Korean seven-person boy band BTS (Bangtan Boys) have two songs in Billboard’s Top 100 Boy Bands Songs, both listed within the best 50. While two songs on the list doesn’t sound overly extraordinary, it is worth noting that The Beatles were also only listed twice.
The K-Pop hit ‘Blood Sweat and Tears’ beat The Beatles’ ‘She Loves You’ by six places, with the songs coming in at 16 and 22 respectively. The 1963 song ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ came in at number three on the list.
The head of Dick Clark Productions, which recently merged with Billboard, has compared BTS to The Beatles in the past.
When RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook heard this, they remained humble, avidly denying the compliment.
“No. The Beatles is the Beatles… but at least the name is similar,” joked BTS leader Kim Namjoon (RM).
BTS were not the only Korean boy bands included in the list – SEVENTEEN, EXO, VIXX, SHINee and BIGBANG also made the Top 100. BTS recently overtook BIGBANG as the most viewed K-Pop group music video on YouTube with their song ‘DNA’. The hit was listed as 49th on the Top 100, but BIGBANG’s 2012 song ‘Fantastic Baby’ took the lead at number 27, perhaps due to its major impact of K-Pop reaching the west. The list was released the same day as Billboard announced the performers for their 2018 Billboard Music Awards.
After the huge win in 2017, BTS were nominated again for Social Artist of the Year and will also be performing a brand new single.
BTS fans, known as ARMY, will have to learn the new song and chants fast. Their new album, ‘Love Yourself: Tear’ will be released on May 18, two days before the band are set to show off their new hit at the awards.
The announcement came late last night, after the boy band had finished their last show or “muster” in Osaka, Japan. It was a big day for the passionate ARMY fandom, with a huge amount of fan service and ‘selcas’ (selfies) being posted on social media pre- and post-show.
The boy band also released their 50th episode of the weekly game show ‘Run BTS!’ on the streaming service V-Live.
Check the new BTS single on the 2018 Billboard Music Awards on May 20.