NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 31: BTS performs during the Times Square New Year's Eve 2020 ... [+]
BTS is back on top of the Billboard Hot 100 this week with “Dynamite,” scoring their third week at No. 1 and clearing a slew of milestones in the process. “Dynamite” sold a staggering 153,000 downloads in its fifth week, surpassing the biggest sales week for any other song in 2020. It’s also the first song to spend five consecutive weeks atop the Digital Song Sales chart since Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road.” The track also rises to No. 1 on the new Billboard Global 200 chart, making BTS the first act to rule the Billboard Hot 100, Global 200 and Global 200 Excl. US charts simultaneously.
“Dynamite” is also the only pure pop song of 2020 to top the Hot 100 for multiple weeks, joining Roddy Ricch’s “The Box,” the Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights,” DaBaby’s “Rockstar” and Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP.” That “Dynamite” has spent five consecutive weeks in the Hot 100’s Top 2 largely thanks to digital sales is a testament to the size, fervor and buying power of the BTS ARMY.
Some people took issue with the strategy BTS used to return to No. 1 this week. As the Billboard Charts Twitter account noted, 52% of this week’s “Dynamite” sales stemmed from the new “Bedroom,” “Midnight,” “Retro” and “Slow Jam” remixes, released on Sept. 18. Members of other music fandoms used this fact to argue that BTS had “cheated” their way to No. 1 this week, or that their chart success was somehow illegitimate. BTS fans, in response, noted the absurdity of criticizing a band for topping a music chart by… selling music.
These petty accusations are depressingly common on Stan Twitter, and they often reveal the selective memory of fandoms. Conveniently, every artist besides their favorite seems to be gaming the charts at any given moment. Yet while BTS critics may not approve of the group selling multiple remixes of “Dynamite” to boost its chart performance, they can never accuse the group of packaging digital downloads with physical editions that don’t ship for months or bundling the track with irrelevant merchandise like sweatpants, lollipops and condoms. (Seriously.)
The truth is, BTS didn’t “cheat” their way back to No. 1 on this week’s Hot 100. They just beat every other artist at their own game.
You don’t have to look far to see other artists who have played this game to their advantage. Take Harry Styles, who gave his slow-burning hit “Adore You” a last-minute push to No. 1 in early August by releasing three physical/digital single bundles, two new music videos and discounting the download to 69 cents during the same tracking week. Or Travis Scott and Kid Cudi, who blasted “The Scotts” to a No. 1 debut with help from “15 physical configurations,” according to Billboard. (The track dropped to No. 12 in its second week, proof that staying at No. 1 is a much different battle than reaching No. 1.)
Speaking of remixes: Maybe BTS’s critics forgot about Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande’s “Rain on Me,” which was available at various points to stream and purchase in its original form, as an instrumental, and as remixes by Purple Disco Machine and Ralph Rosario. That’s to say nothing of Doja Cat’s “Say So” and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage,” both of which vaulted to No. 1 thanks to high-profile remixes featuring Nicki Minaj and Beyonce, respectively.
People who accused BTS of releasing too many versions of “Dynamite” might have also forgotten about Taylor Swift, who released 16 deluxe physical editions and a variety of merchandise bundles of her latest No. 1 album, Folklore. Swift also boosted her recent No. 1 single, “Cardigan,” by selling a limited edition vinyl single that included the song’s original voice memo and releasing a “cabin in candlelight” version of the track for purchase and streaming.
And of course, no rundown of outlandish Hot 100 antics would be complete without a salute to Drake, who reportedly recruited dancers and social media influencers Toosie, Ayo & Teo and Hiii Key to create dance moves for his chart-topping “Toosie Slide” and flaunt them across their social media platforms, creating a viral dance challenge for a song that hadn’t even dropped yet.
Have you spotted the trend yet? Virtually every superstar artist dips into their own trick bag to climb higher up the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200. It’s just a matter of whether they choose to remix their songs, bundle their music with miscellaneous merchandise or hire influencers to engineer a viral social media challenge. You can credibly argue that artists and fans assign way too much importance to a No. 1 album or single, and that industry-wide pressure forces artists to pull ridiculous stunts to inflate their sales, thus diminishing the integrity of the charts. But if that’s the case, you can’t pick and choose which artists to criticize.
Every pop star is competing for the same prize—a No. 1 hit—and the savviest artists with the biggest fan bases take home the gold. Fans are going to choose how they want to spend their money no matter how much critics complain, and the numbers for “Dynamite” speak for themselves. BTS learned how to play the game—and there are far worse ways to win than selling your own music.
READ MORE:
- BTS’s Achievements And Massive Global Fan Base Speak Much Louder Than Their Racist Critics
- BTS’s ‘Dynamite’ Holds Steady At No. 1, Proving That Chart-Topping Hits Are Their New Normal
- With Their New No. 1 Hit ‘Dynamite,’ BTS Has Crossed The Final Frontier Of Pop Superstardom
- BTS’s ‘Dynamite’ Video Obliterates YouTube Premiere Record [Updated]
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2020-09-28 20:15:00Z
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