In our new weekly feature “THE WEEKLY,” music critic Seo Seongdeok takes stock of the biggest developments in the music industry each week. Catch up on the latest stories in music, from major artist moves to notable new releases, Billboard chart highlights, and more.
KATSEYE tops the “Billboard” 200 for the first time
KATSEYE’s third EP, “WILD,” debuted at No. 1 on the “Billboard” 200 chart dated August 29. It’s their first No. 1 album. Their two previous EPs, “SIS (Soft Is Strong)” and “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS,” hit No. 98 and No. 4, respectively. “WILD” is the fourth No. 1 album a girl group has put out in the 2020s so far. The three before it were all K-pop albums: BLACKPINK’s “BORN PINK,” NewJeans’ “Get Up,” and TWICE’s “With YOU-th.” Go back further than “BORN PINK” in 2022, and you have to skip the 2010s entirely until you reach Danity Kane’s 2008 “Welcome to the Dollhouse.”.
“WILD” moved 170,000 units in its first week. Not only is that a personal best for KATSEYE, it’s also a record for any girl group since “Billboard” introduced the album-equivalent units system in 2014. Sales came in at 145,000 copies, making it No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart. That’s another career high for the group, and the biggest sales week for a girl group since TWICE moved 146,000 units in 2023 with their 12th mini album, “READY TO BE.” “WILD” was streamed just shy of 27 million times, equivalent to 24,000 units and placing it at No. 19 on the Top Streaming Albums chart. The group’s earlier EPs got a boost, too. “BEAUTIFUL CHAOS” jumped from No. 121 to No. 92, marking its 60th week on the chart, and “SIS” climbed 40 spots from No. 196 to No. 156.
Over on the Hot 100, “Hootie Frutti,” released alongside “WILD,” debuted at No. 31 on the chart dated August 29. Then there’s the singles released ahead of the album. “PINKY UP,” which the group first performed live at Coachella the same day it dropped, entered the chart dated April 25 at No. 28. The song returned to the chart this week, now at No. 81. The group debuted “Animal” on the Hot 100 dated August 8 at No. 24, higher than any of their previous tracks debuted. The song slipped into the 30s before climbing back to No. 24 this week alongside the release of “WILD.”
In all, three of the five songs off “WILD” have reached the Top 40, and all three landed on the Hot 100 this week. Meanwhile, the remaining two tracks, “Bel Air” and “That Way,” made their way to the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, sitting at No. 11 and No. 14, respectively. “ICONIC BY MISTAKE,” KATSEYE’s collaboration with LE SSERAFIM and ILLIT, also returned to the Hot 100 at No. 94, giving KATSEYE four songs on that chart alone. The group also currently tops the Artist 100 chart.
Phoebe Bridgers makes an unconventional comeback
Phoebe Bridgers’ album “Lost Weekend” debuted at No. 2 on the “Billboard” 200. It’s the singer’s first Top 10 album. “Lost Weekend” moved 124,000 units in its first week, including 83,000 copies sold, putting it at No. 2 on the Top Album Sales chart and No. 7 on the Top Streaming Albums chart.
Bridgers is a singer-songwriter from Pasadena, California. Her 2020 breakthrough, “Punisher,” was described as “a diary about your crush during the apocalypse,” capturing the mood of a generation shaped by the pandemic. She received four nominations for the 2021 Grammys, including Best New Artist. In 2024, her supergroup with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, boygenius, went on to win three Grammys, plus one for herself, making her the year’s biggest winner. She’s been a bright star in a decade that, it’s fair to say, has been light on indie rock hits.
