BTS Has Its Longest No. 1 Streak With ‘Butter’—Thanks To Radio - Forbes

Topline

The modern sounds of K-Pop supergroup BTS are reaching U.S. audiences the old fashioned way, with the group's latest release—Butter—becoming their first to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks in a row, thanks in large part to the song’s growing popularity on the radio.

Key Facts

A three-week run means Butter has surpassed BTS' Dynamite for the longest consecutive stretch at No. 1, after Dynamite held the top spot for two weeks in September.

Its continued run at the top has come largely because of radio plays, according to Billboard, which reported the song had 24.6 million radio audience impressions over the past week.

That's a 10% jump over the past week, and means the song's radio plays are now far outpacing its streaming performance, with Billboard noting the song was streamed 15.4 million times last week.

Song sales are also taken into account in coming up with the Hot 100 ranking, but radio airplay and streams are the dominant factors, with streaming now seen as the primary money-maker for record labels.

This marks the second week in a row radio was the most popular medium used to hear Butter, after the song's 22.4 million radio audience impressions last week topped its 19.1 million streams in the United States.

Butter’s success follows a much different formula than the song it knocked off the top of the Hot 100: Olivia Rodrigo's good 4 u, which attracted 43.2 million streams the week after it debuted last month, but only had 3.8 million radio audience impressions, according to Billboard.

Surprising Fact

The song's monumental success outside the U.S.—which doesn't factor into its performance on the Hot 100 chart—is being driven enormously by its streaming performance. During the week after its May 21 release, the song attracted 289.2 million streams—a mark that "obliterates" the previous weekly streaming record of 152.5 million streams, according to Billboard.

Key Background

Radio charts tend to be dominated by more mainstream artists than streaming charts, making this the latest sign BTS is continuing to grow as a U.S. pop culture icon. The group has become a mainstay in the pop music scene over the past few years, backed by an impassioned fan base committed to pushing the group's music to the top while often aggressively fighting back against any perceived criticism. Butter is the group's third overall song to reach No. 1, after Dynamite and Life Goes On, which was at the top for one week in December.

What To Watch For

Dynamite notably returned to the No. 1 spot for one week in October of 2020, meaning Butter will need at least one more week at number one to set a new group record for most overall weeks at the top.

Tangent

BTS partnered with McDonald's for the release of the "BTS Meal," which launched on May 26, and—much like their new song—was an instant success. McDonald's restaurant visits spiked 12% over the course of a week, reaching the highest foot traffic level this year, according to a report from Gordon Haskett Research Advisors. The meal features a 10-piece order of Chicken McNuggets, medium fries, a medium Coke and sweet chili and Cajun sauces.