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K-pop group Stray Kids added another feather to their cap on July 19, when they won the Billboard's 2022 Fan Army Face Off with the assistance of their dedicated fandom, STAY.
The group and their fandom managed to defeat some big names in the music industry like Ariana Grande and her Arianators, Cardi B and the Bardy Gang, Beyoncé and her fandom BeyHives, SEVENTEEN and their CARATs, as well as the K-pop megastars BTS and their super-powerful ARMY.
The K-pop group also defeated fellow fourth generation K-pop group TXT and their fandom MOA on their way to the top.
Stray Kids and STAY defeated 64 artists to win Billboard's Fan Army Face-Off 2022
2022 has been a hectic year for the JYP group. They recently made a comeback with their new EP, ODDINARY. The album became the group's first EP to enter Billboard 200 at a whopping number 1, becoming the third Korean act after BTS and SuperM to do so.
The album's title song MANIAC, also debuted at number 19 on the Bubbling under Hot 100 chart and achieved the number 1 position on the World Digital Songs Sales Chart. The song also helped them win their first big win at the Music Bank with the highest score in 2022.
In the midst of a hectic year filled with achievements and new records, the Billboard's Fan Army Face Off win only seemed to have added the cherry to the icing on the cake.
The Billboard's Fan Army Face Off challenge is an annual contest where different artists' fans go head-to-head in a tournament format to determine whose fanbase is the strongest.
The contest, which began with 64 artists from across the world, narrowed down to Adele, Ariana Grande, BTS, SB19, SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, Taylor Swift and TXT for its 'elite eight'.
The Face-Off further narrowed down to SEVENTEEN, SB19, Stray Kids and TXT for the final four of 2022.
Stray Kids and their fandom STAY managed to sweep the crown for themselves on July 19 by finally defeating the Fillipino band SB19 and their fandom A'TIN.
Billboard officially congratulated them on Twitter.
The fandom STAY was elated with the news and flocked to Twitter to congratulate each other and the band as well.
The band's victory was graciously met by members of A'TIN, the Fillipino band SB19's global fandom.
Stray Kids debuted in 2018, under the label JYP entertainment. Crowned as one of the most successful fourth generation K-pop groups, the band has achieved some impressive feats since their debut.
They won the Rookie of the Year award at the Asia Artist Award in 2018. The artists won their first Daesang at the 2021 Asia Artist Award for Performance of the Year. This also made them the first fourth-generation K-pop group to win a Daesang.
Their song Back Door, released in 2020 as part of the album GO LIVE, was mentioned by TIME magazine in its list of the 10 Best Songs of 2020. Time also mentioned IN LIVE (their 2020 repackaged album) as one of the albums that defined K-pop in 2020.
They had the most streamed songs by any fourth-generation boy group in 2020, along with being the best-selling fourth-generation boy group in terms of album sales and viewership, helping Stray Kids establish their status as one of the leaders of the fourth generation K-pop music industry.
