South Korean boy group BTS's 'ARIRANG' has held the No. 1 spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 for a third consecutive week, a first in K-pop history. Billboard's chart preview on Sunday (U.S. time) showed the album ahead of Morgan Wallen's 'I'm the Problem' and Ye's 'Bully,' formerly known as Kanye West.
The Billboard 200 ranks the week's most popular albums in the United States, measured by equivalent album units that include physical album 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 previous week. Of that, 71,000 came from physical and digital album sales, 50,000 from SEA units, and the remainder from TEA.
With this achievement, BTS became the first group in 13 years to spend three weeks at No. 1 on the chart. Billboard noted, "The last album by a group to spend at least three weeks at No. 1 was Mumford & Sons' 'Babel,' which had five nonconsecutive weeks atop the list in 2012-13." It is also the first album to spend its first three weeks at No. 1 since Taylor Swift's 'The Life of a Showgirl' racked up its first seven weeks there from Oct. 18 to Nov. 29, 2025.
The 14-track fifth studio album, released on March 20, debuted at No. 1 last month as BTS's seventh such launch. Its lead single 'Swim' also opened at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 before dropping to No. 2. According to BigHit Music, 'ARIRANG' explores BTS's identity as a group that began in Korea and the universal emotions its members have encountered. No other K-pop artist has achieved three weeks at No. 1, though the 'KPop Demon Hunters' soundtrack held the top spot for two non-consecutive weeks.