Billboard has released its World Albums chart for the week ending in August 15! Note: We provided some inf...
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Billboard has released its World Albums chart for the week ending in August 15!
Note: We provided some information around these album.
BTS’s “Map of the Soul: 7”
Following several weeks at the top, BTS’s “Map of the Soul: 7” takes No. 2 this week in its 24th week on the chart, as “The Lion King: The Gift” soundtrack rises to the No. 1 spot.
Map of the Soul: 7 is the fourth Korean-language (seventh overall) studio album. The album was released on February 21, 2020. It is the follow-up to their 2019 extended play Map of the Soul: Persona, with five of its songs appearing on the album. Map of the Soul: 7 has been described as a pop, R&B and hip-hop record with influences from rock, trap and EDM. Lyrically, it touches upon themes of reflection, introspection and self-acceptance.
Upon release, Map of the Soul: 7 received critical acclaim, with praise towards the cohesive production that incorporates various styles. The album debuted at number-one on the US Billboard 200 chart with 422,000 album-equivalent units (including 347,000 sales) earned in its first week. It became BTS' fourth consecutive chart-toper in the country. The album also debuted atop the charts in many other countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Spain and the United Kingdom; topping the charts in all of the top-five music markets in the world, BTS became the first Asian group to do so. In under nine days of its release, the album sold more than 4.1 million copies in South Korea for the first time in Gaon Album Chart's history, making it the best-selling album in the country's history, breaking the Guinness World Record of its predecessor Map of the Soul: Persona.
The album was supported by two singles, both entering the US Billboard Hot 100: "Black Swan" debuted and peaked at number 57, while "On" reached number four, becoming the band's first top-five hit on the chart. To promote the album, the group announced their fourth world tour, the Map of the Soul Tour.
BTS’s “Love Yourself: Answer”
BTS’s “Love Yourself: Answer” is No. 3 (102 weeks on the chart).
Love Yourself: Answer is the third Korean-language compilation album. The album was released on August 24, 2018 by Big Hit Entertainment and is available in four different versions: S, E, L, and F. The album contains twenty-five tracks (twenty-six for digital version), including seven new songs, with the track "Idol" serving as the lead single. Most tracks are from Love Yourself: Her, and Love Yourself: Tear, including some remixes. The album debuted at number one in South Korea, Canada, Japan and the United States, becoming BTS' second chart-topping album in the US market.
On November 9, 2018, Love Yourself: Answer became the first Korean album to be gold certified in the United States. It also sold 60,000 copies in the United Kingdom, making BTS the first Asian artist to be certified Silver in the country.
On November 7, 2019, it was reported that Love Yourself: Answer reentered Billboard 200 on November 4 (No. 165). The album has remained on the charts for 52, non-consecutive weeks, making the album the first, and currently, only K-pop album to remain on the Billboard main album chart for a whole year.
NCT 127’s “Neo Zone”
NCT 127’s “Neo Zone” is No. 4 (22 weeks)
Neo Zone (also known as NCT #127: Neo Zone) is the second Korean studio album (third overall). Preceded by the music video release for "Dreams Come True" on NCT 127 Day, January 27 (1/27), the 13-track album was released on March 6, 2020 by SM Entertainment and Universal Music, with Dreamus as the distributor for South Korea market, Caroline as the United States' distributor and Virgin as the United Kingdom's distributor. Described as a multi-genre album, Neo Zone contains genres such as hip hop, R&B, funk, and electro-pop to create a "pleasant sonic soundscape", thus further broadens their sonic vision. The repackaged version of the album, titled "NCT #127 Neo Zone: The Final Round", was released in all formats on May 19, 2020. SM's founder Lee Soo-man served as the album's executive producer, enlisting a numerous of songwriters and producers such as Dem Jointz, Deez, Yoo Young-jin, Kenzie, The Stereotypes, LDN Noise, Harvey Mason Jr., Cocaine 80s, Hitchhiker, and others.
