As is trendy with K-Pop in
general, South Korean boy band BTS has been old hands at mixing English into
the lyrics of many of their songs. But they would go much further when, back in
2020, they made the pandemic year a bit less dreary with the release of “Dynamite,”
their first full-English song. From learning the language by watching American
sitcom “Friends” on local TV, the boys of BTS have struck a hit that drove
their international ARMY fandom crazy. This year they have followed through
with two more English songs. One of which, “Butter,” just cemented its
dominance on the Billboard charts.
The Manila Bulletin has it that BTS’ second all-English song “Butter”
has just spent six weeks straight on the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100. Having
been released on May 21, “Butter” would debut on the Hot 100 chart at Number 1
back in June 5, staying where it is all the way until the latest listing, dated
for this coming Saturday, July 10. The Hot 100 bases its rankings on US airplay
via radio and streaming, as well as sales of records; so there is no doubt that
American ARMYs definitely love “Butter.”
Getting into specifics, Billboard
reveals that “Butter” was streamed a total of 32.3 million times stateside when
it got into the Hot 100 on the top spot last June 5. Come the July 10 chart
however the streams have decreased to 11 million (last week’s July 3 chart was
12.4 million). Conversely, record sales (download, cassette and vinyl records) for
this BTS single increased slightly for the second week in a row (lowest being
111,400 on June 26/week 4, then increasing to 153,600 at week 6). As for US radio
airplay, the figures have only increased since the debut, currently standing at
28.3 million impressions.
Although they missed out on
winning “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” at the 63rd Annual Grammy
Awards this past March, BTS has simply continued on its blitz to rule music
charts and win more fans. In the Philippines, they even got a namesake meal at
McDonalds. While it is still a while before one can say if their “Butter” will
hold the world’s attention for as long as “Dynamite” did, these Billboard Hot
100 figures sure gives good signs for tomorrow.
Image courtesy of Billboard
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