Even without BTS backing, J-Hope's first solo album pinned at No 17 on US Billboard main chart

Even without BTS backing, J-Hope is ruling music charts. The K-pop star who just released his first solo album 'Jack In the Box' has found himself placed at No 17 on US Billboard main chart. K-pop superband BTS member J-Hope has made a good start in the US Billboard's main albums chart for this week. 'Arson', one of the two main singles from the album, landed at 96th on the Hot 100 main singles chart. He is placed 17th on the Billboard 200 with his first formal solo album, 'Jack in the Box', Billboard said on social media Tuesday, reports Yonhap, a news agency.

'Jack in the Box', featuring 10 songs, is also the first-ever official solo album from BTS, which recently announced a new chapter of its career with a focus on individual projects.

The album topped iTunes' top albums charts in 49 countries around the world, including the US, Britain, France and Japan, upon its release on July 15.

Meanwhile, as he spoke about his debut solo album, Jung Ho-seok, professionally known as J-Hope said the main track of the album 'More' is something that would have been hard to do within the context of BTS. Talking about why he chose 'More' as the first song to be released from the album, J-Hope told Variety that "There is definitely a clear reason why I chose More as the first track to be released. I wanted to express a little bit of a darker side of me, as J-Hope, as an individual. This song is very powerful, and actually the feeling that you might have got when you first listened to this song is probably definitely reflected on all the other tracks in the album."

He mentioned, "I'm not saying that rap sound is the main theme or the focal point of my album. However, the overall flow or style is kind of consistent throughout all the tracks. You'll probably understand better once you hear the full tracks after the album is released in a few days. This album is full of this type of particular style, and it definitely reveals a little darker side of me, a different aspect of myself. But I ask for your great support once it's released."

J-Hope left for the US on Monday to headline the main stage of the annual Lollapalooza music festival at Grant Park in Chicago on July 31, the first time for a K-pop idol singer.