Upon its release, the album received positive reviews for portraying NCT 127 at their best and the group's eagerness to expand their repertoire, with several music critics noting the album's strong 90's Hip-Hop and R&B influence and the ability to "slide in and out of genres" while experimenting with different sounds. The album was commercially successful both domestically and internationally, becoming their fifth chart-topper on the Gaon Album Chart while earning the group their first top-five entry on the Billboard 200 chart, with first week sales of 87,000 album-equivalent units. As of April 2020, the album has achieved a cumulative sales of over 805,000 copies in South Korea, becoming the group's first release to receive a multi-Platinum KMCA certification. Its subsequent repackage was also a commercial success, giving the group their sixth number one title and their third overall week to peak atop the Gaon Album Chart, eventually became their first million-seller as of May 2020, having achieved a cumulative sales of over 1,2 million copies.
BTS’s “Map of the Soul: Persona”
BTS’s “Map of the Soul: Persona” is No. 5 (69 weeks).
Map of the Soul: Persona is the sixth extended play by BTS. It was released on April 12, 2019, via Big Hit Entertainment with "Boy with Luv" as its lead single. It is the follow-up to their 2018 albums Love Yourself: Tear and Love Yourself: Answer, and precedes the band's Love Yourself: Speak Yourself world tour. The EP was released for pre-order on March 13.It debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, making BTS the first band since the Beatles to have three number-one albums in less than a year. The album also topped the UK, Scottish, New Zealand and Australian charts, making BTS the first Korean act to achieve a number-one album in each of these countries. Moreover, the album sold 3.2 million copies in one month, making it the best-selling album in South Korea, replacing the previous record-holder of 24 years. The track "Make It Right" was released in a version featuring Lauv as the second single on October 18, 2019.[10]
Stray Kids’ “GO生” (“Go Live”)
Stray Kids’ “GO生” (“Go Live”) takes No. 6 (eight weeks)
GO生 (GO LIVE) is the first studio album by South Korean boy group, Stray Kids under JYP label. The album was released on June 17, 2020 with title track ‘God’s Menu (神메뉴)’. Along with digital releases via popular online streaming services, the physical includes a limited version and three regular versions (labeled A, B, and C).
Before that, on June 7 the group unveiled the tracklist for their 1st full album ‘GO生’ via thier official social media accounts. The album is packed with songs written by 3RACHA and has 14 tracks in total. They also posted a schedule for unveil tracks to to promote GO Live album.
SuperM’s “SuperM: The 1st Mini Album”
SuperM’s “SuperM: The 1st Mini Album” rises to No. 7 (42 weeks).
According to Billboard, “SuperM’s The 1st Mini Album starts with 168,000 units, and of that sum, 164,000 were in album sales. The rest of the album’s first-week comprised less than 1,000 TEA units, and a little over 3,000 SEA units. The latter sum equates to 4.9 million on-demand audio streams during the tracking week for the seven tracks on the album.”
SuperM’s debut on the chart was helped by SM Entertainment and Capitol Records motivating fans to purchase the album. According to Billboard, there were multiple album arrangements that encouraged fans to buy the album.
“The 1st Mini Album had more than 60 merchandise/album bundles available to purchase through their official web stores, a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer with their upcoming arena tour and eight different CD variants of the album… The act also staged a week-long pop-up shop in Los Angeles during street week, where fans could buy the CD…,” wrote Keith Caulfield for Billboard.
ATEEZ’s “Zero: Fever Part.1”
ATEEZ’s “Zero: Fever Part.1” is No. 8 (second week)
Zero : Fever Part.1 is the fifth mini album by ATEEZ. It was released on July 29, 2020. "Inception" serves as the album's title track after it was chosen over "Thanxx" through a fan vote that was held from July 14 to 21, with the results revealed at their comeback show concert 'ATEEZ Air Con' on the 28th.
