SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The K-pop group BTS is back with a new album and single, and now both are at the top of the Billboard charts. Stephen Thompson of NPR Music has more.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: BTS recently returned from a nearly four-year hiatus, a stretch during which its members released solo projects and completed mandatory military service in South Korea. Four years is a long break in the K-pop world. Since the last time BTS released an album, other acts in the genre like Stray Kids have continued to top the charts, and last year's "KPop Demon Hunters" became a pop culture powerhouse. But in the case of BTS, its absence has only made the charts grow fonder. BTS's new album "ARIRANG" debuts atop this week's Billboard 200 albums chart, while its first single "SWIM" does the same on the Hot 100 singles chart.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SWIM")
BTS: (Singing) ...So sad. Turn my face from the land. I just wanna dive. I just wanna dive. Swim, swim. Water falling off your skin.
THOMPSON: Both "ARIRANG" and "SWIM" achieved blockbuster sales numbers. "ARIRANG" sold 532,000 copies, including more than 200,000 on vinyl alone, and "SWIM" sold 154,000 copies, a massive number for a single in 2026. The album's chart numbers mark the biggest for any record since the colossal debut week of Taylor Swift's "The Life Of A Showgirl" last fall. But BTS's streaming numbers were robust, as well, strong enough for 13 of "ARIRANG's" 14 tracks to hit this week's Billboard Hot 100. After "SWIM," "Body To Body" led the charge at No. 25.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BODY TO BODY")
BTS: (Singing) I need some body to body. All of your body beside me.
THOMPSON: The only track on "ARIRANG" that didn't hit the Hot 100 is called "No. 29," and it posted more than enough streaming numbers to hit the chart. But it's not a song at all. The track, which runs more than a minute and a half, merely contains a single chime of the Divine Bell of King Seongdeok.
(SOUNDBITE OF BTS' "NO. 29")
THOMPSON: That disqualified "No. 29" from hitting the charts at No. 29 or anywhere else. But BTS can still take solace in a blockbuster week, especially after such a long absence. Stephen Thompson, NPR Music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BODY TO BODY")
BTS: (Singing) I mean, we living the life.
(Singing in non-English language).
(Singing) Be about it, be about it, be about it - you could see about it or you read about it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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