(LEAD) Cortis-Billboard

▲ A concept photo for K-pop boy group Cortis' second EP, "GreenGreen," provided by BigHit Music (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

(LEAD) Cortis-Billboard

(LEAD) Cortis' new album claims No. 3 on Billboard 200

(ATTN: ADDS BTS' ranking in 6th para, minor edits in paras 3, 5; RECASTS lead to clarify meaning)

By Shim Sun-ah

SEOUL, May 18 (Yonhap) -- K-pop rookie group Cortis has entered the Billboard 200 at No. 3 with its latest album, "GreenGreen," marking the highest chart position of its career.

The act's second EP earned 87,000 album-equivalent units in the latest tracking week, including 81,500 in album sales, Billboard said Sunday (local time) in a chart preview for this week.

The five-member group also secured its first top-10 entry on the main U.S. albums chart with the album. It previously entered the chart one time with its debut EP, "Color Outside the Lines," which peaked at No. 15 last year.

The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums of the week in the United States, measured by equivalent album units comprising physical and digital sales, as well as streaming and digital track downloads converted into album sales.

In a press release, BigHit Music, the group's agency, said Cortis became the fastest K-pop group, excluding project acts, to reach the chart's top three, achieving the milestone just nine months after debut. It added that the group is the only boy band formed in the past five years to have reached the Billboard 200 top three.

"Arirang," the fifth studio album from K-pop juggernaut BTS, remained in the top 10 for the eighth consecutive week, dropping one spot to No. 8 this week.

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