And then, Bridgers just disappeared. boygenius announced their hiatus ahead of the 2024 Grammys. In an interview after the ceremony, Bridgers said she couldn’t deal with more public-facing work for the time being. Sure enough, she went quiet for more than two years—and her return was just as sudden. On May 7 this year, flyers went up all over downtown Roswell, New Mexico. The very next day, Bridgers played a show at a 400-seat theater. Tickets were sold at the door on a first come first served basis, one per person, with a total ban on electronic devices. Everyone had to lock their phones away in Yondr Pouches, each one holding a puzzle piece thought to hint at the new album. And it wasn’t a one-off event. She kept the pop-up tour going, playing across 18 smaller cities in venues all 500 seats at most. It all led up to a show at New York’s Madison Square Garden on June 4, tickets for which were just a dollar and sold via lottery, followed days later by the announcement of “The Lost Tour,” a 45-date run spanning the US and Europe. Even then, she still hadn’t confirmed the existence of a new album.
Bridgers finally announced “Lost Weekend” on June 24. She flipped the usual rollout order of album, then tour announcement, then pop-ups on its head. Even her comeback pop-up tour went against the usual purpose of such shows, banning photos and videos and relying strictly on word of mouth among fans, which only made it feel more exclusive. The album rollout followed a similar logic. During the release week, listening sessions paired with video or laser shows were held at some 30 planetariums, and once again, phones weren’t permitted. Come midnight on release day, some 300 independent record shops around the world, including in Korea, held after-hours listening parties and rolled out exclusive limited editions. The planetarium sessions were held in partnership with Spotify. It’s clear to see that Phoebe Bridgers is someone both massive streaming platforms and grassroots record stores are eager to embrace. In an age of social media, dance challenges, and the rush to go viral, she moved 124,000 units in one week by having people lock up their phones instead. And “The Lost Tour” has long since sold out.
Stella Lefty becomes the new face of the country pop crossover
Stella Lefty’s single “Boston” climbed to No. 2 on the “Billboard” Hot 100, a new high. Lefty’s a 24-year-old singer-songwriter from the northern suburbs of Chicago. She studied public health and never planned to have a career in music, but that all changed when she started writing and posting songs to TikTok during a study-abroad stint in Amsterdam, leading to her debut 2025 EP, “Tragic, Really.” The turning point came earlier this year in January, when her song “Thinking ’bout You” went viral. Lefty kept sharing new songs on social media after that, which culminated in the release of “Boston” in February. Since late March, she’s been opening for Cameron Whitcomb’s “Fragile Egos” tour, and she felt she noticed more and more people singing along to “Boston” with every city.
She probably wasn’t imagining things, either. “Boston” debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 95 on the chart dated April 18. By May 23, it was No. 20. It picked up serious momentum starting in July, cracking the Top 10 for the first time and landing at No. 6 on the chart dated July 25. Now, 20 weeks after its debut, the song’s climbed all the way to No. 2. The main driver appears to be radio airplay—and not just country radio, but pop radio, too.
In five weeks of charts from August 1 through 29, “Boston” moved around the Hot 100 from No. 3 to 5, 6, 4 and then 2. Over that same stretch, its position on the streaming chart went from No. 2 to 3, 5, then 3 again for two weeks. On radio, meanwhile, it progressively climbed upward, from No. 20 to 16, then two weeks at 12, and finally 10. “Boston” sits at No. 4 on the Country Airplay chart, but the three songs outperforming it there don’t even come close to overall airplay compared to Lefty’s hit because “Boston” is also No. 20 on Pop Airplay and No. 13 on Adult Pop Airplay, appealing beyond the country base and into the broader pop market. It’s also why “Boston” won’t be overtaking the Hot 100’s No. 1, “Choosin’ Texas,” anytime soon. “Choosin’ Texas” has everything that’s making “Boston” a hit, plus it’s dominating both streaming and radio.
With Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” at No. 3 and Morgan Wallen’s “Been By Now” at No. 4, country pop crossovers currently look like the surest formula for a hit song. The fact that women hold the Top 3, in particular, says something about a shift in the formula for success even within country’s current wave of popularity—one that started with male country singers dominating streaming, most notably Wallen, whose album “I’m The Problem” is also No. 1 in streaming this week. The broader appeal of women on radio, on the other hand, shows the market is developed enough for three or four artists to be this popular at once. On the Radio Songs chart, “I Knew It, I Knew You” is No. 1 and “Choosin’ Texas” is No. 5. “Been By Now” sits at No. 28.