Since their debut in 2017, Stray Kids have become a force to be reckoned with. The K-pop eight-piece has released four studio albums, thirteen extended plays, and multiple chart-topping singles.
One of the fundamental formulas that made Stray Kids stand out among a sea of K-pop groups is the group leader Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han’s unit, known as 3RACHA. They are the brains behind the act’s most successful works. So here, we are looking at the best of Stray Kids’ albums that gained critical recognition and started a new chapter of K-pop.
Clé: Levanter
Stray Kids’ 2019 EP, Clé: Levanter, was the final part of their Clé series. The mini album signifies Stray Kids’ courage while they navigate adulthood. The music label of the K-pop act, JYP Entertainment, explained the EP’s concept, noting, “Stray Kids, who have been running towards their dreams until now, have condensed the true meaning of ‘Clé’ discovered during their past journey into this album.”
Clé: Levanter started a new chapter for the group, collecting over 182,300 album sales within weeks of the EP’s release. It charted at number 1 on South Korea’s Circle Album Chart. The seven-track EP also peaked at nine on Billboard’s US World Chart, becoming one of the best-performing EPs of Stray Kids in the United States (at that time).
Clé 1: Miroh
Stray Kids’ Clé 1: Miroh was a special EP released during the group’s first anniversary celebration. Miroh marked the beginning of the Stray Kids’ Clé era, which contained three extended plays. The EP had seven tracks and a bonus track in the physical edition of the album.
3RACHA was the brains behind all the songs that made the EP close to fans’ hearts. It sold over 354,796 copies in South Korea and ranked number 1 on South Korea’s Circle Album Chart. The album peaked at number 3 on Billboard’s US World Chart. The upbeat EP proved Stray Kids’ enormous potential within a year of its debut.
Noeasy
Stray Kids’ second studio album, Noeasy, became the group’s first million-seller. The album’s title is a clever wordplay: Noisy, hinting at the group’s slow transformation to more rock-dominated ‘noisy music.’ The album consisted of fourteen songs from diverse genres, including EDM, hip-hop, synth-pop, alternative R&B, and alternative rock.
3RACHA’s experiment on Noeasy paid off. The album reintroduced Stray Kids’ style of music to K-pop fans. Multiple publications’ year-end lists, including Genius, Pop Crush, Rolling Stone India, and more, listed it as one of the best K-pop releases. It sold over 1,827,808 copies in South Korea, topping the Circle Album Chart. In the U.S., it sold over 16,100 copies, depicting the group’s growing influence.
Oddinary
Stray Kids’ 2022 EP Oddinary became the group’s first Billboard 200 topper album. The album’s concept was to embrace the odd in the ordinary. The K-pop octet explained, “All of us who have something odd about ourselves” and cherishing “odd things will soon become ordinary.”
The seven-track EP also saw Hyunjin, Lee Know, Changbin, and I.N. wearing music producers’ hats and joining 3RACHA in tracks like “Waiting For Us” and “Muddy Water.” The album’s commercial reception was phenomenal. It sold over 1,976,637 copies in South Korea and 204,000 copies in the U.S.
In addition to the album sales, multiple tracks of Oddinary, including “Maniac” and “Venom,” went viral across social media and garnered whopping streaming numbers. The title track, “Maniac,” clocked over 242 million YouTube views.
Maxident
Maxident established that Stray Kids’ fever in the U.S. will last a long time. The mini-album of eight tracks explored love from various aspects. The group explained the title of the mini album sharing: love is like a ‘max (maximum) accident.’
The mini album manages to keep all the necessary characteristics of Stray Kids intact while exploring a sentimental topic that Stray Kids had not dabbled with before to such an extent. The commercial reception of Maxident was unprecedented. It sold over 3 million copies in South Korea and over 200,500 copies in the United States.
Rock-Star
Stray Kids’ Rock-Star became the group’s biggest best-seller mini album. The seven-track EP received critical recognition for portraying Stray Kids’ maturing taste in music. The album contained over eight tracks of diverse genres, including hip-hop, rock, and pop.
The EP sold over 4 million copies of its physical edition in South Korea, securing the number 1 spot in the Circle Album Chart. In the U.S., it sold over 223,448 and peaked at number 1 on Billboard’s 200 chart. Stray Kids made a new record in the Billboard 200 charts as one of the first artists to send their four consecutive albums to the top since Alicia Keys and One Direction (2012–2014).
5-STAR
Stray Kids’ 5-Star became the group’s most successful studio album. Released on June 2, 2023, the album topped the music charts of over nine countries, including South Korea, Austria, Belgium, France, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and the United States.
The twelve-track album featured a star-studded lineup of producers, including Versachoi, Chae Kang-hae, Restart, Zack Djurich, Millionboy, Trippy, Nickko Young, Kyle Reynolds, Chris LaRocca, and Jun2, and Stray Kids’ icon Felix.
Along with incredible sales, 5-Star won the Best K-pop Album award at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards and 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards and the Best Album (Bonsang) Award at the 2024 Golden Disc Awards.
After spending 2023 at the top of the music charts, the anticipation for Stray Kids’ future releases is running high. The “Back Door” crooners recently wrapped their 2024 edition of fan meeting concerts in Seoul. The group is also expected to go on their third world tour this year.
