Big Hit EntertainmentBTS is back on top after releasing their new album Be. Their ninth studio album, which dropped November 20, bowed in the top spot on the Billboard 200.
This is the fifth time the Korean boy band clinched a number one album to debut on top of the chart. Their last album to achieve that was their February release Map of the Soul: 7.
They’re only the second music act to achieve two number one album premieres in the same year — the first being rapper YoungBoy Never Broke Again.
Be moved an impressive 242,000 album units in its first week of release, 177,000 of which are album sales. In addition, the album was streamed 48.56 million times in its first week.
Besides the Grammy-nominated “Dynamite,” which also hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100, Be features a predominately Korean track list.
Only 11 other mostly non-English albums have featured on top of the chart — five of which already belong to the K-pop group. BTS also set a record for sending five album debuts to the number one spot, achieving that in the span of two and a half years. The only one other group who managed to best that record was The Beatles with five number one albums in less than a year and five months.
Future is the only solo artist to best BTS’ record, notching five number one debuts in a year and seven months.
BTS’s album Be also bested the fierce competition brought on by Megan Thee Stallion‘s new release Good News — which premiered in the second spot, respectively.
By Megan Stone
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