Blackpink Achieve Career Milestone as New Album Hits No. 1 in U.K.

Blackpink claimed the No. 1 spot on the U.K. Official Albums Chart last Friday with their second full-length album, "Born Pink," becoming the first K-pop girl group to achieve the feat.

The quartet broke their previous best of No. 2 on the chart, which was set in 2020 with their previous album "The Album."

The group's new album topped new releases from global stars such as legendary '90s English rock band Suede and Rina Sawayama, a Japanese-British singer-songwriter who enjoys huge popularity in the U.K.

The U.K. Official Charts are considered one of the most authoritative ranking systems in the global music industry along with Billboard in the U.S. Dating back to 1969, it has a shorter history than Billboard, which began in 1936, but its rankings show the music trends and popularity of artists in Europe.

Topping the charts is a major achievement, especially for K-pop artists, who rarely perform in Europe and are not as popular there as they are elsewhere.

Meanwhile, the lead-off single from the new album, "Shut Down," hit No. 1 on Spotify's Weekly Top Songs Global chart last week, getting more than 39.19 million streams.

Blackpink are the first K-pop group to rise to the top of the chart.