BTS Scores Seventh No. 1 on Billboard 200, Sets Sales Records in Over a Decade

K-pop supergroup BTS has scored their seventh No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart with their reunion album, 'Arirang'. This marks a triumphant return for the group after a nearly four-year hiatus, during which members completed mandatory military service in South Korea. Fans, known as ARMY, eagerly awaited this return.

The album 'Arirang' debuted with 641,000 equivalent album units earned in its first week, according to Billboard, making it the biggest debut of the year and the best opening by a group since the chart began measuring by units in 2014.

In terms of traditional album sales, BTS had the biggest debut week for a group in over a decade, with 532,000 units sold. They came close to dethroning One Direction, who debuted their album 'Midnight Memories' in 2013 with 547,000 pure sales, according to Billboard. 'Arirang's' debut was BTS's biggest sales week on the chart to date, as well as their biggest streaming week.

'Arirang's' success also positions it as the album with the biggest week in both units and pure sales since Taylor Swift dominated the charts with 'The Life Of A Showgirl' last year.

BTS, a trailblazer in the globalization of K-pop, celebrated their return with a live performance on Netflix from Gwanghwamun, the main entrance and historic landmark of Seoul's Gyeongbokgung Palace. The choice of venue was no coincidence, as the new album is, in many ways, a meditation on the group's cultural identity.

The album's name, 'Arirang', pays tribute to a treasured Korean folk ballad of the same name, which was the country's first recorded song, preserved by American ethnologist Alice Fletcher in 1896. Motifs from the original 'Arirang' feature prominently in the closing minutes of the new album's opening track, 'Body to Body'.

One of the most striking tracks on the album is 'No. 29', a song made up only of the sound of a bell, with the ringing echoing for one minute and 38 seconds. The bell used for the recording is the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok, which is original to Korea and 1,255 years old. The song's title references the historic object's official designation as 'South Korea's National Treasure No. 29'.

The group also released a documentary on Netflix on Friday, which chronicles the balance BTS maintained during the creation of 'Arirang', as they sought to honor their roots in Korea even as their audience has expanded worldwide.

BTS made their return to US television late last week, appearing on two nights of 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon'. The first night, the group performed as guests and musical hosts, presenting a performance of their single 'Swim' at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The second episode featured a performance of the group's song '2.0', also filmed at the museum.

BTS is preparing to embark on their first full-scale, all-group tour in years. The tour, spanning 2026 and 2027, will hit Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Australia, making it one of the most extensive tours in the group's career. The tour will kick off with three nights in Goyang, South Korea, before heading to Tokyo for two nights. BTS will then head to the U.S. for a stop in Tampa. The group will then travel around the world with US stops interspersed. The group is expected to make 82 stops.