''Checkmate'' is the fifth extended play (EP) by South Korean girl group

Itzy Itzy (stylized in all caps; ) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment and consisting of members Yeji, Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryeong, and Yuna. They debuted on February 12, 2019, with the release of their single album ''It'z Different'' ...

. It was released on July 15, 2022, through

JYP Entertainment JYP Entertainment Corporation () is a South Korean multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate founded in 1997 by J. Y. Park. It is one of the largest entertainment companies in South Korea, and operates as a record label, tale ...

, and

Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an ...

. The EP consists of seven tracks, including the lead single "

Sneakers Sneakers (also called trainers, athletic shoes, tennis shoes, gym shoes, kicks, sport shoes, flats, running shoes, or runners) are shoes primarily designed for sports or other forms of physical exercise, but which are now also widely used fo ...

". ''Checkmate'' was a commercial success and debuted at number one on South Korea's

Circle Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Korea based on their pure sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, previously know ...

with 700,000 copies sold in the first week of release, marking Itzy's fourth number-one album on the chart and their highest-selling album to date. In September, the EP was certified

Million One million (1,000,000), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the au ...

by the

Korea Music Content Association The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. It is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored by South Korea's ...

(KMCA) for surpassing 1,000,000 copies sold. It also debuted at number eight on the ''Billboard'' 200, becoming Itzy's first top-ten album in the United States.

Background and release

On June 2, 2022,

announced that Itzy would be returning with new music in July, which would be followed by their first world tour in support of the release. The announcement featured a promotion scheduler with details of the new EP as well as a partial schedule of the tour. The EP, Itzy's first new music in nine months since the release of their debut studio album ''

Crazy in Love "Crazy in Love" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé, featuring a rap verse and ad-libs from her future husband Jay-Z from her debut solo studio album '' Dangerously in Love'' (2003). The song was released as her official debut single ...

'' (2021), was announced to be entitled ''Checkmate'' with the lead single "

". On June 13, the group teaser photo was released. On July 11, a highlight medley teaser video for the album was released. The album alongside the music video for "Sneakers" were released on July 15.

Album cover

The original digital cover for ''Checkmate'' featured a dark aura with a single chess piece in the middle. On July 22, 2022, JYP changed the album cover with no prior announcement, in response to fans complaints that the original cover did not match the group's concept or promotions.

Accolades

Commercial performance

On July 15,

announced that ''Checkmate'' had reached 720,665 pre-orders as of July 14, surpassing

Twice Twice (; Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn: ''To~uwaisu''; commonly stylized as TWICE) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaey ...

's '' Formula of Love: O+T=<3'' to become the fourth-most pre-ordered album by a Korean girl group. On Hanteo Chart, the album recorded over 472,394 copies in its first week of release. In South Korea, ''Checkmate'' debuted at number one with 700,000 copies sold on the

for the week ending July 16, 2022, becoming Itzy's fourth number-one album and surpassing ''

'' (2021) as the group's best-selling album. In the United States, ''Checkmate'' landed at number eight on the ''Billboard'' 200 with 33,000

equivalent album units The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditio ...

, of which 31,000 units were album sales. This marked Itzy's first top-ten album and their highest position on the chart, surpassing the number 11 ranking of ''Crazy in Love''. In August 31, it is reported that the album has exceeded 1,000,000 sales on the

Circle Chart The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. It is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored by South Korea's ...

Track listing

Notes * "Racer" is sometime stylized as "RAC3R".

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

References

{{Itzy 2022 EPs Itzy EPs JYP Entertainment EPs Korean-language EPs Republic Records EPs