BTS's fifth studio album "ARIRANG" has reached No. 1 on the U.S. album chart, following its chart-topping debut in the United Kingdom. The group swept domestic and international music charts despite a three-year, nine-month hiatus, reaffirming its status as global pop stars.
Billboard announced in a chart preview article on the 30th 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, a composite metric combining physical and digital album sales, streaming equivalent albums (SEA) that convert streaming counts into album sales, and track equivalent albums (TEA) that convert digital song downloads into album sales.
"ARIRANG" recorded 641,000 album units during the chart tracking period, marking the highest total 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 its seventh No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart. SEA reached 95,000 units, the highest streaming figure among all BTS albums. Billboard noted that BTS posted the largest album-unit total since Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl," which debuted with approximately 4 million album units last year.
"ARIRANG" had already topped major charts worldwide, including the UK Official Albums Top 100 — considered one of the world's two most prestigious charts alongside Billboard — as well as Japan's Oricon chart and the French National Music Industry Syndicate's Top Albums chart. Notably, BTS is the only group to simultaneously top both the official German album and singles charts. The title track "SWIM" has also been a sensation, holding the No. 1 spot on Spotify's Daily Top Songs Global for nine consecutive days from March 20 to 28.
Music industry observers say BTS has used this album to declare a "BTS 2.0" era, breaking away from conventional formulas and redefining their identity as artists rather than idol stars. Most tracks on the album, including title track "SWIM," "Body to Body," and "Like Animals," are serious songs that reveal the group's narrative and artistic direction. Concerns had been raised that the album's tone — markedly different from the bright, upbeat mega-hits like "Dynamite" and "Butter" — might struggle to achieve mainstream appeal. However, the album swept global charts immediately upon release, prompting widespread assessment that "BTS itself is a genre." Pop music critic Lim Jin-mo noted, "This is a 'homecoming album' that returns to their Korean identity and hip-hop roots, and the effort to shed the 'lightness' stereotype associated with K-pop is remarkable." He added, "On release day, I thought it lacked the 'kick' needed to drive mainstream resonance and reach, but conquering the world's two major charts and global charts shows that BTS has transcended the stage of being evaluated by mainstream appeal and has become a 'genre' in itself."
