BTS again topped the U.S. Billboard 200 with "Arirang." Billboard also showcased their mainstream popularity by setting various new records.
According to a chart preview article Billboard published on its official website on the 30th, BTS's fifth studio album "Arirang" (ARIRANG) took first place on the main album chart, the Billboard 200 (April 4 issue). The outlet said, "'Arirang' entered the chart with 641,000 album units. That is the best weekly performance among group albums since the introduction of unit tracking in December 2014." It added, "Of those, 532,000 were pure album sales (physical and digital purchases). BTS also recorded the highest weekly sales for a group album in more than 10 years in this category. SEA units (streaming-equivalent album units) were 95,000, the highest weekly streaming performance among their works."
Physical album sales drove the first-week numbers for "Arirang." Physical sales reached 516,000 copies. Of these, 208,000 were vinyl, setting the group's own record for most weekly vinyl sales. That is the largest weekly vinyl sales for a group since the Luminate count began in 1991. In addition, "Arirang" went straight to No. 1 on "top album sales" and "top streaming albums."
With this, BTS achieved their seventh No. 1 on the Billboard 200. They first reached No. 1 as the first Korean act with "LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear'" in 2018, and later topped the chart with "LOVE YOURSELF 結 'Answer'" (2018), "MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA" (2019), "MAP OF THE SOUL : 7" (2020), "BE" (2020) and "Proof" (2022).
The momentum of "Arirang," released on the 20th, is spreading worldwide. In Japan, Oricon swept the weekly charts (March 30 issue) for "combined album ranking," "album ranking," "digital album ranking" and "western music album ranking," and it entered No. 1 on the U.K. Official Chart's "Official Albums Top 100" (March 27–April 3). It topped France's National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing (SNEP) "top albums" (March 20–26), and dominated Australia's ARIA "top 50 albums" and the "vinyl chart." On Germany's official music chart (Offizielle Deutsche Charts, March 27 issue) the album and single charts each reached No. 1. BTS is the first group in chart history to simultaneously top those two categories.
Title track "SWIM" held the No. 1 spot for nine consecutive days (March 20–28) on Spotify's "Daily Top Songs Global." It also reached No. 2 on the U.K. "Official Singles Top 100," marking the group's highest placement on that chart. In Korea, without appearing on broadcasts, it swept first place on MBC M's "Show! Champion," Mnet's "M Countdown," KBS2's MUSIC BANK, and SBS's "Inkigayo," winning four music show crowns.
Chaebol Bang Si-hyuk served as executive producer for "Arirang," an album that contains BTS's identity and the universal emotions they face. "SWIM" sings about continuing to swim forward without stopping amid life's waves. RM oversaw most of the songwriting, conveying the things they want to say now.
[Photo] Provided by BigHit Music
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