K-pop global sensation BTS has made history, with their fifth studio album, “Arirang,” securing the coveted No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for an unprecedented third consecutive week. This monumental achievement, announced by Billboard on Sunday (U.S. time) in its chart preview, places “Arirang” ahead of major releases like Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” and “Bully” by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
No other K-pop artist has ever achieved three consecutive weeks at the chart’s summit, marking a truly historic milestone for the genre’s expanding global reach. Previously, the original soundtrack for the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” reached No. 1 for two non-consecutive weeks.
The Billboard 200 chart comprehensively ranks the most popular albums of the week across the United States. Rankings are determined by equivalent album units, which combine traditional physical album sales, digital track equivalent albums (TEA), and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
In its latest tracking week, “Arirang” garnered an impressive 124,000 equivalent album units, a figure that, while down 34 percent from the previous week, solidly maintained its top position.
This total included 71,000 units from physical and digital album sales, with streaming equivalent albums (SEA) contributing 50,000 units, and track equivalent albums (TEA) making up the remainder.
This remarkable feat solidifies BTS’s place in music history, as they become the first group in 13 years to spend three weeks at No. 1 on the prestigious Billboard 200 chart.
Billboard highlighted the significance, noting that the last album by a group to achieve at least three weeks at No. 1 was Mumford & Sons’ “Babel,” which spent five nonconsecutive weeks atop the list in 2012-13. Furthermore, “Arirang” is the first album since Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” (Oct. 18-Nov. 29, 2025) to spend its initial three weeks at No. 1, with Swift’s album racking up its first seven weeks at the top out of 12 total weeks at No. 1.
“Arirang” initially debuted at No. 1 last month, marking BTS’s seventh album to successfully launch atop the Billboard 200. Its powerful lead single, “Swim,” also made a spectacular entry, opening at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the same week, before settling into the second position.
Released on March 20, this 14-track album delves deep into the identity of BTS as a group originating from Korea, exploring the universal emotions and experiences its members have encountered throughout their lives, according to their agency, BigHit Music.
