BTS’ “Love Yourself: Tear” Secures Spot as Billboard 200 No.1 Album

Advisor February 18, 2019

BTS’ consistency pays off

The South Korean BTS septet officially launched its career in 2013 with a widely received single titled No More Dream. The debut album was released through BitHit Entertainment on the 18th of May 2013, and it launched with 135,000 equivalent album units with about 100,000 of the total units sold internationally.

BTS at a show performing songs off their No More Dream album

With their consistency in releasing different hit songs and a deliberate build-up of a steady and loyal fanbase over the years, that the band’s album Love Yourself: Tear is No.1 album on the Billboard chart is a well-deserved recognition. This automatically makes it the first K-pop album to ever top the chart and the second top 10 in the K. Pop genre since their Love yourself: Her debuted and ranked at No. 7 sometimes in 2017.

Most of the songs of the Tear album were completely performed in Korean, and this thus makes it the first fully-foreign language No 1 album since 2006 when vocal quartet II Divo ranked No 1 with the album Ancora which was a hybrid of different songs performed in French, Italian, Spanish and a track that was partly performed in English.

BTS’ success built on teamwork

Made up of rappers; RM (Kim Nam-Joon), J-Hope (Jung Ho-Seok), Suga (Min Yoon-gi) and vocalists; Jin (Kim Seok-jin), V(Kim Tae-hyng), Park Jimin, and Jeon Jung-kook, the band emphatically attributes its success to a combination of consistent teamwork and its enviable connection with its fanbase called Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth (ARMY) which was built through physical and social media interactions.

The BTS septet has been a recipient of numerous awards since its career launched in 2013. First on the band’s list is the award for the Best New Artist which it carted away as best new artist at the 2013 Melon Music Award

The next year, its singles Boy in Luv and Just One day secured the band No.3 spot on the World Albums Chart. 2014 was also the year when the band came to America and released its single, Stars.

I need U, one of the band’s popular hits was released in 2015, and it has gone on to become the band’s major hit in South Korea. Dope came right after I need U and was also well received and has since remained a fan favorite. Still, in a bid to continue producing music that addresses socio-economic issues and societal ills in general, the band released Not Today and Spring Day in 2017. These tracks were the lead of the band’s extended album: You Never Walk Alone which also ranked as No. 15 on Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart which made it the very first instance when the Korean act had any contact with mainstream stateside.

2017 was the year when BTS got a nomination in the Top Social Artist category at the BBMA, and the K-pop group won the award, making it the first time the award will go to anyone other than Justin Bieber. It’s winning at the BBMA was significant as it increased the recognition of the band and several stateside artistes and media began to show interest in the band. This resulted in the band’s subsequent collaborations with stateside artistes including Desiigner, Steve Aoki and The Chainsmokers on its extended play; Love Yourself: Her which was released sometime in September 2017.

This became the band’s first album to secure a spot on the Billboard 200’s top 10 as it held the No. 7 spot. In addition, their hit single, DNA and Mic Drop (Remix) by Aoki who featured Desiigner both had spots on the chart. It wasn’t surprising that the album ended up becoming Korean’s best-selling album of 2017.

Boundary-breaking BTS Septet

Cover picture of the BTS’ Love Yourself: Tear album

BTS’ album Tear ranking as No. 1 on Billboard Chart is yet another feather to the cap of the band. There is no gainsaying that their numerous successes over the years lean a lot on the efforts of their ARMY fanbase who consistently buy their albums, stream and also download the albums.

Their success isn’t only celebrated by their fans as they have also received presidential recognition in South Korea. In a statement recently released to congratulate the band, Moon Jae-in acknowledged and appreciated them for the part which their songs have played in spreading joy across the country and the world as a whole. Tear’s position as the No.1 album is also an evidence that foreign songs are progressively gaining increased attention and acceptance in stateside.