BTS’s latest album “Arirang” has secured a third consecutive week atop the Billboard 200, a first for any K-pop release.

Billboard said Sunday in a chart preview that the group’s fifth studio album held onto the No. 1 spot for a third straight week, ahead of Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” and “Bully” by Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.


No K-pop act has previously spent three weeks atop the chart. The original soundtrack to the animated film "KPop Demon Hunters" (2025) had earlier reached No. 1 for two nonconsecutive weeks.

The Billboard 200 ranks the most popular albums in the United States based on equivalent album units, a composite metric that includes physical sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

“Arirang” earned 124,000 equivalent album units in the latest tracking week, down 34 percent from the week before. Of that total, 71,000 came from physical and digital sales, while SEA units contributed 50,000, with TEA units accounting for the remainder.

With the latest run, BTS also became the first group in 13 years to log at least three weeks at No. 1.

“The last album by a group to spend at least three weeks at No. 1 was Mumford & Sons’ ‘Babel’ [2012], which had five nonconsecutive weeks atop the list in 2012-13,” Billboard said. “‘Arirang’ is the first album to spend its first three weeks at No. 1 since Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ [2025] racked up its first seven weeks atop the list [Oct. 18 to Nov. 29, 2025], of its 12 total weeks at No. 1.”

The album debuted at No. 1 last month, becoming BTS’s seventh chart-topping release. Its lead single, "Swim," also opened atop the Billboard Hot 100 before slipping to No. 2 the following week.

Released March 20, the 14-track album traces the group’s identity as artists who began in Korea while reflecting on the broader emotional terrain they have navigated, according to their agency, BigHit Music.

The group marked the release of “Arirang” with a performance in Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, last month, followed by the first three concerts of their world tour on Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Goyang, Gyeonggi.

BY MICHAEL LEE, YONHAP [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]