LAS VEGAS, NV - MAY 01: BTS performs onstage during the 2019 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand ... [+]
As his band gears up to release their new album Map of the Soul: 7 in just about a month, BTS member RM is also busy lending his talents to songs fronted by other artists. The singer-rapper reached a handful of Billboard tallies this chart week with “Winter Flower,” a collaboration with another South Korean musician, Younha.
The song debuted at No. 30 on Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart, which is a list of the bestselling tracks in the U.S. every week. That might not sound like a particularly lofty placement, but the fact that RM is present at all is enough for him to make history.
With his first appearance on the chart (on his own), RM became just the fifth K-pop soloist to reach the list, and he joins some very familiar faces.
Two members of BTS have also sold enough copies of a hit single in one frame to reach the Digital Song Sales tally, and both managed the feat in 2019. First, J-Hope broke into the top 10 with his latest release, “Chicken Noodle Soup.” The multi-lingual tune, which also features Becky G, was an instant success, and it made him the first male soloist to appear on the list.
Just two months later, Suga landed on the same chart thanks to a featured credit on Halsey’s appropriately-titled promotional cut “Suga’s Interlude,” which made it to No. 10. BTS was also named on that track, but since Suga was singled out specifically, he fits into this bit of history.
In late 2018, vocalists Miyeon and Soyeon, who are members of the group (G)I-DLE, became the first Korean soloists to chart on the Digital Song Sales tally. They were featured alongside Madison Beer and Jaira Burns (the four musicians were credited solo and as K/DA, a brand new act consisting of all of them, somewhat confusingly) on the song “Pop/Stars,” which peaked at No. 30.
Including the work he’s done with BTS, RM has now reached Billboard’s Digital Song Sales chart 20 times, and he is tied with both Suga and J-Hope for the most placements among K-pop acts when taking into account their work with groups and on their own. If any of them should reach the tally once more with a solo cut (which is highly likely, whenever they have the time), they’ll pull ahead.
