BTS’s New Album Is The First To Pass 4 Million Sales In South Korean History

Before their new album was released, a quick look at the number of preorders BTS fans placed for copies of their latest set Map of the Soul: 7 made it clear that this project was going to be one for the record books, but few could have predicted how huge it would become in such a short period of time.

The album, which hasn’t even been out for a full month yet (it was released on February 21), has now reached a milestone that no other title in history has in the band’s home country, and it’s entirely possible that none ever will.

Map of the Soul: 7 has now shifted just under 4.115 million copies in South Korea alone, according to the Gaon chart, which tracks music shipments in the country. BTS’s latest blockbuster is now the first title to reach four million copies moved in the history of the nation.

In just one week, BTS became the only artist in South Korean history to see two titles shift at least three million units, as their latest only needed a short window in which to reach that mark. Their recent release Map of the Soul: Persona, which came out in April 2019, moved 3.7 million copies by the end of that year, and it has continued to perform well since then.

There are several other incredibly popular albums in the country that have reportedly shifted up to, or possibly more than three million copies, but most, if not all of them were released before the country had proper practices in place to track sales, so certifying that they’ve passed three million units is difficult, if not impossible.

That list of potential three million-sellers includes classics by the likes of Kim Gun-mo (whose album Wrongful Encounter now appears to be the third-biggest seller of all time, pushed down by BTS’s two latest releases), Byun Jin-sub, Jo Kwan-woo and Kim Jong-hwan.

Whether these albums have hit three million sales or not doesn’t affect this latest accomplishment by BTS, as it’s nearly impossible that any of them have reached four million copies, even including bootleg purchases and ones that weren’t properly noted.

Amazingly, South Korean ARMYs (the name BTS’s fans have chosen for themselves collectively) are not done buying Map of the Soul: 7, and it continues to move units every day. Granted, the set’s daily sales have dropped considerably since it was first unveiled, but its total will continue to climb, and there’s no telling how much higher it will go.

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