The Contenders is a midweek column that looks at artists aiming for the top of the Billboard charts, and the strategies behind their efforts. This week, for the upcoming Billboard 200 dated Sept. 7, we look at the still-rising KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack possibly getting lapped by a BB200 superpower.

Stray Kids, Karma (JYP/Republic): Despite being fairly prolific over the past two years — especially on the Billboard charts — K-pop superstars Stray Kids hadn’t actually released an official Korean-language studio album since 2023, having instead been on a run of EPs with one Japanese-language album (2024’s Giant) and one mixtape (2024’s Hop) thrown in. The latest set Karma, released last Friday (Aug. 22), is actually just the octet’s fourth such album total, with 2023’s 5-Star being the o

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