BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 27: (L-R) Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin, and J-Hope of “BTS” speak onstage … [+] at iHeartRadio LIVE with BTS presented by HOT TOPIC at iHeartRadio Theater on January 27, 2020 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
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BTS’s Map of the Soul: 7 was not just a successful album in South Korea upon its arrival, it was a barrier breaker, a behemoth and a record maker the likes of which had never been seen before in the country. The set moved millions in its first week of availability, and fans haven’t stopped snapping up copies ever since.
According to data shared by Hanteo, a company which provides the South Korean music industry with up-to-date information on retail music sales in the country, BTS’s new album isn’t just outselling every other release in the nation, it’s doing so many times over.
Map of the Soul: 7 leads the recently-published list of the 20 bestselling albums in South Korea this year, and as should be expected, it’s not a close race. The set has already reportedly sold at least 3.417 million copies in the territory (as of March 1), and that figure climbs by several thousand units every day.
That 3.417 million number is so huge, it completely dwarfs every other release. In fact, if the sales sums of the other 19 titles included on the list are all added together, and then that number is doubled, Map of the Soul: 7 is still leading the charge.
Map of the Soul: 7 has sold almost nine times as many copies has the second-bestseller of 2020, IZ*ONE’s BLOOM*IZ, which has now moved at least 381,000 albums. That’s a very healthy sum for the group, but of course, it pales in comparison to BTS’s showing.
The difference between the top several albums and the bottom few on this list is remarkable, and the last item on the ranking hadn’t reached 20,000 sales by the time the tally was published. If Hanteo had expanded the ranking, it might be made clear that BTS’s Map of the Soul: 7 has outsold many more titles, and it’s possible that the chart-topper has performed better than the top 50, or perhaps even the top 100 bestselling albums in South Korea this year combined.
While sales have slowed considerably since Map of the Soul: 7 was first released last month, it is still performing well, it will continue to sell units every single day. The set is already the second-bestselling in the country’s history, and it may even earn the distinction of becoming the bestseller ever at some point.
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