FRIDAY JULY 17TH: The album has dropped to 13 on iTunes. A raft of new releases that people actually want to hear have taken over. Better luck next time, BTS!
WEDS JULY 15TH Sorry KPoppers. You can’t beat “Hamilton.”
KPop boyband BTS has released an all-Japanese album, a version of the CD they released in February. And it went straight to number…2 on iTunes. Not number 1.
The “Hamilton” soundtrack has kept BTS fans from succeeding at their gaming of the iTunes chart. When a new BTS album comes out, the fans buy it and buy it to push it up the charts. They do it with singles tracks, too.
The new album is sung entirely in Japanese. Do you really think American teens have swooped it up, and for purchase? If you, then like the Vapors, you’re turning Japanese, I really think so.
Let’s get back to reality. The English version of this album has sold only 273,000 copies in the US since its release. Another 250K comes from streaming. That’s not nearly as much as any other hit act. But BTS seems big, usually for a week or less.
And notice, they didn’t go head to head with Friday’s new releases. They launched mid week. By Friday, the big surge will be over, unless it turns out that Japanese language market in the US is bigger than we thought. In that case, Clint Eastwood should try again with “Letters from Iwo Jima.”
