This forum has spent years wondering if there will ever a be a BG that can replace BTS. BGs have come and gone but none have managed to stand against their reign of terror.
But things have changed. BTS has stepped down for the moment, acceding to the winds of change. Now that BTS is on hiatus, the question becomes even more relevant. Is there a BG that can take their place?
Enter Stray Kids. After toiling in obscurity for a little over two years, being made the butt of jokes by many kpop fans including some on this very forum, they seemed to have hit their breakthrough moment in 2020. After that, it was like a switch was turned on. They were literally everywhere, with unusual popularity in Latin America of all places where SKZ trends like crazy with every comeback. They went from selling 200k per comeback to now selling 2.2 MILLION on their way to 3 million at some point.
But there is one data point that really struck me as an interesting coincidence.
It took BTS a little less than four years to get their first Bubbling Under hit in the US Billboard charts, Spring Day in 2017.
Stray Kids got their first Bubbling Under hit in the US Billboard charts with Maniac back in April of this year.
That's a little over four years after their debut.
The coincidence is interesting, don't you think? Both BGs getting their first "foothold" in the US singles market at roughly the same time. For BTS, this achievement marked the beginning of their meteoric rise to global superstardom. The question remains...is Stray Kids entering their peak popularity phase and if so, will they become the heir apparent to BTS' legacy?
