BTS's 'Butter' Tops Billboard for 4 Consecutive Weeks... First Group to Achieve This in the 21st Century

Group BTS.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The group BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan) has secured the number one spot on the US Billboard singles chart for four consecutive weeks with their new song "Butter." This marks the first time a BTS song has held the top position for a total of four weeks, including consecutive weeks.

On the 21st (local time), Billboard announced that BTS's "Butter" ranked number one on this week's main singles chart, the "Hot 100." Released on May 21, "Butter" has now maintained the Hot 100's top position for four weeks, the longest duration for any BTS song. BTS's previous hit "Dynamite," released last year, was number one during its first and second weeks, dropped to number two for the following two weeks, and then returned to number one, totaling three weeks at the top. The Hot 100 chart combines metrics such as streaming counts, digital sales, and radio airplay to rank the most popular songs in the United States.

BTS's total number of Hot 100 number-one hits has increased to nine, including "Dynamite" (3 times), the featured remix of "Savage Love" (1 time), the Korean-language song "Life Goes On" (1 time), and now "Butter" (4 times).

Only 54 songs in Billboard history have debuted at number one on the Hot 100. Among these, only 13 songs, including "Butter," have maintained the number one spot for four consecutive weeks. For groups, this is the first time since the rock band Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing" in September 1998. This year, it is the second song to achieve this feat, following Olivia Rodrigo's "Drivers License," which held number one for eight consecutive weeks.

According to Billboard, during the chart tracking period from June 11 to 17, "Butter" recorded 111,400 digital downloads. Although this represents a 20% decrease from the previous week, it is more than 11 times the 9,600 downloads of Olivia Rodrigo's "Good 4 U," which ranked second.

"Butter" was initially released on May 21 with the original and instrumental versions. On May 28, the "Hotter" version, arranged as electronic dance music (EDM), was released, followed by the "Sweeter" and "Cooler" versions on June 4, which added R&B elements and guitar sounds, respectively. "Butter" has also maintained the number one position on the "Digital Song Sales" chart for four weeks.

Radio airplay has continued to increase. Citing MRC data, Billboard explained, "In the weekly tracking period ending June 20, 'Butter' had 25.8 million radio audience impressions, a 6% increase compared to the previous week." However, streaming counts decreased by 19% from the previous week, totaling 12.5 million streams.

BTS members expressed their gratitude on their official Twitter, saying, "Thank you so so so so much, ARMY (fan club), for four consecutive weeks at number one on Billboard."