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BTS' latest album, "Arirang," has slipped to No. 3 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after a historic three-week run at No. 1, according to a chart preview reported by Yonhap News Agency on Sunday (U.S. time). The South Korean boy group's fifth studio album now trails country singer Ella Langley's "Dandelion" and Morgan Wallen's "I'm the Problem," per Billboard data cited by Yonhap.

The drop ends a historic streak: "Arirang" had become the first album by a K-pop act to spend three consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200, a milestone multiple Yonhap reports highlighted as unprecedented for the genre.

Coverage Comparison

All three Yonhap articles confirm the core facts of "Arirang"'s chart performance, but they differ in timing and framing. Two reports, published on April 13, celebrate the album's third week at No. 1, while a third, dated April 20, reports its subsequent fall to No. 3. The earlier reports emphasize the historic nature of the achievement, noting that no other K-pop artist has held the top spot for three straight weeks. The later piece focuses on the album's decline, attributing it to a drop in equivalent album units.

Key Claims

  • Three weeks at No. 1: All three reports confirm that "Arirang" topped the Billboard 200 for three consecutive weeks, a first for a K-pop act. According to Billboard, cited by Yonhap, the last group to spend at least three weeks at No. 1 was Mumford & Sons' "Babel" in 2012-13. Additionally, "Arirang" is the first album to spend its first three weeks at No. 1 since Taylor Swift's "The Life of a Showgirl" in 2025.
  • Chart numbers vary by week: The April 13 report states that "Arirang" earned 124,000 equivalent album units in that tracking week, down 34% from the previous week. The April 20 report says the album earned 78,000 units in the latest tracking week, a 37% decline. Both figures come from Billboard via Yonhap, though the discrepancy reflects different tracking periods.
  • Album debut and context: "Arirang" debuted at No. 1 last month, becoming BTS' seventh album to launch atop the chart, according to Yonhap. Its lead single, "Swim," also opened at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, as noted in two reports. The album, released March 20, contains 14 tracks and explores the group's Korean roots and the universal emotions the members have faced, per Yonhap.
  • Military service hiatus: One Yonhap report notes that "Arirang" is the band's first release after a four-year hiatus caused by its members' mandatory military service. Other reports do not mention this detail, but it aligns with publicly known context about the group's break.

Perspectives

The Yonhap reports approach the story from two angles. The earlier pieces frame the three-week run as a historic milestone for K-pop, emphasizing the genre's global reach and the album's commercial success. The later report takes a more matter-of-fact tone, simply noting the album's fall in the rankings, which is typical for chart coverage. Neither perspective editorializes beyond what the chart data shows, though the celebratory framing in the first reports underscores the significance of this achievement for the group and the genre.

As of this writing, Billboard has not yet published its official chart, so these figures are preliminary. The reports all rely on Billboard's chart preview, which is standard practice for such stories.