BTS has been making headlines by appearing on the front pages of Japan's major sports newspapers.
On April 17-18, Japan's five major sports papers—Nikkan Sports, Sports Nippon, Sports Hochi, Sankei Sports and Daily Sports—featured BTS's "WORLD TOUR "ARIRANG" IN TOKYO" concert on their front pages for both days. At convenience stores near Tokyo Dome, where the concert was held, concertgoers looking for those papers kept coming, and newspapers at several stores quickly sold out from early morning, showing the high level of local interest.
Japanese media highlighted keywords such as "full-group return after seven years," "Tokyo Dome frenzy," and "reunion with ARMY (the fandom name)," and gave the story prominent coverage. They focused on the significance of the performance, noting that the group had returned to the Japanese stage as a full group for the first time in a long while and drawing attention to the audience's passionate reaction filling Tokyo Dome.
BTS's full-group performance in Japan came about seven years after the July 2019 "BTS WORLD TOUR "LOVE YOURSELF : SPEAK YOURSELF" – JAPAN EDITION". Both shows this time were sold out, once again proving the explosive anticipation for BTS.
The intense interest in them was also evident in record metrics. According to the Recording Industry Association of Japan, BTS's fifth studio album "Arirang" (ARIRANG) surpassed cumulative shipments of 750,000 as of March and received gold disc "triple platinum" certification. This is their second "triple platinum" certification overall, following the Japanese studio album "MAP OF THE SOUL ： 7 ～ THE JOURNEY ～". Notably, "Arirang" received that certification just 11 days after its release on March 20, revealing its powerful local popularity. It also became the first work this year to receive a "triple platinum" certification across Japanese and international albums. The Recording Industry Association of Japan grants gold disc certifications each month based on cumulative shipments: gold (100,000 or more), platinum (250,000 or more), double platinum (500,000 or more), triple platinum (750,000 or more), and million (1,000,000 or more).
BTS also showed strength on Japan's Oricon charts. They entered five songs on the "weekly streaming rising ranking" (April 20 issue/aggregation period: April 6–April 12), and the new album's tracks "2.0" and "Hooligan" ranked first and third, respectively. In addition, the team's mega hits "Butter" (6), "Dynamite" (7) and "Permission to Dance" (9) were in the top 10, showing that interest in older songs rose along with the new releases.
BTS has continued to maintain a powerful presence on major global charts. On Spotify's latest weekly charts (aggregation period: April 10–April 16), they dominated both the "weekly top albums" and "weekly top songs" global charts for four consecutive weeks, and all 14 tracks from the new album remained on the "weekly top songs global" chart for a fourth week. "Arirang" landed at No. 5 on the U.K. Official Chart's "Official Albums Top 100" (April 17–April 23) and stayed in the upper ranks for four weeks. The title track "SWIM" reached No. 25 on the "Official Singles Top 100."
[Photo] Provided by BigHit Music
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