BTS 'Arirang' enters the UK Official Chart for 20 consecutive weeks, breaking its own longest record

BTS set a new team record on the UK Official Charts with their fifth full-length album, Arirang. On the latest UK Official Chart (August 7–13), Arirang ranked 43rd on the Official Albums Top 100, marking its 20th consecutive week on the chart. This surpassed the previous record of 19 consecutive weeks set by the mini-album MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA, released in April 2019. Arirang’s popularity continued on detailed charts as well. It rose six spots from the previous week to 16th on the Official Physical Albums chart and 18th on the Official Album Sales chart, and re-entered the Official Vinyl Albums chart at 38th. It also appeared at 19th on the Official Scottish Albums chart and 64th on the Official Album Streaming chart. The track NORMAL also entered the charts for the fifth week, ranking 11th on the Official Singles Downloads chart and 13th on the Official Singles Sales chart. Since the music video and Korean audio were released on July 17, it has regained presence on the charts. Other tracks such as Body to Body and Hooligan also charted. On Spotify’s Weekly Top Albums Global chart (August 6), Arirang ranked 3rd, maintaining a position within the top 3 for 20 consecutive weeks. The title track SWIM ranked 6th on the Weekly Top Songs Global chart, staying in the top 10 for four months. NORMAL ranked 44th, Body to Body 174th, and Hooligan 193rd on the chart. BTS is also continuing their North American tour. On August 1 and 2, they opened the second leg of their North American tour in East Rutherford, USA, following their earlier performance in Foxborough. On August 10 and 11, they will hold a solo concert at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, becoming the first Korean artist to do so. The members shared their thoughts on this album. Suga said, ″We thought about what is most true to ourselves. Instead of a grand message, we focused on ’us’ itself.″ Jimin said, ″I wanted to say that we keep moving forward. There is always pressure to show something new and better. There are many worries as well. Nevertheless, I wanted to express the mindset of not stopping and continuing to swim forward.″ Jungkook said, ″I hope people think this is the most BTS-like album, reflecting each individual’s time and color exactly as it is.″