Elite 100: BTS Is Big Time Sales

Photo courtesy of PMKBNC Press – BTS
BTS performs for a packed house at Jamsil Olympic Stadium in Seoul, South Korea, Aug. 25-26.

The Korean boy band sensation BTS, (aka Bangtan Boys) is showing its global appeal, as the band’s Love Yourself 結 ‘Answer’ album has shot it to the top of BuzzAngle’s Elite 100 Artists chart.

BTS moved 147.6 million album units for the week ending Aug. 30, moving it past the default leader Drake to the No. 1 position. The group’s best metric by a mile was 216,400 song sales, though the boys also led in album sales with 87,800 for the week. The group logged 57.2 million streams.

The big stream numbers are synched perfectly with the launch of the group’s North American tour, which kicks off with the first of four shows at the Staples Center in Los Angeles tonight, which promoters say is completely sold out.

The weekly leader in streams was still Drake, which is the new normal but also completely remarkable, as he logged 169.6 million on-demand streams for the week, pushing him to 127,000 album units. His tour with Migos is still in full swing and begins a three-night stand in Boston Sept. 7.

Another newcomer near the top of the chart is Ozuna, whose latest album Aura dropped Aug. 24 and put up respectable numbers in all three categories to earn him 48,900 album units for the week.

Youngboy Never Broke Again climbed the Elite 100 ranks, moving from the No. 27 position the previous week to No. 11, with his strongest stat being 53.5 million streams. That may be largely due to the 4Freedom EP that dropped Aug. 30, which means it only had one day on the chart and may send him to the top for the following week. This is Youngboy NBA’s third release this year, as he also dropped the mixtape Master The Day Of Judgement and his debut studio album, Until Death Call My Name, in 2018.   

While new faces are always rising on the Elite 100, Alice In Chains made a splash with its latest release, Rainier Fog. The band logged 21,000 album sales, which made up the majority of its 25,900 total album units.

Be ready for Eminem’s surprise album Kamikaze to most likely shoot him to the top of next week’s chart, as well as projects from Troye Sivan, Iron & Wine and The Band. 

Also, be on the lookout this week for new releases from Paul McCartney, Paul Simon, Lenny Kravitz, Clutch, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Macy Gray, and Everlast.