BTS has made a habit of pulverizing records. The K-pop phenom does it again, this time winning IFPI’s inaugural award for the most popular album on the planet.
The boy band’s Map Of The Soul: 7 is the first recipient of the Global Album All Format Award for 2020, a new category that celebrates the best-selling albums across all consumption formats, from physical sales to downloads and streams.
Released in February 2020 at the start of the pandemic, Map Of The Soul: 7 spread like wildfire. BTS’ fourth album enjoyed “unprecedented success” in Korea, where it broke the all-time sales mark, the IFPI reports.
The set also scored a clean sweep by ruling the charts in the world’s five largest music markets: the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, Germany and France.
In the U.S., the LP arrived at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with the biggest week of 2020 for any release. It was the seven-piece group’s fourth No. 1 in less than two years.
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The IFPI introduced the Global Album All Format Chart “to reflect the evolving landscape of the album format and to recognize how artists share their album projects in a variety of ways with their fans across multiple formats,” comments Frances Moore, CEO at IFPI.
Moore continues: “It’s an honor to be able to hand BTS their second IFPI Global Chart Award, following their success as Global Recording Artists of the Year. Map Of The Soul: 7 broke chart records internationally and in Korea, and is yet another incredible body of work from a band that continues to delight music lovers globally.”
BTS appear twice in the inaugural Top 10 (BE is at No. 4), and lead blockbusters from The Weeknd (After Hours) and Billie Eilish (When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?), respectively.
It’s the second Global Award for RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook after they were named IFPI’s Global Recording Artists of 2020.
The lads also cracked the IFPI Global Digital Single chart, with “Dynamite” slotting in at No. 10.
Top 10 Global Album All Format Chart 2020
1. BTS, Map of the Soul: 7
2. The Weeknd, After Hours
3. Billie Eilish, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
4. BTS, Be (Deluxe Edition)
5. Harry Styles, Fine Line
6. Post Malone, Hollywood’s Bleeding
7. Kenshi Yonezu, Stray Sheep
8. Justin Bieber, Changes
9. Taylor Swift, Folklore
10. Dua Lipa, Future Nostalgia