Recently, BTS scored their third top 10 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart as "ON" debuted at No. 4, becoming the group’s...
Recently, BTS scored their third top 10 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart as "ON" debuted at No. 4, becoming the group’s highest-peaking song on the chart, as well as the highest-debuting Korean song ever. However, BTS fans noticed a miscalculation when Billboard shared the song’s number of streams in a now-deleted tweet.[caption id="attachment_3802" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Billboard Charts' now-deleted tweet on the left & new tweet on the right[/caption]Before deleting the tweet, Billboard had stated that “ON” has 18.3 million U.S. streams in its first tracking week, mentioning the official music video of the song premiering on Friday, February 28. The truth of the matter is, the music video was released on Thursday, February 21 at 10 AM EST, hours before the tracking week ended, meaning millions of streams were potentially not counted in first tracking week.[caption id="attachment_3804" align="aligncenter" width="1000"]
Youtube's Top music videos in U.S. chart for the week ending Thursday, Feb. 27[/caption]When fans brought up the issue, Billboard deleted the tweet and posted a new one, changing the music video’s premiere date to February 27, but with the same amount of streams. This caused even more confusion since “ON” had over 18.9 million U.S. streams combined on Spotify and YouTube alone.[caption id="attachment_3807" align="aligncenter" width="763"]
HITS Daily Double's Overall Song Streams chart for the week ending Thursday, Feb. 27[/caption]Moreover, HITS Daily Double reported that “ON” had a total of 11,292,360 audio streams (Spotify, Apple Music, TIDAL, Deezer, etc.) by the end of the tracking week, meaning the song would have at least 22 million U.S. streams with the video streams added.[caption id="attachment_3808" align="aligncenter" width="750"]
HITS Daily Double's Overall Song Streams chart for the week ending Thursday, Feb. 27[/caption]BTS ARMY is more than grateful for the achievement, but they are asking for an explanation from Billboard using hashtags like #BillboardRecalculate and #BillboardExplain, considering the song's last-minute prediction was No. 3 on the chart rather than No. 4.Although it is a well-known fact that Billboard does not disclose their methodology, it seems necessary at this point.Regardless of how Billboard responds, or if they even respond at all, it is undeniable that BTS are making history with both their music and their chart achievements.