– BTS’s 5th Full Album ‘ARIRANG’ Secures Top 3 on Billboard’s Main Album Chart for 4 Consecutive Weeks
– The Momentum Continues into Live Performances; North American Tour Kicks Off April 25th
– Title Track ‘SWIM’ Achieves 14 Total Music Show Wins Without Broadcast Appearances, While B-side ‘2.0’ Also Claims 1st Place
Global K-pop sensation BTS (RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, Jungkook) continues to demonstrate their unparalleled popularity, with their latest album ‘ARIRANG’ charting in the ‘Top 3’ on the U.S. Billboard 200 for four consecutive weeks.
According to a chart preview article released on April 20th by Billboard, the renowned American music media outlet, BTS’s 5th full-length album ‘ARIRANG’ secured the 3rd position on the main album chart, the ‘Billboard 200’ (for the chart dated April 25th). The album, released on March 20th, immediately debuted at #1 on the ‘Billboard 200’ (for the chart dated April 4th) and maintained the top spot for three consecutive weeks. Its continued presence in the top tier for a total of four weeks underscores its immense mainstream appeal and commercial success.
Billboard reported that ‘ARIRANG’ registered 78,000 equivalent album units on this week’s chart. This figure encompasses traditional album sales, SEA (Streaming Equivalent Album) units, which convert streaming numbers into album sales, and TEA (Track Equivalent Album) units, which account for digital song downloads.
‘ARIRANG’ has achieved BTS’s highest 4th-week ranking ever on the ‘Billboard 200’. Their previous record for the fourth week was 8th place with their 6th mini-album, ‘MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA’, released in 2019. This remarkable global chart performance firmly establishes ‘ARIRANG’ as one of the group’s most successful releases. More importantly, this outstanding achievement signifies that BTS’s music is resonating with a broad audience far beyond their dedicated fanbase. This expansion of their listener base is also a clear indicator that ‘BTS 2.0’, a new era announced by the group with this album, is becoming a tangible reality.
The global excitement surrounding BTS is also translating into massive concert attendance. The seven members kicked off their ‘BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG” on April 9th, 11th, and 12th at the Goyang Sports Complex Main Stadium, engaging with over 132,000 ecstatic fans.
Following this, their Tokyo Dome concerts on April 17th and 18th captivated 110,000 attendees over two days. A particularly thrilling moment occurred when the Korean folk song ‘Arirang’ was passionately sung along by the audience, creating a spine-tingling atmosphere. During the performance of their new track ‘Body to Body’, which beautifully incorporates the ‘Arirang’ melody, local fans joined in a powerful chorus, marking an unforgettable scene in concert history. Building on this immense success, BTS is set to embark on their highly anticipated North American tour, kicking off on April 25th-26th and 28th at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, USA.
The ‘BTS WORLD TOUR ‘ARIRANG” is an ambitious endeavor, planned to encompass 85 shows across 34 cities, setting a new record for the highest number of performances for a single tour by a Korean artist. As the tour continues to create new milestones and iconic moments in each city, anticipation for their upcoming performances around the globe is soaring.
In other news, BTS’s title track ‘SWIM’ from their new album has achieved a remarkable 14 wins on domestic music shows, an extraordinary feat accomplished without any broadcast appearances. Further demonstrating the album’s widespread acclaim, the B-side track ‘2.0’ also secured the top spot on SBS ‘Inkigayo’ on April 19th, highlighting the strong positive reception for the entire record.