The physical album comes in three versions: Thanxx, Inception, and Diary.
BTS’s “Love Yourself: Tear
BTS’s “Love Yourself: Tear” rises to No. 9 (104th week).
Love Yourself: Tear is the third Korean studio album (sixth overall) by South Korean boy band BTS. The album was released on May 18, 2018 by Big Hit Entertainment. It is available in four versions and contains eleven tracks, with "Fake Love" as its lead single. The concept album explores themes relating to the pains and sorrows of separation. On May 27, 2018, the album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200, earning 135,000 album-equivalent units becoming BTS' highest-charting album in a Western market at the time, as well as the first Korean album to top the US albums chart and the highest-charting album by an Asian act.
BLACKPINK’s “Kill This Love”
BLACKPINK’s “Kill This Love” is No. 10 (40 weeks).
"Kill This Love" was released on April 4, 2019, through YG and Interscope, as the lead single for the group's second Korean-language EP of the same name. It was written by Teddy Park and Bekuh Boom and produced by them alongside R.Tee and 24. The single has been described as an electropop song, whose lyrics talk about the girls' decision to end a toxic relationship. A Japanese version of the song was released on October 16, 2019.
An accompanying music video for the song was directed by Seo Hyun-seung and uploaded onto Blackpink's YouTube channel simultaneously with the single's release. Upon release, the music video broke the record for the most views within 24 hours, accumulating 56.7 million views and has, as of August 2020, accumulated more than 900 million views on the platform.
Commercially, the single reached the charts in 27 countries. It peaked at number two in South Korea and became the group's first top-50 hit in the United States and the United Kingdom, thus also becoming the highest-charting female K-pop song on the Billboard Hot 100 at the time.
BTS’s “Map of the Soul: 7 ~The Journey~”
BTS’s “Map of the Soul: 7 ~The Journey~” is No. 11 (four weeks).
Map of the Soul: 7 – The Journey is the fourth Japanese studio album, and eighth overall, by BTS, released on July 14, 2020. It is the band's first full-length Japanese offering in two years since 2018's Face Yourself. The album contains Japanese versions of songs from their Love Yourself: Answer (2018), Map of the Soul: Persona (2019) and Map of the Soul: 7 (2020) albums, as well as four new, original Japanese tracks: "Intro: Calling", lead single "Stay Gold", "Your Eyes Tell", and "Outro: The Journey". Previously released 2019 single "Lights" was also included.
“BTS WORLD”
“BTS WORLD” remains at No. 14 (51 weeks).
BTS World: Original Soundtrack is the soundtrack album for the Netmarble mobile game of the same name. Released on June 28, 2019, two days after the mobile game's release, the album features four singles by South Korean boy band BTS and instrumentals from the game. Its release was preceded by the singles "Dream Glow" (a collaboration with the British singer Charli XCX), "A Brand New Day" (a collaboration with the Swedish singer Zara Larsson) and "All Night" (a collaboration with the American rapper and singer Juice Wrld). On June 26, the song "Heartbeat" was revealed in the game after its release. The album debuted atop the Gaon Album Chart and their first #1 in Spain. Also, it became the first K-pop soundtrack to debut on the Billboard Top Soundtracks chart.
BTS’s “Love Yourself: Her
BTS’s “Love Yourself: Her” returns to the chart to take No. 15 (89 weeks).
Love Yourself: Her is the fifth extended play by BTS. The EP was released on September 18, 2017, by Big Hit Entertainment. The album was released in four versions and contains nine tracks, with "DNA" as its lead single.
Love Yourself: Her is the first album to be released since BTS revealed their new "brand identity" on July 4, 2017, complete with a new, simplified logo. On September 18, the album was released alongside the music video for its lead single, "DNA". In the 24 hours after release, the "DNA" music video had been viewed 21 million times, becoming the first K-pop group music video to reach over 20 million views in 24 hours.
Congratulations to all the artists!
