BTS, who made their full-group comeback after three years and nine months, have topped the U.S. album chart with their fifth studio album "ARIRANG," following their No. 1 on the UK chart. "ARIRANG" marks the seventh time BTS have reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Billboard announced on the 30th in a chart preview article that "ARIRANG" claimed the top spot on the Billboard 200, the main album chart, beating Luke Combs' "The Way I Am" and Morgan Wallen's "I'm The Problem."
The Billboard 200 ranks albums based on album units, which combine physical and digital album sales, streaming equivalent albums (SEA) that convert streaming numbers into album sales, and track equivalent albums (TEA) that convert digital song download numbers into album sales.
"ARIRANG" recorded 641,000 album units during the chart tracking period, the highest ever for a group since the Billboard 200 began using the album-unit methodology in December 2014.
Of that total, album sales accounted for 532,000 copies, giving BTS their seventh career No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart. SEA reached 95,000, the highest streaming figure among all BTS albums. The remainder was counted as TEA.
"BTS logged the most album units since Taylor Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl' debuted with approximately 4 million album units last year," Billboard said.
Of the 532,000 in album sales, physical copies accounted for 516,000, of which 208,000 were vinyl (LP) records. Billboard reported that this is the highest weekly LP sales for a group since electronic tracking began in 1991, and the sixth-highest weekly LP sales overall, behind Taylor Swift who holds the top five spots.
"ARIRANG" is the seventh BTS album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
BTS first topped the Billboard 200 in 2018 with "LOVE YOURSELF 轉 Tear," becoming the first K-pop act to do so. They 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 atop 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 both the UK and U.S. album charts — widely regarded as the world's two most important music charts.
BTS will also vie for the top of the Billboard Hot 100, the main U.S. singles chart, with their title track "SWIM," with results expected to be announced as early as the morning of the 31st.