BABYMONSTER's CHOOM Sold 387,871 Copies on Day One. Rami Wasn't There for Any of It.
Six members. Four tracks. One first-day sales record that erased what the same group set seven months ago.
BABYMONSTER's third mini album CHOOM moved 387,871 physical copies on May 4, its release day, according to Hanteo Chart - breaking the group's previous single-day high of 261,650, set by WE GO UP in October 2025. The album simultaneously topped the iTunes Worldwide Album Chart, the European iTunes Album Chart, and the Top Albums charts in 15 individual regions. The music video for the title track entered YouTube's worldwide Top Trending Music Videos at No. 1.
YG Entertainment confirmed the release on March 4 with a general early May window, then locked in May 4 on March 30. The four-track set - "Moon," the hip-hop title track "CHOOM (춤)," "I Like It," and "Locked In" - spans Southern trap-style R&B, dance pop, and warm R&B ballad territory. YG founder Yang Hyun-suk, who has executive-produced every BABYMONSTER project, described the album in pre-release materials as something with "a slight edge and coolness" the group hadn't shown before.
One member is missing from all of it. Rami has been on a health-related hiatus since May 2025 and did not participate in CHOOM's recording or production. YG has provided limited updates on her condition. During an October 2025 fansign, member Pharita told fans that Rami was "still unwell, but she's getting better." According to a fan account tracking her absence, Rami's hiatus stood at 322 days at the time of CHOOM's release. She is also expected to miss the first leg of BABYMONSTER's upcoming world tour.
WE GO UP debuted at No. 13 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart last October, giving the group its strongest US chart performance to date. CHOOM arrives with higher first-day physical numbers, though Billboard figures for the new album won't be available until the tracking week closes.
The 2026-2027 BABYMONSTER World Tour [CHOOM] opens June 26-28 at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul across three nights, then moves through six Japanese cities - Kobe, Fukuoka, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya, and Osaka - before expanding to Asia, Oceania, Europe, and the Americas. A full album is planned for October 2026.
Whether the sales momentum translates to the US the way it did for WE GO UP is the number to watch when Billboard updates on Saturday.
