While it seems like there are no more records to break, BTS has just gone and broken another one. The Billboard Charts have just been released for this week, and it sees the band make a huge impact, more than they’ve achieved before.
If you’re interested in BTS, their rise to fame and the ARMY, we spoke about all of that on this episode of It’s Been A Big Day For…
BTS have earnt another number one album on the Billboard 200 with Map Of The Soul: 7, making it their fourth album to do so in two years. Also, the single that comes off this album, ‘On’, has earned the boys their third top 10 hit, hitting the Billboard Hot 100 at number four. As a result, ‘On’ is now the highest-charting K-pop song of all time.
In reaction to this news, the BTS ARMY have got “WITHOUT RADIO PLAY” trending, making the argument that the single ‘On’ ranked so high against the odds. For context, radio airplay makes up a huge portion of how high a song charts on the Billboard Hot 100. So, for a song to hit number four, without any airplay, is crazy impressive. But, what can you expect from a band that constantly break the record for most views in a 24-hour period?
While this is obviously a success for the K-pop powerhouse, some members of their fanbase are disappointed at this news. The BTS ARMY have got #BillboardRecalculate trending on Twitter, with many fans asking Billboard to re-crunch the numbers because the presented stats seem too low. Some have even called the company “corrupt” as a result.
To their credit, it genuinely doesn’t make sense that the song didn’t hit number one. ‘On’ has over 40 million streams on Spotify (Sia and original version), over 170million views on YouTube (the music video and short film), not to mention the plays on Apple Music, YouTube Music and Google Music. So, I can see where the ARMY are coming from. In drumming up all this noise on Twitter, the ARMY have shone a light on the Billboard algorithm that evidently favours airplay over YouTube views.
But considering the overwhelming frustration directed at Billboard, we’re left to wonder, what on earth could be the end goal for the BTS ARMY? Against all odds, the hype for BTS really doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. Will it all end when BTS nab a number one single? Will it end when they nab a Grammy? Or will it just never end?
All we know is, the ARMY are impressive. Love or hate BTS, but the ARMY will always be here to remind us of when they release new music, or when they’re up for an award or when they basically do anything.
It’s a BTS World and we’re just living in it.
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