4 Ways BTS Could Finally Land A No. 1 Single In The U.S.

Despite being perhaps the most successful musical group on the planet right now, BTS has somehow never charted a No. 1 hit on the Hot 100. The seven-member vocal outfit has come close, pushing a trio of tunes into the top 10 (including one into the top five earlier this year), but they haven’t been able to send any one piece of music all the way to the peak position.

Will they ever? It’s impossible to say, but there are a number of tactics the band could employ that would give them a good shot at finally stepping up into the spotlight with one lucky track.

Viral Craze

For years now, if a song can catch on and go viral, thanks to either a must-see music video, TikTok users adopting it or a dance that is associated with the tune, it stands a real chance at hitting No. 1 on the Hot 100. Tunes like Baaeur’s “Harlem Shake,” Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” and Drake’s “In My Feelings” have all relied on going viral to rise to the high point, and it’s worked. BTS could also employ one of these tactics to finally make it as high as a song can go.

Larger Feature

BTS has been very smart when choosing fellow musicians to team up with, and the group often partners with superstars for the first single from a new project. In the past several years, the septet has released songs with high-profile acts like Nicki Minaj, Halsey, Steve Aoki and most recently Sia. The inclusion of these well-known figures has surely helped them send their titles higher on the Hot 100 than they might if they were totally on their own, so it’s reasonable to believe that if they were able to land someone even bigger, they could climb all the way to No. 1.

If BTS were able to collaborate with Drake, Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Post Malone or The Weeknd, to name just a few, they may very well not only reach the top spot on the Hot 100, but possibly debut a new single there.

Feature On Someone Else’s Single

The same idea applies if BTS were to jump onto a song fronted by a musician who is already an established favorite in the U.S. Any of the acts mentioned just above, as well as a number of others, could all incorporate the seven singers into a single, and their combined fan bases could buy and stream the cut enough times to send it straight to the top.

BTS has featured on tracks by the likes of Steve Aoki, Halsey and Lauv, but beyond those collaborations, they seem to lead the charge more often than not. 

Organized Streaming/Buying Efforts

BTS fans are known for not only being extremely dedicated, but also very organized. When the group has a new song out, those who love them speak to one another on social media and set up times when they will all purchase the title or stream a certain tune or video together, improving its standing on the Billboard charts the following frame.

If first-week numbers for one of the next BTS singles could rise just a bit higher, they may stand a real shot at hitting No. 1. When their latest lead cut “On” was released earlier this year, it opened as the bestselling song with the largest one-week sum of 2020. If that figure could be just slightly grander, and if the stream count matched, there’s no telling what could happen with the next track. There are plenty of examples of singles reaching the peak thanks essentially to just sales and teams, so why can’t BTS do it as well?