The group's new record continues after BTS returned as a full group. "ARIRANG" held the No. 1 spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 for a second consecutive week, setting another unprecedented record.
On the 6th, according to a chart preview article posted on the official website of U.S. music trade publication Billboard, BTS's fifth studio album "ARIRANG" (ARIRANG) topped the main album chart Billboard 200 (for the April 11 issue). With this, BTS became the first Korean artist to hold the top spot on that chart for two consecutive weeks.
Billboard explained, "ARIRANG recorded 187,000 album units on this week's chart. Of those, 114,000 were pure album sales (physical and digital purchases). SEA units (streaming-equivalent album units) accounted for 65,000, and the remainder were 8,000 TEA units (track-equivalent album units)."
"ARIRANG" became the group's seventh album to reach the top of that chart when it hit No. 1 on the April 4 Billboard 200. In its first week of release it recorded 641,000 album units, setting the highest weekly figure for a group album since Billboard introduced unit accounting in December 2014. It also recorded 532,000 pure album sales, the highest weekly sales for a group album in about a decade.
Released on the 20th of last month, "ARIRANG" swept music charts around the world in its second week after release, entering a full-fledged long-run popularity. BTS topped Spotify's updated latest weekly global charts (tracking period: March 27–April 2) for weekly top albums, weekly top songs and weekly top artists on April 4, maintaining No. 1 for two consecutive weeks across all three categories.
According to Australia's ARIA released on the 3rd, the new album remained at No. 1 on the top 50 albums chart for a second week. It ranked No. 2 on Germany's official music chart (Offizielle Deutsche Charts/April 3 issue) and No. 2 on the French recorded music association SNEP's top albums chart (tracking period: March 27–April 2), and it landed at No. 4 on the U.K. Official Chart's Official Albums Top 100 (April 3–April 9 issue).
BTS is continuing to show strength on domestic music shows with the new album's title track "SWIM." Without appearing on broadcasts, they achieved a cumulative nine crowns on SBS's Inkigayo, MBC's Show! Music Core, KBS 2TV's MUSIC BANK, cable channel Mnet's M Countdown and MBC M's Show! Champion.
[Photo] Provided by BigHit Music (HYBE).
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