NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 21: Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook of K-Pop band BTS are seen … [+] during an interview at the ‘Today’ Show on February 21, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
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Whenever BTS releases a new album in South Korea, it’s always headed straight to the top of the charts, and it’s fun waiting to see how massive it becomes in its first tracking frame. With every passing new effort, they hit new highs and make history with new offerings their fans can’t wait to get their hands on, and this latest era is turning out to be their most impressive yet.
It’s only been a few days since the Korean septet released their new album Map of the Soul: 7, but already it’s headed toward a debut unlike anything that’s ever been seen in the Asian nation.
At this point, with less than half a tracking week’s worth of data available, it appears that Map of the Soul: 7 is pacing toward at least three million sales in just the first seven days as it arrives on the charts in the group’s home country.
On the first day that Map of the Soul: 7 was available, it sold 2.653 million copies, according to Hanteo, a company to monitors and releases real-time retail data for the music industry in South Korea. That sum is easily enough to make it No. 1 next week and certify it as one of the most popular studio efforts in the country’s history, but that was after only a few hours of activity, as the title wasn’t released until later in the day on Friday, February 21.
Final numbers for the second day of sales (Saturday, February 22), haven’t been confirmed by Hanteo just yet, but some reports (mostly by fan accounts of the band’s, though their numbers are believable, and many cite screenshots from the company’s website not available to this writer at the time of publishing), but they appear to be close to 200,000 copies.
That’s a massive drop from the first day, but such a dip is expected, and the 194,000 copies being reported by many watching closely is still a huge sum for any other act. If that number is correct, it would mean the first-week sales count of Map of the Soul: 7 is already up to 2.847 million, and it’s still early days. Even if those reports don’t end up being exact, they are likely close, as another six-digit one-day sales frame is easy to believe looking at how massive the first few hours were.
At the rate Map of the Soul: 7 is selling copies in South Korea, it looks like it will move at least three million units in its first seven days of availability in the country. It may hit that mark in the next day or so, and it appears to be heading toward well over that important figure by the time the week wraps.
If Map of the Soul: 7 does sell three million copies in its first week, it will be the first album in South Korean history to do so.
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