Ever since their "Wings" album, K-pop group BTS has been blazing the trail for other K-pop acts by effectively breaking down the borders between K-pop artists and internationally renowned entertainers. This time around, they broke their own record as they entered the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 Album Chart with their comeback album “Love Yourself: Her.”
International recognition
It can be recalled that BTS or Bangtan Boys (now known internationally as Behind the Scene) made history by being the first K-pop act to win an award at the recently concluded Billboard Music Awards.
The group, backed by their devoted fandom that is known worldwide as ARMY, won the Top Social Artist honors at the award show. They bested popular international acts like Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Selena Gomez and Shawn Mendes.
The win was a testament to BTS’ growing popularity around the world and the strength of their fanbase which propelled BTS' win with a record number of tweets. In an earlier interview with iHeartMusic during the US leg of their "Wings" tour, BTS leader Rap Monster cited many factors in their success. He said that one of the reasons is the accessibility of their music through various streaming channels like YouTubeyoutube. He also credited their global ARMY for their efforts in translating their music and interviews in different languages so they can reach more people worldwide.
Breaking records
As a credit to their consistency, BTS now holds the record for the second most number of weeks in the Billboard Social 50 chart. The group trails only Justin Bieber who holds the record for 161 weeks on the chart. With 49 weeks total on the Social 50, BTS has 40 non-consecutive weeks at #1 making them the only K-pop group to maintain this level of consistency in the Billboard list.
With “Love Yourself: Her” debuting on the Billboard 200 album chart at No. 7, this marks a whole new record for BTS and K-pop in general. With this accomplishment, BTS managed to chart the highest rank for a K-pop album and even beat its own record for the "Wings" album that peaked at #26. Significantly, BTS' "Wings” and “Love Yourself” are the only two K-pop albums to break into the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 album chart.
It seems as though BTS is not content to rest on their laurels with this accomplishment as they also broke the record for the fastest time to reach 50 million views for their “DNA” MV, the title track of their comeback album, a report by Soompi indicated.
