It’s no secret BTS is dynamite on the music charts — and as of Monday, the South Korean boy band has made Billboard history by landing at both No 1 and No 2 on the Hot 100. With ‘Savage Love’ beating out ‘Dynamite’ for the top spot, BTS is the first group to achieve such a feat since the Black Eyed Peas dominated the Hot 100 with ‘Boom Boom Pow’ and ‘I Gotta Feeling’ for four weeks in the summer of 2009.
Jason Derulo, Jawsh 685 and BTS dropped their ‘Savage Love (Laxed — Siren Beat)’ remix earlier this month, while the K-Pop sensation’s hit single ‘Dynamite’ arrived at No 1 on the Hot 100 in September. The latter — which also happened to be members RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook’s first No 1 track (if you can believe it) — previously held the top position for three nonconsecutive weeks.
‘Savage Love’ also marks Derulo’s second No 1 — 11 years after 2009’s ‘Whatcha Say’ — and Jawsh 685’s first.
According to Billboard, “‘Savage Love’ drew 16 million US streams (up 32 per cent) and sold 76,000 downloads (up 814 per cent) in the week ending October 8. It also tallied 70.6 million radio airplay audience impressions in the week ending October 11.” Other than BTS and the Black Eyed Peas, only three other groups — OutKast, the Bee Gees and the Beatles — have clinched both first and second place on the Hot 100 in the same week.
Coming in at No 3 on the latest chart is Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s banger, ‘WAP,’ followed by 24kGoldn’s ‘Mood’ and Drake’s ‘Laugh Now, Cry Later’ rounding out the top five. ‘WAP’ previously ruled the chart for four nonconsecutive weeks after its splashy August debut.
Other tracks that made the top-10 cut include the Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights,’ DaBaby and Roddy Ricch’s ‘Rockstar,’ Gabby Barrett and Charlie Puth’s ‘I Hope,’ 21 Savage and Metro Boomin’s ‘Runnin’ and 21 Savage, Metro Boomin and Drake’s ‘Mr Right Now.’
This summer, ‘Dynamite’ also made history as BTS’ first song sung entirely in English, released in an effort to “have as many people as possible hear it and get a little bit of reassurance and healing from it,” according to Suga.
“As soon as we heard it, we thought it was really fun and exciting, a fun and cheery song that wasn’t that serious,” RM added at an August press conference. “It just made us feel good when we heard it. We really wanted to share this energy with the fans as soon as possible.”
