https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100
I’ve talked about half of these songs already. Where’s the fun in that? I mean do you guys really need to know about “Blinding Lights” for like the tenth time? Sorry but this format is getting stagnant. There has to be interesting things to talk about going on in the world of music.
I mean BTS just had a new song go to number one. Replacing themselves after seven weeks of being at number one. I mean this is historic on all fronts because no k-pop artists have ever done this before. Proving once and for all that BTS rule the music world:
https://www.stereogum.com/2149730/bts-butter-hot-100-billboard-chart/columns/sounding-board/
…yeah.
Honestly this is the biggest chart news as of late that is really making any sort of splash amongst those really following the chart world. Which sadly includes me since I’m still trying to update this blog in order to get recognized for my writing. Anyway BTS stans, also called “Army”, have been mass purchasing every single, remix, copies, etc. in order to maintain their now two month stranglehold atop the Billboard Hot 100. And they are going through some extreme lengths to do so. Whether it be using multiple VPNs, having foreign Army members pay American members to purchase copies, amongst many other methods to commit fraudulent activity. All to keep their senpais at number one.
I can understand why so many others would be pissed off at this manipulation. But let’s be real here. Negative attention is still attention. Which Billboard can clearly use some. I mean let’s be honest here. They will do whatever it takes to have people talk about their charts. Their eternally broken chart system is exactly that.
And it’s not like the BTS Army is the first to realize this. Just two years ago, Lil Nas X was the first to expose how easy it is to lockdown that number one spot for many weeks by releasing like six remixes (including one with our new BTS overlords), multiple music and lyric videos, and encouraging his following by making this whole thing into one giant meme. And many others soon followed Lil Nas X’s lead into this new era. Justin Bieber taught his followers how to commit streaming fraud to get a number one (and failed). 6ix9ine literally made an entire Instagram story about the breakdown for Billboard’s charting data. Doja Cat promised to share nudes to get a number one. Lord knows how many remixes artists have done in the two years to get their songs to number one. Anyone who’s everyone now know how to get a number one on the Hot 100.
So what makes BTS’s reign a little inauthentic? It’s because we are a streaming society now. Do you all know what the most streamed song of the summer has been up to this point? Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u”. That song has been the first song in a year to truly have a stranglehold on both streaming and radio. The two most dominant metrics for Billboard’s charting metrics. And when you really look at what metrics BTS has to keep any of their songs afloat, it is only sales. Which sales use to mean something back in the 2000’s when that was the most prominent way to really tell when a song was popular. By looking at what was in the iTunes top ten. Compared to now where the iTunes top ten has BTS singles and a couple country songs (because country music is eternally behind the times). And it’s already been established that those BTS songs are being purchased in mass bulk.
All that said, I don’t think that necessarily means that BTS’s popularity isn’t credible. After all, if you’ve got a following that will do anything to keep you on top for as long as they possibly can, then clearly you’re doing something right to stay popular. And it’s not like all their music is terrible. Both of their number one songs from this year aren’t good to me if we’re being completely honest here. “Butter” is as corny of a pickup jam as they come and “Permission to Dance” sounds like something that you would find in a 2000’s Disney Channel original movie. But I mean they are inoffensive enough that I can understand the appeal of others liking them.
So will BTS’s reign at number one come to an end? Of course. Eventually many others will replicate the chart manipulation that the BTS Army have figured out. Welcome to the Internet folks. Plus still being in a pandemic probably has given more homebodies out there things to do. Like get their artists they stan to number one. But it shouldn’t go unnoticed that Billboard will take whatever attention they can get. Earlier this year, Billboard removed some of the sales from Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” due to outside VPN’s when her song was aiming for a number one, but now they are okay with the BTS Army more or less doing the exact same thing? Yeah that is some shady shit, but the only difference is that the standom for BTS outweighs Dua’s by a substantial amount. God forbid they piss off one of the largest followings on Twitter. Lord knows what sort of crazy shit this Army is capable of.
To summarize all this in a nutshell, I do genuinely believe in the BTS phenomenon. If you’ve got a following that is this dedicated to keep you at number one, your number ones aren’t inauthentic. But the length of their number ones do provide a sense of how memorable their number ones will become when you look back at them years from now. I think more and more people will remember Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” in the future than they will “Butter” or “Permission to Dance” and look back in shock when they realize her song was only number one for one week in comparison to two months in counting for BTS.
And if anyone from the BTS Army finds this blog with 15-20 regular followers, I don’t hate BTS. They aren’t my cup of tea, but I respect them. I even like some of their songs from as far back as 2019. Please don’t take down my blog.
