Too often have I seen this opinion floating through the K-pop community:
"BTS don't have a representative song/national hit, because they don't have that one song that catapulted them into top group status or jumpstarted their career."
Above is just a generalized example. But why do some people think this?
They’ve never been the typical idol group that got shot into stardom with one song, or a typical group period.
They don’t have a Gee/Cheer Up/Whistle/Growl/Dalla Dalla/Empty/My Type/Fire (or even an Up & Down/Me Gustas Tu/Bboom Bboom), mainly because they didn’t debut with as much fanfare as other past and current top groups (or were noticed due to a viral moment). And when their entire career has been one giant growth pattern, it makes even less sense to ignore them. They essentially re-define their career with every album, so…
They had some good album sales, but digitals didn’t become their strength IMO until FIRE.
Even before then, they got nominated on Inkigayo with Boy in Luv (Feb 2014) and won 5 music show trophies each with INU (Apr 2015) and RUN (Nov 2015). You can’t win many music shows without some kind of digitals, fan-streamed or streamed by the public.
Then came 2016. FIRE and especially Blood Sweat & Tears (1st two BTS song to get an all-kill) were what put them undeniably into top group status.
But BTS didn’t stop there, their kind of success didn’t peak with one song or album. While some groups never reach the heights of that one song, BTS match and sometimes surpass themselves. By a large margin.
So when BTS released 5 more consecutive massive hits IN A ROW (Spring Day, DNA, FAKE LOVE, IDOL, and Boy With Luv), I think people gave up trying to box them in. Then they leveled up further and released the monster known as Dynamite. Butter looks like it’s going to be something huge on its own as well.
Some of their lesser hits like INU, ON, and LGO did well overall, too (contrary to what some biased people will spew). They have an unpromoted single that has seen unforeseen success in their Savage Love Remix, and even b-sides that charted like title tracks (Mikrokosmos, Go Go, I’m Fine, Moon, Mic Drop, Make It Right, Filter, Friends, Zero O’ Clock, and The Truth Untold). And I haven’t even started talking about international statistics either.
The hits they do have are so huge that people look ridiculous trying to discount every song released after Spring Day as unimportant to their career or to K-pop’s growth. Staying stuck in 2016-17 is denying reality.
