News May 29, 2018

BTS make chart history for K-pop with ‘Love Yourself: Tear’

South Korean boy band BTS have created history this week with their third studio album, Love Yourself: Tear.

The record makes BTS the first K-pop group to top the US Billboard 200 chart, and it’s the first foreign-language album to top the Billboard 200 in over 12 years; following Il Divo’s 2006 release Ancora.

Released May 18, Love Yourself: Tear sold 135,000 copies in the US in its first week, making it the second-biggest of 2018 in terms of first-week sales, just behind Migos’ Culture II.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in even took to Twitter to congratulate the group:

Congratulations to the Seven Music-loving Boys and Their Wings, ‘ARMY’!
The songs, dance, dreams and enthusiasm of BTS energized and gave strength to young people around the world. https://t.co/6ZL4XdrZVv

— 문재인 (@moonriver365) May 28, 2018

The record also pushed Post Malone’s album Beerbongs and Bentleys to #2, ending his three-week streak at the top, and also beat out Cardi B and J. Cole to take the top spot.

Watch BTS on Ellen this month:

BTS have also broken their own chart record in Australia. Love Yourself: Tear has entered this week’s ARIA chart at #6, sandwiched between Ed Sheeran‘s Divide and Keith Urban‘s Graffiti U.

ARIA Albums Chart, 28 May, 2018

BTS have certainly earned their epithet as the biggest boy band in the world. Their last record, Love Yourself: Her, broke into the Billboard Top 10 in 2017, and no other K-pop release has ever broken into the top 10.

In Australia, Love Yourself: Her also cracked the top 10, hitting #8 on the ARIA chart last October.

Earlier this month BTS performed their single ‘Fake Love’ at the Billboard Music Awards, where they won the Top Social Artist award for the second year running. The Top Social Artist award uses Billboard’s Social 50 chart to honour the act with the highest fan engagement on social media.

Watch BTS perform ‘Fake Love’ at the Billboard Music Awards below:

According to data provided by MyMusicTaste for 2016, the number of concerts outside of East Asia are increasing. In 2016, Japan held the most K-pop concerts abroad, with China in second, and the US in third.