'B'utter' to 'T'opclass 'S'inger... Soaring Higher

BTS Wins 4 Awards at BBMA This Year
New Song 'Butter' Music Video
Reaches 100 Million Views in 21 Hours
Fastest Time Ever on YouTube

Group Bangtan Sonyeondan (BTS).

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The group BTS, which won four awards at the ‘2021 Billboard Music Awards (BBMA),’ is sweeping the global music market again this year with explosive popularity.

On the 24th at 9 a.m. (Korean time), BTS won four awards at the ‘2021 BBMA’ held at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, USA. They swept all the trophies in the categories of ‘Top Selling Song,’ ‘Top Duo·Group,’ ‘Top Song Sales Artist,’ and ‘Top Social Artist,’ for which they were nominated.

BTS was nominated for the first time this year in the ‘Top Selling Song’ and ‘Top Song Sales Artist’ categories. The ‘Top Selling Song’ award is decided based on the highest number of digital downloads. BTS’s ‘Dynamite’ was nominated alongside Gabby Barrett and Charlie Puth’s ‘I Hope,’ Cardi B’s ‘WAP,’ Megan Thee Stallion’s ‘Savage,’ and The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights.’ Upon receiving the award, BTS member RM said, "Thank you for the Top Selling Song award," adding, "We wanted to share fresh energy with you through ‘Dynamite,’ and this award seems to prove that we have achieved our goal."

In the ‘Top Song Sales Artist’ category, BTS was recognized as the artist who sold the most songs, surpassing formidable pop stars such as Justin Bieber, Megan Thee Stallion, Morgan Wallen, and The Weeknd.

‘Top Duo·Group’ was awarded to BTS for the second time since their first nomination in 2019. They competed against AC/DC, AJR, Dan + Shay, Maroon 5, and others. In the ‘Top Social Artist’ category, BTS has held the top spot for five consecutive years since 2017.

At the BBMA main ceremony that day, BTS also performed their new song ‘Butter’ for the first time, which was released worldwide on the 21st. ‘Butter’ is BTS’s second English single following ‘Dynamite,’ which was released in August last year.

‘Butter’ has gained explosive popularity in major global markets immediately after its release. The ‘Butter’ music video surpassed 100 million views on YouTube within 21 hours of its release at 1 p.m. on the 21st. This is the fastest time to reach 100 million views for any music video worldwide to date. It beat the previous record held by the ‘Dynamite’ music video (24 hours) by three hours.

At the same time as the release of the ‘Butter’ music video, the number of simultaneous live viewers reached 3.9 million. This is the largest number of live viewers for a YouTube music video. BTS’s ‘Dynamite’ music video, released in August last year, had 3 million live viewers.

‘Butter’ is also showing strong performance on music streaming platforms. On the day of its release, the 21st, it was streamed 20.9 million times on Spotify, the world’s largest music platform. This is the highest number of streams on the first day of release in Spotify’s history. The previous record was BTS’s ‘Dynamite’ with 12.6 million streams. ‘Butter’ also ranked number one on Apple iTunes charts in 101 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom.

Major U.S. media outlets have also been giving positive reviews about the high popularity of ‘Butter’ day after day. On the 22nd (local time), the influential U.S. music media Consequence of Sound praised, "‘Butter’ is the hit song everyone has been waiting for," adding, "If ‘Dynamite’ was inspired by the 1970s, then ‘Butter’ is the answer for the next decade."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.