BTS breaks longest dominance record on Billboard’s Social 50

South Korean boy band BTS has reigned at No. 1 on Billboard’s Social 50 chart for the longest period. Billboards wrote on its website Tuesday that South Korean K-pop boy band BTS spent its 164th week atop the list, breaking a long-standing record on Billboard’s Social 50 chart. The Social 50 chart shows artists’ influence on the Internet.

Music analytics company Next Big Sound ranks most popular artists on social network sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, by analyzing the number of followers, references, and hits. BTS had a 69% jump in Facebook page likes (32,000 total) and a 29% boost in Twitter mentions (17.1 million in all), according to Next Big Sound.

“Of BTS’ 173 weeks on the Social 50 since October 2016, all but nine have spent at No.1,” wrote Billboard. “Its gains stem not only from the promotion around new song ‘Black Swan,’ which debuted at No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 ㅡ BTS was also featured at the Jan. 26, where it performed as part of the star-studded rendition of Lil Nas X’s ‘Old Town Road’ during the broadcast.”


Jae-Hee Kim jetti@donga.com