By Shim Sun-ah
K-pop supergroup BTS has made history, with their fifth studio album, “Arirang,” dominating the Billboard 200 chart for a second consecutive week. The album maintained its top position, surpassing releases like “Bully” from Ye (formerly Kanye West) and Melanie Martinez’s “Hades.”
This monumental achievement marks BTS as the first K-pop act ever to hold the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 for two consecutive weeks. While the ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ animated film soundtrack previously topped the chart, its reign was non-consecutive, underscoring BTS’s unique accomplishment.
The Billboard 200 accurately measures the most popular albums each week across the United States. Rankings are determined by equivalent album units, which combine traditional physical album sales with track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).
BTS’s “Arirang” secured its dominant position this week with an impressive 187,000 equivalent album units for the week ending April 2. This followed its massive debut, which saw 641,000 units – the largest opening week for any album in 2026 to date – though weekly units saw a 71 percent decrease.
Breaking down the week’s total, 114,000 units were generated from robust physical and digital album sales. Streaming Equivalent Album (SEA) units contributed significantly with 65,000, with Track Equivalent Album (TEA) units comprising the balance.
Released on March 20, BTS’s “Arirang” delves into the group’s profound identity, tracing their origins in Korea and reflecting on the universal emotions and experiences shared by its members throughout their journey.
This 14-track masterpiece adds to BTS’s formidable legacy, becoming their seventh album to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. It joins a prestigious list of chart-topping releases including “Love Yourself: Tear,” “Love Yourself: Answer,” “Map of the Soul: Persona,” “Map of the Soul: 7,” “Be,” and their anthology album “Proof.”
Further showcasing BTS’s chart dominance, “Swim,” the lead track from “Arirang,” simultaneously debuted at the summit of the highly competitive Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the same monumental week.
