The members of BTS are currently on cloud nine as their post-military comeback Arirang is proving to be successful in every way. Recently, the album has earned the first position on Billboard 200 and scored the biggest sales week for an album by a group in over ten years.
Interestingly, Arirang positioned itself as the winner on the chart with 641,000 album units and 532,000 pure album sales. It is the biggest first week for an album as per units, surpassing Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl.
Based purely on album sales, Arirang has recorded the largest sales week for any album since Showgirl, which moved 3.48 million units. The last group to surpass this kind of weekly performance was One Direction with Midnight Memories in 2013, which sold 547,000 copies. Arirang’s numbers were significantly boosted by strong vinyl demand, with 208,000 units sold across 17 different variants. This also marks the sixth-highest vinyl sales week for an album in the modern era, while Taylor Swift continues to occupy the top five spots.
BTS’ earlier chart-topping albums include Love Yourself Tear and Love Yourself Answer in 2018, Map of the Soul Persona in 2019, Map of the Soul 7 and BE in 2020 and Proof in 2022. Their latest chart achievement follows the members, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook, completing their mandatory military service. They had taken a temporary hiatus from 2022, when their oldest member Jin went to the military. Marking the release of Arirang, the group staged a concert at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, which was streamed on Netflix. A feature-length documentary was also premiered on the platform.
While they were in the military, the singers also released their solo albums, which charted well and positioned the members as super singers and performers globally.
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