BTS, the globally bestselling K-pop group, has claimed the No. 1 spot on the U.S. album chart with its fifth studio album "ARIRANG," following its earlier chart-topping debut in the United Kingdom.
Billboard announced in a chart preview article on the 30th that BTS's "ARIRANG" topped the Billboard 200, the main album chart, beating out Luke Combs's "The Way I Am" and Morgan Wallen's "I'm The Problem."
"ARIRANG" recorded 641,000 album equivalent units during the tracking week, marking the highest figure ever for a group since the Billboard 200 began using album equivalent units in December 2014.
Of the total, pure album sales accounted for 532,000 copies, giving BTS its seventh No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart. Streaming equivalent albums (SEA) reached 95,000 units, the highest streaming figure among all BTS albums to date. The remainder was counted as track equivalent albums (TEA), which convert digital song download numbers into album sales equivalents.
The Billboard 200 ranks albums based on album equivalent units, combining pure album sales of physical and digital albums, SEA and TEA. Of the 532,000 in pure album sales, physical albums accounted for 516,000 copies, of which 208,000 were vinyl LP records. Billboard reported that this is the highest weekly LP sales figure for any group since electronic tracking began in 1991, and the sixth-highest weekly LP sales overall, behind only Taylor Swift, who holds the top five spots.
This marks the seventh time BTS has reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The group first topped the chart in 2018 with "LOVE YOURSELF 轉 Tear," becoming the first K-pop act to do so. It followed with "LOVE YOURSELF 結 ANSWER" (2018), "MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA" (2019), "MAP OF THE SOUL: 7" (2020), "BE" (2020) and "Proof" (2022), placing six albums at the top of the chart before "ARIRANG."
The fifth studio album "ARIRANG" topped the UK Official Albums Chart Top 100 on the 28th before claiming the Billboard 200 No. 1, sweeping the top spots on both the British and American album charts — widely regarded as the world's two most important music charts.
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