V at the Map of the Soul Persona press conference on 17 April 2019 (Credit: TV10 and TenAsia, used … [+]
A number of Christmas singles have started to drift down the Hot 100 now that the holiday has come and gone. Millions of Americans have stopped streaming the beloved yuletide cuts and radio stations have largely returned to their regular programming, which means that this is a difficult time for seasonal smashes to appear on the tally (and it’s only going to become harder in the next turn or two). Despite this fact, a new jolly song debuts on the latest Hot 100, and the musician behind the title makes history in the process.
“Christmas Tree” by V debuts on this week’s Hot 100 at No. 79, standing out as one of a relatively small number of new arrivals. The track is the first solo hit for V, who has released other songs on his own, but none of them have reached the all-encompassing tally of the most-consumed tunes in the U.S. Now, he’s joined a very exclusive club of artists from his home nation to place anywhere on the ranking.
V is the fourth solo male K-pop musician to chart on the Hot 100, and most of the other artists who have managed to do so are very familiar to the superstar. Two of his BTS bandmates have also landed on the tally, with one managing to do so more than once.
Of the men in BTS who have placed on the Hot 100 aside from their work with the septet (which has now pushed 23 different tunes onto the list), Suga is the most successful. He first reached the ranking in mid-2020 with “Daechwita,” which peaked at No. 76. The tune was released under his alter ego, Agust D, which he uses when dropping solo collections. Just a few weeks ago, he returned to the roster alongside late rapper Juice WRLD with the joint promotional single “Girl of My Dreams,” which brought him to a new high point (on his own, at least) of No. 29.
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J-Hope became the first member of BTS to chart on the Hot 100 as a solo star, an accomplishment he managed back in 2019. At the time, he and Becky G sent their surprise collaboration “Chicken Noodle Soup” to No. 81.
Aside from J-Hope, Suga and V, only one other solo male musician from South Korea has charted on the Hot 100, and he’s accrued as many wins on his own as all the other artists mentioned in this article combined. Psy became the first solo male act from the K-pop field to land on the ranking in 2012 with his world-shattering single “Gangnam Style.” That cut made it to No. 2, and it still stands as the loftiest placement by any solo star from the Asian nation on the American chart.
Psy would go on to send three more singles to the Hot 100, including his own “Gentleman” (No. 5), “Hangover” with Snoop Dogg (No. 26) and “Daddy” with CL (No. 97).
