Tomorrow X Together’s third studio album hit Oricon’s weekly album ranking at the top, according to the latest chart published on Tuesday.

LP “The Name Chapter: Freefall,” released on Friday, topped the weekly chart in only three days, after debuting atop its daily album ranking.

The band is the only artist to place three albums atop the weekly albums chart, said Oricon. The quintet’s fifth EP, “The Name Chapter: Temptation,” and second LP in Japan, “Sweet,” also were No. 1 on the chart.

This also renews its own record: The band now has nine consecutive albums that notched the No. 1 spot on the weekly chart, the most for an international artist.

Meanwhile, the new LP sold over 1.92 million copies on the day of release, raising expectations that it will hit 2 million in first-week sales, as did the previous album.

NCT127 announces Japan tour plan

NCT127 will visit three cities in Japan for its third international tour, announced label SM Entertainment on Tuesday.

The band will hold two concerts in each city: in Nagoya on Jan. 7-8, in Osaka on Feb. 10-11 and in Tokyo on March 9-10. This is the second time the band is performing at dome concert venues in the country, after it drew about 220,000 fans through five live shows last year.

The nine members are launching the tour “Neo City: The Link” in Seoul next month with six concerts held over two weeks. They are promoting their fifth full-length album, “Fact Check,” that was released on Oct. 6.

Seventeen adds date to Asia tour

Seventeen will perform one more time in Bangkok, Thailand, on Christmas Eve, said agency Pledis Entertainment on Tuesday.

This expands its “Follow To Asia” tour to 19 concerts in total. The band kicked off the tour in Seoul in July before visiting five cities in Japan, and will go live in the Thai capital as well as in Bulacan, Philippines, and Macao, up until Jan. 21.

Meanwhile, the 13-member act is bringing out its 11th EP, “Seventeenth Heaven,” on Oct. 23. The mini album sold over 4.67 million copies in preorders as of last week, surpassing that of its previous EP, “FML,” which received 4.54 million preorders and went on to sell 6.27 million units, breaking the album sales record in K-pop history.

EXO’s Chanyeol, Sehun not leaving: label

Chanyeol and Sehun of EXO are not joining a new management company, said label SM Entertainment Tuesday.

The firm denied the rumor that the two are leaving the label, adding that the contracts it signed with members of the band stand firm. Under the contracts, however, is a condition that members can pursue their individual careers through a company they set up on their own, it explained.

A local media outlet reported Tuesday that the two veteran idols are signing with a new agency to expand their own careers while continuing their group activities through SM Entertainment.

The two also perform as the subunit EXO-SC, which participated in a music festival in Tokyo this summer.

Separately, Chanyeol will drop the solo single “Good Enough” on Oct. 20, his first solo song in 2 1/2 years.

By Hwang You-mee
(glamazon@heraldcorp.com)