Bigger than The Beatles? BTS celebrates 3 Billboard No 1 albums in a year
Internationally renowned K-pop boy band BTS is celebrating its third No 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart after the release of “Map of the Soul: Persona” – a feat previously achieved by the British group, The Beatles, and the American group, The Monkees.
The seven-track album, which was released on April 12, will debut at the top of the Billboard 200 chart on April 27, the music magazine said on Sunday.
Billboard had predicted the album was “bound for No 1” after sales hit 230,000 in its first week in the United States, comprising traditional album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums, Billboard said, citing data from Nielsen Music.
It was the boy band’s “career-best week”, Billboard said.
BTS’ new release has also topped the album chart in the United Kingdom.
“Persona”, the opening release of BTS’ album series, “Map of the Soul”, is the band’s third Billboard No 1 in nearly 11 months. The band claimed its first No 1 with “Love Yourself: Tear” last June before the following album, “Love Yourself: Answer”, topped the chart in September.
The achievement makes BTS the “first group since The Beatles to earn three No 1s in less than a year”, Billboard said.
“Before BTS, the last traditional group [excluding the Glee television series ensemble of various cast members] to log three [chart-topping albums] within such a quick span was The Beatles in 1995-96, when the band's archival releases “Anthology 1”, “Anthology 2” and “Anthology 3” all debuted at No 1 in a stretch of 11 months and a week,” it said.
The last group to collect three No 1 albums at a faster pace than BTS was The Monkees in 1967, when the quartet topped the album chart with “More of the Monkees” on February 11, “Headquarters”, on June 24, and “Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and Jones LTD” on December 2 – a period of just nine months and three weeks, Billboard said.
The Korean-language “Persona” is also the fourth non-English album, including BTS’ two “Love Yourself” albums, to top the album chart during the past year, Billboard said.
“‘Persona’ is likely [to have had] a boost in sales from devoted fans who purchased multiple CD copies of the album, as it was released in four different collectible packages,” Billboard said.
The Billboard success came after the boy band became the first South Korean group or artist to top the UK’s Official Album Chart last week with “Persona”.
The album’s single, Boy With Luv, was ranked at 13 on the British Official Singles Chart – BTS’ highest position on the UK singles chart.
The music video of Boy With Luv, featuring American singer Halsey, became the fastest YouTube video to garner 100 million views – surpassing the milestone in less than 38 hours.
The previous YouTube record had been set by K-pop girl group BLACKPINK’s Kill This Love, which hit 100 million views 62 hours after its release on April 5.
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This article was originally written by Yonhap for The Korea Times
- The seven-member group’s third chart-topping release, ‘Map of the Soul: Persona’, equals the feats of the British band The Beatles in 1995-96 and the American group The Monkees in 1967