Popular boy group BTS made K-pop history by topping the Billboard 200 chart with its new album.
According to the chart unveiled Sunday (U.S. time) by the online edition of the Billboard magazine, the group’s third full-length album “Love Yourself: Tear” ranked No. 1 on the Billboard main albums chart.
It also became the first primarily non-English album to top the chart in over 12 years.
The chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in America based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.
The highest-charted K-pop album previously on the Billboard 200 was BTS’ “Love Yourself: Her,” which ranked seventh in September 2017.
K-pop sensation Psy stayed at No. 2 on the Hot 100 main singles chart for two consecutive weeks with his 2012 mega-hit single “Gangnam Style,” but he proved to be just a one-hit wonder.
On the contrary, BTS steadily moves higher on Billboard charts whenever it drops a new album, backed by its ever-growing fandom, or ARMY.
With a strong fandom in the United States, in particular, the group has already been a frequent on the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 charts. It took only two years and five months for the band to hit the top post since debuting on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 171 with its album “The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2” in December 2015. It became the first K-pop act managed by a minor entertainment agency to enter the chart.
“The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever” ranked No. 107 in May 2016, “Wings” at No. 26 in October that year and the album’s extended version, “You Never Walk Alone” at No. 61 in March last year. In September, “Love Yourself: Her” hit No. 7, becoming the highest-charting K-pop album ever on the chart at that time.
In the same month, the band’s hit single “DNA” debuted on the Hot 100 chart at a time when competition among global pop stars was far more intense. The song began at No. 85 on the chart and rose to No. 67. The remix of “Mic Drop” landed at No. 28 upon its release in December and is currently group’s highest ranking song on the chart.
On May 20 (U.S. time) this year, BTS performed at the Billboard Music Awards, where they received the top social artist award for the second year in a row.
With the latest release, the group has broken its own records. The album sold more than 1 million copies within the first week of its release and preorders hit a record high of 1.5 million copies.
It also claimed the top spot on iTunes’ Top Albums charts in 65 countries, including the U.S., Australia and Brazil.
On Friday, “Love Yourself: Tear” landed at No. 8 on the UK Official Albums Chart Top 100, the highest-ever for a K-pop group.
The music video of “Fake Love,” the lead track off the album, surpassed 100 million YouTube views on Sunday, less than eight days and a half days after its release. The group now has 13 music videos with more than 100 million views, the highest in the K-pop industry.
Source: Yonhap News
