INGLEWOOD, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 06: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NO COMMERCIAL USE.) BTS attends 102.7 KIIS … [+] FM’s Jingle Ball 2019 Presented by Capital One at the Forum on December 6, 2019 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)
Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Throughout their career, BTS has always alternated between releasing music performed in Korean and Japanese, and they have become successful with both. They recently shared their first Japanese-language album in two years, Map of the Soul: 7 ~ The Journey ~, and fans of the group wasted no time in rushing to pick up a copy.
Now, after just a few weeks of availability, the title has earned an important honor only bestowed fairly rarely in the Asian nation.
Map of the Soul: 7 ~ The Journey ~ has been certified triple platinum in Japan by the RIAJ (the Recording Industry Association of Japan). The set, the latest from the South Korean superstars, hits that important status after shipping at least 750,000 units in Japan.
Amazingly, it appears that Map of the Soul: 7 ~ The Journey ~ is the only release to be certified triple platinum so far this year, according to the RIAJ’s monthly statement.
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To put BTS’s accomplishment into perspective, another group released a new project on the same day as the South Korean septet, and it, too became an instant bestseller. Japanese rockers Man With A Mission shared their new compilation Man with a “Best” Mission on July 15 as well, and it was certified gold after just two weeks. That’s a major showing for the popular act, but it means that one of the other bestselling launches of the past month in the country only managed to move 100,000 copies in the same period of time that Map of the Soul: 7 ~ The Journey ~ sold more than seven times as many units.
It’s always a major milestone whenever any release goes triple platinum in Japan, but what makes BTS’s success that much more impressive and noteworthy is how quickly they reached the mark. Map of the Soul: 7 ~ The Journey ~ was only released on July 15, which means it managed to go from nothing to triple platinum status in just over two weeks. Very few titles will ever make it to that milestone, and at this point, it’s difficult to imagine anyone other than BTS accomplishing this feat in the same length of time.
Back in February, BTS’s most recent Korean album Map of the Soul: 7 was certified platinum for selling 250,000 copies. Amazingly, that project also collected its first award from the RIAJ in the same month it was released.
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