, from nation to nation.”

The singer is the first of the group's seven members to break into the Billboard top 10 solo 200 (J-Hope's Jack in the Box peaked on the chart dated July 30 at No. 17); As a group, they reached seven top 10s, six of which secured the coveted top spot.

SZA's 'SOS' records second week atop Billboard 200 album charts after making its debut at No. 1 last week with the second-biggest streaming week ever for an album by a female artist. The set generated the equivalent of 180,000 album sales in the United States, down 43%, but still up after topping the charts last week with 318,000 units.

Taylor Swift's "Midnights" Holds No. 2 with 31% Sales Increase albums, due to holiday shopping. As Billboard points out, the majority of those sales were vinyl-driven (up 41%) because the record has five different vinyl editions, earning the pop singer the third-biggest sales week for any what a vinyl album in 2022. It only follows the weekly debut of "Midnights" itself (which recorded 575,000 vinyl copies in its first week) and Harry's "Harry's House"(182,000) Styles.

Of other top 10 non-Christmas albums, Metro Boomin's "Heroes & Villains" slips 3 - 4 on the Billboard 200 with 76,000 units (down 25%), "Her Loss" by Drake and 21 Savage falls 4-6 with 60,000 units and "Un Verano Sin Ti" by Bad Bunny is at No. 10 with 52,000 units. Returning Christmas favorites fill other spots on the list, including Michael's "Christmas" Bublé holding up top holiday collection, staying at No. 5 with 72,000 units, Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song" surging to No. 7, Vince Guaraldi Trio's "A Charlie Brown Christmas" soundtrack lands at No. 8 and Mariah Carey's “Merry Christmas” sits at No. 9.

On the Hot 100 song chart, SZA had a reduced presence, due to the holiday buzz that list will be largely filled with Christmas songs. SZA's "Kill Bill," which debuted at No. 3 on the singles chart last week, slips to No. 7 as the only "SOS" song to stay in the top 10 in its second week. album at the top of the chart.

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