Ateez earns its first million-seller with EP 'The World Ep. 1 : Movement'

Ateez [KQ ENTERTAINMENT]

Boy band Ateez earned its first million-seller with EP “The World Ep. 1 : Movement,” almost four years after its debut.

The EP had sold over 1 million units since its release on July 29, according to data provided by local album sales tracker Circle Chart (formerly known as Gaon Chart) on Thursday.

The EP also landed at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and five other Billboard charts and shot to the top of various local music streaming charts.

Boy bands BTS, EXO, Seventeen, NCT, Tomorrow X Together, Stray Kids, Enhypen all have EPs or albums that sold over 1 million copies, but they are all represented by the four K-pop powerhouses — YG, SM, JYP Entertainment and HYBE.

It’s considered rare for a boy band from a smaller K-pop agency to achieve the feat. Ateez is represented by KQ Entertainment.

The band will soon embark a world tour titled “The Fellowship : Break the Wall,” which will start in Jamsil Indoor Stadium in southern Seoul from Oct. 29 to 30, then move to Anaheim, Phoenix, Dallas, Fort Worth, Chicago, Atlanta and Newark in the United States and then to cities in Canada and Japan.

BY LEE JAE-LIM [lee.jaelim@joongang.co.kr]