SEOUL – BTS\u2019 fifth album has topped the US Billboard 200 albums chart for the second consecutive week, becoming the first K-pop album to achieve the feat. <\/p>\n
According to a chart preview released by Billboard on April 5, Arirang remained at No. 1 on the main albums chart, surpassing new releases including American rap star Ye\u2019s Bully, which debuted at No. 2, and American singer Melanie Martinez\u2019s Hades at No. 3.<\/p>\n
BTS\u2019 latest achievement marks the K-pop boy band\u2019s seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200, which ranks albums based on a combination of physical album sales, streaming equivalent albums and track equivalent albums.<\/p>\n
During the latest tracking week, Arirang recorded 187,000 album-equivalent units, down 71 per cent from the previous week. Of the total, 114,000 came from physical album sales, allowing the album to retain the top spot on the Billboard 200 for a second week. Streaming activity accounted for 65,000 units, while digital track sales contributed to 8,000 units.<\/p>\n
Released on March 20, Arirang posted 641,000 album-equivalent units in its debut week. According to Billboard, this was the highest figure recorded for any group since it began calculating chart performance using album units in December 2014, and the biggest weekly total for any artiste in 2026.<\/p>\n
The album features 14 tracks, including the lead track Swim, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 last week and is projected to remain within the top 10 on the upcoming chart.<\/p>\n
Arirang ended BTS\u2019 three-year hiatus from full-group activities. It explores their identity as a group that began its musical journey in Korea, and the universal emotions the seven members have encountered throughout the years.<\/p>\n
According to industry observers, the album\u2019s strong performance reflects a broader shift in K-pop\u2019s global strategy. The songs combine collaboration with American producers such as Diplo and Ryan Tedder with distinctly Korean cultural elements: the melody of the Korean folk song Arirang in Body To Body, the resonant bell sound of the Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok in No. 29, and leader RM\u2019s reference to independence activist Kim Koo in the lyrics to Aliens.<\/p>\n
This approach appears to be part of BTS\u2019 push toward the mainstream, reaching beyond its core fandom Army to attract a wider audience. Data appears to support this transition. According to Spotify, the number of new listeners discovering BTS surged by more than 690 per cent when Arirang was released.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe increase in new listeners can be interpreted as a model of transition from one that was more catered toward BTS\u2019 fandom to one driven by wider cultural consumption,\u201d said culture critic Kim Heon-sik.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs K-pop continues to evolve, Arirang could serve as a blueprint for future releases \u2014 one that combines global collaboration, cultural authenticity and expanded audience reach.\u201d THE KOREA HERALD\/ASIA NEWS NETWORK<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL – BTS\u2019 fifth album has topped the US Billboard 200 albums chart for the second consecutive week,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":366010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-366009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/366010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}