BTS Becomes First K-Pop Act With Two Hits on the Pop Songs Chart as ‘Fake Love’ Debuts
The song follows "MIC Drop," featuring Desiigner, which reached No. 25 on the radio airplay survey.
Superstar South Korean boy band BTS becomes the first K-pop act to have tallied multiple hits on Billboard‘s Pop Songs radio airplay chart, as “Fake Love” debuts at No. 38 (on the ranking dated June 16).
The song follows BTS’ “MIC Drop,” featuring Desiigner (and remixed by Steve Aoki), which became the first song by a K-pop group to reach Pop Songs; it peaked at No. 25 on Jan. 27.
Only one other K-pop song has hit Pop Songs: rapper PSY‘s “Gangnam Style” danced to No. 10 in 2012.
The Pop Songs chart, which began in 1992 (and in 2017 celebrated its 25th anniversary), measures total weekly plays, as tabulated by Nielsen Music, among its reporting panel of 158 mainstream top 40 stations.
The chart honors continue for BTS, as “Fake Love” parent album Love Yourself: Tear became the first K-pop set to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums survey (dated June 2). The same week, “Fake Love” launched at No. 10 on the streaming-, sales- and airplay-based Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, marking the first top 10 on the tally for a K-pop group.
Radio Disney led all Pop Songs reporters with 86 plays for “Fake Love” in the week ending June 10, according to Nielsen Music, making it the channel’s most-played song in that span. KROI Houston followed with 44 plays.
Consistent BTS champion KJYO Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, contributed 29 plays for “Fake Love” last week. “The passion that fans have for BTS is one that I’ve never seen with any other artist before,” program director JJ Ryan recently mused on the Billboard Chart Beat Podcast. “The fans are there in huge numbers. It’s definitely a phenomenon. It’s BTS’ world and we’re just living in it.”
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As previously reported, Post Malone earns his first Pop Songs No. 1, as “Psycho,” featuring Ty Dolla $ign, rises 2-1, while taking over atop the Hot 100.
Plus, Taylor Swift tallies her 16th Pop Songs top 10, as “Delicate” climbs 11-10. Swift ties Bruno Mars and Usher for seventh place among acts with the most top 10s; Rihanna leads with 30, followed by Maroon 5 and P!nk (19 each), Justin Timberlake (18) and Mariah Carey and Katy Perry (17 each).
All charts will update tomorrow (June 12) on Billboard.com.
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