BTS has returned to the top of the Billboard 200, as Arirang debuts at No.1 with a record-setting sales performance, marking the group’s seventh chart-topper.
The album opened with 641,000 equivalent units, including 532,000 in pure sales, delivering the biggest week for a group in over a decade.
It also ranks among the largest debuts in recent years, trailing only blockbuster releases such as Taylor Swift’s The Life of a Showgirl.
Driven by strong physical demand, Arirang posted one of the biggest vinyl weeks in the modern era, selling 208,000 copies across 17 variants. The last group to surpass such a sales figure was One Direction with Midnight Memories in 2013.
The chart success extends BTS’s streak of No. 1 albums, following titles such as Map of the Soul: 7 and Proof. The latest milestone comes after all seven members, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook, completed their mandatory military service.
To mark the release, the group staged a major concert at Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square, which streamed globally on Netflix, alongside a feature-length documentary.
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