The group BTS once again proved its unmatched standing by setting first-ever records for a foreign artist in the Japanese music market.
According to Oricon's announcement on the 12th, BTS's fifth studio album 'Arirang (ARIRANG)' surpassed a cumulative 1 million points on the latest combined album ranking (Aug. 17). The chart is calculated by adding physical album sales, digital downloads and streaming counts.
This made BTS the third album overall to surpass 1 million points following the Japanese best album BTS, THE BEST and the Japanese studio album MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 ~ THE JOURNEY ~. This is the third record in history after local popular groups Snow Man and Mrs. GREEN APPLE, and BTS is the only act to achieve it among foreign artists.
They also left another major mark on Billboard Japan. According to a report the same day, BTS's 2020 digital single Dynamite exceeded 1 billion cumulative plays. The figure combines counts from major streaming platforms such as Amazon Music, Spotify and Line Music and YouTube Music views on Luminate, and Dynamite is the first foreign song ever to reach the 1 billion plays milestone. It is also the highest play count among BTS's individual songs.
Dynamite, BTS's first English-language song, became the first K-pop group single to top the U.S. Billboard main singles chart Hot 100 when it was released, and it received explosive love in Japan, ranking No. 2 on Billboard Japan's annual Hot 100 chart in 2021.
Meanwhile, Arirang's long-running popularity is fierce. The album earlier swept both the album ranking and the combined album ranking on Oricon's midyear ranking 2026 released in June.
In particular, a foreign artist achieving more than 700,000 album sales in the first half is the first time in 22 years since the legendary rock band Queen's compilation album Jewels in 2004. Also, topping the midyear combined ranking after surpassing 800,000 points is the third time ever following King & Prince and Snow Man, and it remains a historic first for a foreign artist.
[Photo] Big Hit Music
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