NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 21: K-pop boy band BTS visit the SiriusXM Studios on February 21, 2020 … [+]
It’s not unusual to see BTS rule Billboard’s World Albums chart, a weekly ranking published by the music magazine and chart company that the South Korean boy band has come to know perhaps better than any other. This time around, they’re in charge of the list once again, and they dominate in several ways. In fact, they even tie one of their own records, proving that they are truly only competing with themselves when it comes to making history on that list.
Among BTS’s many titles that are present on this week’s World Albums chart, two tie one another to become the longest-charting releases by a K-pop act in the ranking’s history. Love Yourself: Tear re-enters the list at No. 8, while Love Yourself: Answer slips to No. 15, last place, as they both hit 172 weeks on the tally.
Before this frame, Love Yourself: Tear held the record as the longest-charting title in the history of the World Albums chart, as it had managed 171 turns somewhere on the tally. Last week, Love Yourself: Answer caught up, as it was still finding space on the list while Love Yourself: Tear had disappeared. Now, as one keeps going and the other finds its way back, they match one another and share in this bit of chart access together.
Both titles spent quite a bit of time at No. 1 on the World Albums ranking, and both helped the band go from rising talents to true superstars in the U.S. When the titles were first released several years ago, BTS was already perhaps the biggest name in the music industry in their home country of South Korea, but in America, they were still on their way up. After the Love Yourself series concluded, there was no arguing that they were not just ones to watch, but chart-toppers and hitmakers.
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Several BTS titles have spent triple-digit weeks on the World Albums chart. So far, no other K-pop act has achieved that feat, though releases by beloved vocal acts such as Blackpink and NCT 127 have passed 50 turns on the tally.
This frame, the success of both Love Yourself: Tear and Love Yourself: Answer isn’t the only story that highlights how incredibly powerful and popular BTS remains on the World Albums chart. Even though the band isn’t promoting anything at the moment (they’re on a bit of a break), the group occupies more than one-third of the entire ranking. BTS fills six of the 15 spots on the short tally, including the top spot, as Map of the Soul: 7 holds on and earns its thirty-fifth moment in the spotlight.
