BTS keeps chart control
BTS’s new album Arirang is still No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in its second consecutive week, and ten songs from that album remain on the Billboard Hot 100 — the lead single “Swim” is sitting at No. 2 on the Hot 100 dated April 11. ( ). That level of chart concentration means BTS is continuing to dominate both single- and album-chart conversation right now, a rare streak for a K‑pop act in the U.S. market. (koreaherald.com)
BTS didn’t just have a big opening week in the United States. In the second week, the album “Arirang” stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, while 10 tracks from the same album were still on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 11. (billboard.com) (koreaherald.com) That means the same release is controlling the two charts Americans watch most closely: the album race and the song race. The lead single “Swim” is at No. 2 this week after debuting at No. 1 a week earlier on the April 4 chart. (koreaherald.com) (billboard.com) The album chart and the song chart measure different behavior. The Billboard 200 combines sales, streaming, and track-equivalent units for albums, while the Hot 100 ranks individual songs using streams, radio airplay, and sales. (billboard.com 1) (billboard.com 2) So when one act is sitting on top of the Billboard 200 and also parking 10 songs on the Hot 100, it usually means fans are not just sampling one single. They are buying or streaming the full project in bulk, then keeping multiple tracks alive into week two. (billboard.com) (ajupress.com) BTS was even bigger in week one. Billboard reported that 13 songs from “Arirang” entered the Hot 100 on the April 4 chart, with “Swim” at No. 1 and four tracks in the top 40. (billboard.com) Week two is where the story gets sharper, because chart floods usually thin out fast after opening weekend. BTS still kept 10 songs on the Hot 100, including “Body to Body” at No. 42 and “Hooligan” at No. 64, which shows the drop-off was smaller than a normal fan-driven splash. (ajupress.com) (biz.chosun.com) The album side is historic too. Korea Herald and United Press International both reported that “Arirang” is the first K-pop album to spend two consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. (koreaherald.com) (upi.com) Billboard also said “Arirang” opened with 641,000 equivalent album units in its first week in the United States, giving BTS the biggest album debut of 2026 so far. That kind of opening makes a second week at No. 1 much easier, but it does not explain 10 songs still hanging around on the singles chart by itself. (hollywoodreporter.com) (billboard.com) BTS also returned to No. 1 on Billboard’s Artist 100 during the album’s launch week, giving the group a 22nd total week atop that chart. Billboard says only Taylor Swift, Drake, Morgan Wallen, and The Weeknd have spent more weeks at No. 1 there since the ranking began in 2014. (billboard.com) Put together, the picture is simple: “Arirang” is not behaving like one viral single with an album attached. It is behaving like a full-catalog event in the United States, where one release is feeding album sales, song streams, and chart visibility at the same time across a second straight week. (billboard.com) (koreaherald.com)
