As if we needed any further evidence of BTS’ American takeover, the K-pop group’s new album, Map of the Soul: Persona, has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
According to Billboard, Map of the Soul: Persona moved 230,000 equivalent album units in its first week of release, a career high for BTS. Of that number, 196,000 units came from pure album sale — another career best. Billboard counted 8,000 track equivalent albums and 26,000 stream equivalent albums, the latter of which translates to 37.4 million on-demand audio streams.
It marks BTS’ third No. 1 album in the US, following 2018’s Love Yourself: Answer and Love Yourself: Tear. By achieving such a feat in just under 11 months, BTS find themselves in rare company. As Billboard points out, the last group to achieve three No. 1 albums at such a pace were The Beatles, whose archival releases Anthology 1, Anthology 2 and Anthology 3 all debuted at No. 1 between December 1995 and November 1996. Only The Monkees collected three No. 1 albums at a faster pace, as they topped the charts thrice in a nine month span in 1967.
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In addition to its success in the US, Map of the Soul: Persona debuted at No. 1 in both the UK and Australia.
Meanwhile, the album’s lead single, “Boy With Luv” featuring Halsey, has set three Guinness World Records, including Most Viewed YouTube Video in 24 Hours, Most Viewed YouTube Music Video in 24 Hours, and Most Viewed YouTube Music Video by a K-Pop Group in 24 Hours. The video received 74.6 million views on the video streaming platform during the first day of its release.
Below you can watch BTS rehearse “Boy With Luv”, as aired on Sunday’s edition of CBS This Morning. The group also sat down with correspondent Seth Doane for an interview discussing their rise to fame, learning English, and their inner-group dynamics.
Read our review of Map of the Soul: Persona, and grab tickets to the group’s upcoming North American tour. Also make sure to subscribe to our BTS newsletter.