BTS Now Claim Four Of The Top Five Biggest Albums Of All Time In South Korea

BTS haven’t yet been together for a full decade, and they’ve only been proper superstars for a handful of years now, but they have accomplished some truly incredible things in their time as a septet, and they are regarded as the biggest band in the world. Now, that’s all to say nothing of how they’re viewed in their home country of South Korea, where they aren’t just chart-toppers, but rather icons, powerhouses and perhaps the bestselling musical entity of all time.

The seven-member vocal band scored the biggest album of 2020, according to data made public recently by Gaon, which tracks musical shipments in South Korea. The group’s recent release Map of the Soul: 7 shipped an insane 4,376,975 copies in less than 12 months, which isn’t just enough to make it the most popular effort of the year, but of all time. In fact, it remains the only LP to pass four million units in the nation.

With Map of the Soul: 7 taking over atop the list of the biggest albums of all time in South Korea, BTS now claim four of the top five spots on that tally, as two of their projects released last year rank among the five most successful launches ever.

Coming in right behind Map of the Soul: 7 as the second-biggest album of all time in South Korea is their 2019 release that kicked off that series, Map of the Soul: Persona. That title has now moved more than 3.9 million copies throughout the past two years. In 2021, it may very well become the second-ever title to reach four million shipments.

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The first non-BTS album to appear on the list of the biggest releases of all time in South Korea is Kim Gun-mo’s Wrongful Encounter, which was enormous when it first appeared in 1995 and which has continued to hold as a beloved effort. The title has shipped at least 2.86 million units in the country, though it may now be over three million. Either way, it’s still in third place now that Map of the Soul: 7’s ascent has pushed it down from second, where it ranked last year.

Coming in fourth place is BTS’s Love Yourself: Answer, which took over the world a few years back and helped turn BTS from rising stars to household figures nearly everywhere. That set has now moved 2,731,330 in South Korea since it was released in 2018. Amazingly, it sold more than 160,000 copies in 2020, enough to make it one of the fifty bestselling titles of the year.

Rounding out the top five on the ranking of the biggest albums of all time in South Korea is BTS’s BE, which shockingly breaks into the top five, despite the fact it was released in November of 2020. The set, which had less than two full months in which to be snapped up by stores and countless fans, has already shifted 2,692,022 units. That number may be over three million by the time 2021 ends.

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Here are the five biggest albums ever in South Korea, according to Gaon’s data.

1. BTS – Map of the Soul: 7 – 4,376,975

2. BTS – Map of the Soul: Persona – 3,915,766

3. Kim Gun-mo – Wrongful Encounter – 2,860,000 

4. BTS – Love Yourself: Answer – 2,731,330

5. BTS – BE – 2,692,022

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