BTS has been dominating the charts for a few years now since the band’s very first number-one hit “Dynamite” shot to the top of Billboard’s HOT 100 in 2020. Jungkook is the latest to conquer the steep hill of American music charts as his solo smash-hit “Seven,” featuring rapper Latto, debuted on top of not only the singles chart but also Billboard Global 200 and Global Excluding US. The youngest BTS member becomes the first K-Pop soloist to achieve an all-kill.
As a band, BTS has now accumulated eight chart-toppers in total, including their collaboration with Coldplay “My Universe,” and Jimin’s own solo effort “Like Crazy” earlier this year. 2021’s “Butter” remains their record holder for most weeks spent at number one, as it became only the 40th song in history to hold the top spot for 10 weeks or more. “Life Goes On” off of their pandemic-produced 2020 album Be is BTS’ only Korean song to achieve the feat.
Jungkook’s sexy pop single “Seven” hasn’t just broken Billboard records. It’s also conquering them over on Spotify, where it has spent the last 11 weeks at #1 on the platform’s Global charts — the most for an Asian act ever. Across all streaming platforms, Jungkook amassed a whopping 217.1 million global streams, the highest weekly numbers for any solo act ever. The only artist to surpass him is — you guessed it — BTS, with “Butter” earning 289.2 million times in its debut week. All of this is not enough for Jungkook, who reacted to the news on HYBE’s social media platform WeVerse by telling fans “Let’s go higher.”
It’s also worth pointing out that the band has been on a break from music-related group activities for a little over a year now as each member gradually leaves to complete South Korea’s mandatory military service. In the meantime, each member has been putting out solo records, with J-Hope, RM, SUGA, and Jimin all releasing individual albums in the past 12 months. Jungkook is expected to release a solo album in the near future, followed by V. At this point, only the oldest member Jin and J-Hope have begun their conscription, with RM and SUGA most likely leaving next.