LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 01: BTS performs onstage during the 2019 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand ... [+]
BTS delighted fans earlier this week when they announced their plans to release a new English-language single on Aug. 21. The Korean pop septet referred to the yet-untitled new song as “a breakthrough during these unforeseen times” and considered it an opportunity to “share some positive energy with our fans.”
While BTS’s new song will certainly serve as a balm for fans reeling from the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it could also give the group a breakthrough on the charts. Many members of the BTS ARMY have the same question on their minds: Can BTS top the Billboard Hot 100 with their first fully English single?
Over the last few years, BTS has become a fixture on the Hot 100, which ranks songs based on a combination of sales, streams and radio airplay in the United States. The boy band has launched three songs inside the Hot 100’s Top 10, reaching a career-high peak of No. 4 earlier this year with “On,” the lead single off their chart-topping Map of the Soul: 7. The band’s staggering upward trajectory shows no signs of stopping, and if BTS continues to improve in key areas—especially U.S. radio—a trip to the top of the Hot 100 is absolutely within reach.
Let’s break down BTS’s previous sales, streaming and radio performances to see how their new English single could top the Billboard Hot 100.
Sales
BTS has an incredible track record with physical and digital sales, and their new single is all but guaranteed to follow in the footsteps of previous hits. The group topped the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart this year with “On” and twice in 2018 with “Fake Love” and the Nicki Minaj-assisted “Idol,” while their 2019 Halsey collaboration “Boy with Luv” peaked at No. 3. “On” debuted with 86,000 paid downloads, the best sales week since Taylor Swift’s “Me!” racked up 193,000 first-week downloads nearly 10 months prior. The BTS ARMY has already mobilized on social media to buy the new single en masse, raising tens of thousands of dollars via donation funds to help fans purchase the track. It’s practically a foregone conclusion that BTS’s new song will enjoy huge first-week digital sales.
Streaming
BTS’s streaming numbers may not be as robust as their digital sales, but they’re still nothing to scoff at. The group has racked up hundreds of millions of plays across Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, and they’ve pierced the Top 10 of the Billboard Streaming Songs chart with “Fake Love” (No. 7) and “Boy with Luv” (No. 5). The latter is BTS’s biggest Spotify hit by a huge margin, having racked up more than 477 million streams. It also boasts their biggest Western pop star feature to date and lyrics that oscillate between Korean and English.
BTS’s new single could attract more casual, English-speaking U.S. listeners who might have previously tuned them out because of a language barrier, while fans can be counted on to reliably stream the track. That’s important, because streams from paid subscription services weigh most heavily into Billboard’s Hot 100 calculations, followed by unpaid streams, radio play and digital sales.
It’s also worth noting that BTS’s biggest Hot 100 hit to date, “On,” is far from their biggest streaming hit. The song peaked at No. 12 on the Streaming Songs chart and has earned roughly 110 million Spotify streams—a respectable number, but far below songs like “DNA,” “Fake Love” and “Idol.” Still, “On” overcame this streaming deficit with huge digital sales, giving BTS a career-high Hot 100 peak. If their new single sells on par with “On” while performing more like “Boy with Luv” or “Fake Love” in the streaming department, the boys will be in great shape.
Radio
BTS has historically underperformed on U.S. radio—and that’s no fault of their own. As NowThisNews’ Brian Patrick Byrne and Ahir Gopaldas noted in an April article, the group received a mere 83,000 spins on radio stations tracked by MRC Data and Nielsen Music in the past year, paling in comparison to Taylor Swift’s 1.5 million and Post Malone’s nearly 2.3 million. (For an even deeper dive into this issue, see Byrne’s extensive Twitter thread from this week.)
The reason for BTS’s exclusion from Top 40 radio is as simple as it is frustrating: They don’t (always) sing in English.
Even though music fans in their teens and early twenties are cultural tastemakers, pop radio programmers are often more concerned with retaining their older audience. As a result, they’re usually hesitant to play songs that haven’t been tried and tested, and that includes songs that aren’t performed entirely in English. This reasoning is regressive and overly cautious at best, and racist and xenophobic at worst. Either way, the result is the same: BTS gets snubbed at U.S. radio, despite being one of the biggest pop artists in the world.
It’s telling that BTS’s three highest placements on Billboard’s Mainstream Top 40 chart, which is determined by airplay, are all collaborations with American singers or rappers: “Boy with Luv” featuring Halsey (No. 22), “Make it Right” featuring Lauv (No. 24) and “Mic Drop” featuring Desiigner (No. 25). That could change with their new single.
On Wednesday, JJ Ryan, program director and on-air talent at Oklahoma City’s KJ103, shared an email from Columbia Records emphasizing the song’s upbeat nature and English lyrics. Ryan said all of BTS’s Columbia singles have received email marketing, but this one has “way more excitement, hype, and energy.” Ryan added that BTS’s new single will get pushed to radio immediately, with the goal to get every Top 40 station that reports to Mediabase to add it in its first week.
The motivation behind BTS’s latest Top 40 push is obvious: Radio is more willing to take a chance on a song performed entirely in English than one performed in Korean. It might not be fair, but it is reality—and it means BTS could finally get the love they deserve on pop radio. Keep in mind, their new single doesn’t have to be an all-out radio smash; “On” still became their biggest Hot 100 hit to date with virtually no airplay. But if their new song performs respectably on the airwaves while crushing sales and streams, it will have huge Hot 100 potential.
Ultimately, though, BTS’s new single doesn’t have to top the Hot 100 to be considered a success. As long as the song satisfies fans and performs respectably—which it certainly will—it’s going to be a win. Still, the prospect of BTS earning their first No. 1 in the States after years of diligently expanding their audience is both exciting and plausible. If BTS maintains their excellent sales and streams and radio finally starts treating them like one of the biggest artists in the United States (and the world), then their new single could make history next month.
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https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiYWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmZvcmJlcy5jb20vc2l0ZXMvYnJ5YW5yb2xsaS8yMDIwLzA3LzMwL2J0cy1uZXctZW5nbGlzaC1zaW5nbGUtYmlsbGJvYXJkLWhvdC0xMDAtbm8tMS_SAWVodHRwczovL3d3dy5mb3JiZXMuY29tL3NpdGVzL2JyeWFucm9sbGkvMjAyMC8wNy8zMC9idHMtbmV3LWVuZ2xpc2gtc2luZ2xlLWJpbGxib2FyZC1ob3QtMTAwLW5vLTEvYW1wLw?oc=5
2020-07-30 15:33:00Z
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