BTS’s ‘Map Of The Soul: 7’ Is Disproportionately Successful Compared With Their Previous Albums

It seems like every week or so there is a new story that reveals that BTS has broken another record, raised the bar once more or accomplished something that no other Korean musical act has before. Just a few days ago, the group’s label and management company BigHit confirmed a news report that the septet has become the first group in South Korean history to sell 20 million albums (over 20.3 million, actually). 

That’s a huge accomplishment no matter how those millions of copies sold are spread across their back catalog, but looking into which titles performed best, it’s clear that their latest release isn’t just a bestseller, it blows every other title from the group away.

Released almost two months ago, BTS’s latest album Map of the Soul: 7 has now sold 4.17 million copies in South Korea alone. That’s a record-setting sum, and it’s enough to give the seven-member vocal outfit the first-ever quadruple million award for moving at least four million units. 

These figures were cemented a short time ago, so Map of the Soul: 7 sold that many copies in much less than two months, and in a few weeks when South Korea’s Gaon charts share updated data, that sum will likely have increased by a noticeable amount.

Calling Map of the Soul: 7 a big win for the band is, at this point, a dramatic understatement. In the seven years they’ve been releasing music, BTS has now managed to sell over 20 million albums in their home country, making history by doing so…and one-fifth of all those sales were of one title…in just over one month.

While it remains to be seen whether Map of the Soul: 7 holds on and continues to sell well as the months pass and it’s not entirely clear if lead single “On” will be remembered as one of BTS’s best (or even a fan favorite after enough time has passed), the set’s legacy will remain intact thanks to its nearly unbelievable immediate sales count. 

Already responsible for one in five purchases in BTS’s historic career, Map of the Soul: 7 could not sell another copy and it would still remain forever perhaps the most successful piece of music in not just the band’s past, but the country’s history, but chances are the septet is already working on something excellent that could possibly overtake it…though that’s difficult to imagine.