For the first time in months, BTS is not present on the Hot 100, Billboard’s weekly ranking of the 100 most popular songs in America. The band dominated the tally in the second half of 2021 with a trio of enormous smashes, and while they’re all gone now, two of them held on for notably-long stretches of time. The group’s recent wins on the competitive chart have helped them make history in a number of ways, and with them they demonstrated once again that they could produce not just quick hits, but sturdy smashes.
BTS now claims three of the five longest-charting singles by South Korean musical acts in the history of the Hot 100, with two of those ongoing smashes arriving in 2021.
The K-pop boy band’s 2020 blockbuster “Dynamite” continues to reign as the longest-running Hot 100 hit of all time by a musical entity hailing from South Korea. The all-English cut held on for 32 weeks before disappearing from the ranking entirely. With its thirty-second turn on the tally, “Dynamite” broke its tie with Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” which had held its record as the longest-charting tune by a South Korean act for several years. That title managed 31 spins on the roster before vanishing.
Two songs are tied for the title of being the third-longest-running hit by a South Korean musical act in Hot 100 history, and one was released in mid-2021. BTS’s “Butter” lived on the chart for 20 weeks, matching the impressive streak enjoyed by Pinkfong’s “Baby Shark,” which preceded it by several years.
Recently, BTS’s collaboration with Coldplay, the ultra-catchy “My Universe,” entered this rarified territory and officially became the fifth-longest-charting track by or featuring a K-pop act in American history. The tune, which debuted atop the Hot 100 in the fall, spent 17 weeks on the list, and this frame marks the first since it arrived that it’s nowhere to be found.
Just a short time ago, “My Universe” tied, and then passed, Psy’s “Gentleman” as the fifth-longest-charting cut by a South Korean musical act. The solo star’s second Hot 100 hit and “Gangnam Style” follow-up spent 15 frames on the list, and it helped turn him from a one-hit wonder to a certified hitmaker, if only for a short while.
