BTS’ new single ‘Life Goes On’ is first non-English song to debut top of US Billboard Hot 100, a milestone for the K-pop boy band

Life Goes On, the lead single from BTS’ recently released album BE, is also the first Korean-language song to top the chart in its 62-year history

The K-pop group joins Taylor Swift as the only acts to simultaneously debut a new song and album at No 1 on Billboard’s primary charts

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BTS join Taylor Swift as the only acts to simultaneously debut a new song and album at No 1 on Billboard’s primary charts. Photo: Big Hit Entertainment

Published: 12:45pm, 1 Dec 2020Updated: 1:06pm, 1 Dec 2020

There are hitmakers and then there are BTS, whose latest single has notched up a string of firsts for the K-pop phenomenon.

Life Goes On, the lead single from their recently released album BE, made its debut at No 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, dated December 5. It is the first non-English song to enter the Western world’s definitive music chart at No 1.

A hopeful song about living through the coronavirus pandemic, it’s also the first Korean-language song to top the chart in its 62-year history.

And it’s BTS’ third consecutive song to hit No 1 on the chart in three months, coming after the success of the English-language tracks Dynamite and their remix of Savage Love, the latter a collaboration with Jason Derulo. They’re the first act to achieve this feat since the Beatles hit the top of the charts with She Loves You, I Want to Hold Your Hand and Can’t Buy Me Love in 1964.

Before BTS, the highest-charting song by a South Korean artist was Gangnam Style by Psy, which hit No 2 in 2012.

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