BTS snatches No. 1 on Billboard 200, first time for Korean artist

SEOUL, May 28 (Yonhap) -- Popular boy band BTS has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for its third studio album "Love Yourself: Tear." BTS became the first Korean group ever to reach the top post on the Billboard main albums chart Sunday (U.S. time). The album, released May 18, launched with 135,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States in the week ending May 24, the online edition of the U.S. Billboard magazine said, citing tallies from Nielsen Music. Of that sum, 100,000 were in traditional album sales, it added. The chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in America based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums. It's also the first No. 1 for a world music genre album ever and the first in over 12 years for a primarily non-English album. In 2006, the classical crossover vocal quartet Il Divo topped the list with "Ancora," which blends songs performed in Spanish, Italian and French, along with a track sung partially in English. "Love Yourself: Tear" also logs the biggest week yet for K-pop, both in overall units and traditional album sales. The previous high-water mark was earned by BTS, as well, with 'Love Yourself: Her,' when it debuted and peaked at No. 7 on the Oct. 7, 2017-dated list," the magazine said. sshim@yna.co.kr (END)