After about four years, the group BTS returned as a full lineup and again upended the global music market's paradigm. Their fifth studio album "Arirang (ARIRANG)" built a milestone as the first album by a Korean artist to rank No. 1 for two consecutive weeks on the U.S. Billboard main albums chart, the "Billboard 200."
According to U.S. music trade publication Billboard on the 6th, BTS's fifth studio album "Arirang" recorded 187,000 album units on the April 11 Billboard 200 chart, firmly holding the top spot for a second week. In its debut week (April 4 chart), it achieved an astounding 641,000 album units, marking the highest weekly total for a group album since Billboard began counting units in December 2014, and pure album sales also notched an impressive 532,000 copies, the group's best figure in about a decade.
Their firepower on the main song chart, the Hot 100, is also dominant. The title track "SWIM" debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in its first week and secured No. 2 on the April 11 chart, proving both its mass appeal and reach. "SWIM" has also swept the top spot for two consecutive weeks on the Global 200 and Global (excluding U.S.) charts, continuing its explosive popularity.
Behind BTS's unprecedented long run was a meticulous and weighty gamble by HYBE chairman Bang Si-hyuk to "globalize the most Korean things." The album "Arirang" stylishly incorporates distinctly Korean elements such as the ondol (removing shoes) culture, the mysterious bell sound of the Silla king Seongdeok's Divine Bell, and the folk song "Arirang," which carries the spirit of the Korean people. The strategy landed perfectly, creating an astonishing spectacle in which fans of different skin colors and languages around the world sang along in Korean to "Arirang."
Above all, this album proves that BTS has reached the global public beyond its strong core fandom. According to Spotify data, the number of new listeners who discovered BTS's music as of the album's release date surged by more than 690%. The title track "SWIM" recorded 14.64 million Spotify streams on its first day, demonstrating destructive power that surpassed the records of mega-hits "Butter" and "Dynamite" by 1.3 times and 1.9 times, respectively.
As BTS continues to set major milestones in global music history, the music world is focused on the unlimited new records they will write going forward.
[Photo] BigHit Music (HYBE)
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