If there's one thing BTS knows how to do well, it's breaking music records. The K-pop group is well on track to add a few more record-breaking moments to the list with the release of their seventh studio album, Maps of the Soul: 7.
The new project dropped worldwide on Friday, and within hours, every track on the album landed on iTunes' Top 200 Songs chart. In fact, the top 20 placements on the iTunes chart were covered by all 20 songs featured on the new album with their newest single "ON" nabbing the number one spot. The "ON" remix, featuring Sia, followed right behind at number two.
(L-R) Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin, and J-Hope of "BTS" speak onstage at iHeartRadio LIVE with BTS presented by HOT TOPIC at iHeartRadio Theater on January 27, 2020, in Burbank, California. The K-Pop stars released their seventh studio album, "Map of the Soul: 7," on February 21, 2020. Kevin Winter/Getty Images It's not all that surprising to see some songs already charting on iTunes, especially considering some of them—like "Boy With Luv" featuring Halsey—have reached high placements on music charts before. Maps of the Soul: 7 includes 20 tracks in total, but only 14 of them are new while six tracks were previously featured on the band's 2019 hit EP Map of the Soul: Persona.
The group—comprised of members V, Suga, Jungkook, Jimin, Jin, J-Hope and RM—will likely see themselves ranking high on Billboard's charts in the weeks to come.
Maps of the Soul: 7 had already began breaking records before it was even released. Anxious fans were waiting since mid-2019 for a new BTS album. When the group finally announced the project in January, their ARMY—as they refer to their legion of fans—began placing advance orders right away, leading Map of the Soul: 7 to become the most pre-ordered album ever. More than 4.02 million albums were purchased in advance within a month before the project's release, according to The Korea Herald, which obtained figures reported by the group's management, Big Hit Entertainment.
The feat certainly isn't the first record BTS has broken. Guinness World Records revealed BTS achieved three major milestones in 2019. Their single, "Boy With Luv," claimed titles for "most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours," "most viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours," and "most viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours by a K-pop group." The single racked up more than 74.6 million views on the day of its release in April 2019—and that's only after the band became the first K-pop group to reach the top spot on Billboard's Hot 200 chart with their album Love Yourself: Tear in May 2018. The group is only the second K-pop act to ever even get a placement within the chart's top 10.