BTS’ ‘Love Yourself: Tear’ is first K-pop album to top Billboard 200 chart

MANILA, Philippines – Remember when we said the Bangtan boys were having a good 2018? Well, it just got better. 

For the first time ever, Korean boy band BTS topped the Billboard 200 albums chart with Love Yourself: Tear. This is the group’s first number 1 on the 200 albums chart and the first ever Korean act to grab the distinction.

It comes just a week after BTS also made history as the first Korean boy band to perform live during the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. They also won the Top Social Artist award for the second year in a row. 

“The set, which was released through BitHit Entertainment on May 18, launches with 135,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending May 24, according to Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 100,000 were in traditional album sales,” reports Billboard. 

The 200 chart, according to Billboard, ranks the most popular albums in the United States based on consumption: traditional album sales, track equivalent albums, and streaming equivalent albums.

If that isn’t impressive enough, here are a few other fun facts as noted by Billboard: 

• Industry forecasters initially predicted on May 21 for the album to debut with 100,000 units. That prediction grew to 120,000 by May 24. 
• Love Yourself: Tear’s first-week sum is a bit bigger than expected. On May 21, some industry forecasters predicted the album would bow with over 100,000 units. By May 24, that forecast grew to over 120,000. In the end, it debuted with 135,000 units – 100,000 in traditional album sales, 26,000 in streaming equivalent albums, and 9,000 in track equivalent albums. 
• It’s the first K-pop album to top the Billboard 200 and the second to enter the top 10. The only other one? BTS’s Love Yourself: Her. 

Love Yourself: Tear is the “first primarily foreign-language No. 1 album in over 12 years,” with the last being Il Divo’s Ancora in 2006. BTS’s songs are primarily in the Korean language. 

What did you think of BTS’ latest release? – Rappler.com