Group BTS member V's mega-hit OST "Christmas Tree" surpassed 500 million streams on Spotify, once again proving the unrivaled power of the "audio king."
According to global audio·music streaming platform Spotify on the 19th, the OST "Christmas Tree" from the SBS drama Our Beloved Summer, sung by V, suddenly surpassed a cumulative 500 million streams on the 18th. This is V's fifth song to reach 500 million streams on Spotify overall, following "Love Me Again," "Winter Ahead (with Park Hyo-shin)," "FRI(END)S," and "Slow Dancing."
Released from under the veil on Dec. 24, 2021, "Christmas Tree" set unprecedented new records from immediately after its release, rewriting K-pop history. In particular, the song achieved the extraordinary feat of entering the U.S. Billboard main song chart Hot 100 at No. 79, the first time for a Korean drama OST. It also proved its global impact by topping Billboard's Holiday Digital Song Sales and Digital Song Sales charts and reaching No. 55 on the Holiday Hot 100.
U.S. media outlet Elite Daily included "Christmas Tree" in its "24 best Christmas season songs released since the 2000s" playlist, and U.K. outlet Edinburgh Live named it "the most popular Christmas song on Spotify," attracting attention. In addition, Billboard staff in the U.S. selected the song for their "25 best Christmas songs of the 21st century," offering lavish praise for its sentimental lyrics and V's distinctive vocal color.
With this, V has risen as the only K-pop artist to have as many as three songs reach No. 1 on Billboard's Holiday Digital Song Sales chart. Starting with "Christmas Tree," "White Christmas (with V of BTS)," and "Winter Ahead (with Park Hyo-shin)" swept the top spot on that chart. It also signifies that the song has overcome the limits of "seasonal songs," which typically enjoy fleeting popularity only during a specific period.
[Photo] BigHit Music
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