BTS: Greatness impact

  • BTS success will transcend language barrier 43

    1. Yes (36) 84%
    2. No (7) 16%

    Now that BTS has broken into the Western markets, feted and successful across the world.


    If they release a fully Korean album or Korean Single, will their impact and popularity enable people to transcend language barriers and the song(s) achieve success comparable to the English language songs?


    Or will they have to continue with English songs - which mostly lack the lyrical depth OR the lyrical authenticity of their Korean compositions?


    Will their brand, music and performance be enough that no matter the language, the song will perform like their English language songs in international charts?

  • It is true radio stations aren't giving appropriate airtime.


    But irrespective, will a new BTS Korean song, attain success to the extent of Dynamite, Butter, PTD in channels like Spotify, Youtube etc.


    However measured, will their brand and music, transcend language barriers?

  • The lead single for their next Korean album will probably be successful, maybe more than Boy With Luv on youtube or Life Goes On on spotify, but it won't be as successful as Dynamite or Butter since it won't get the same support from their US label. The album itself, however, will most likely break several records for sales and chart positions both in the US and internationally, as well as streaming records on spotify and youtube. I'd expect their next album to have one of the biggest, if not the biggest sales debut this century for any album globally (currently the record for this century held by Adele's 25 with 6M first week units globally with mots7 coming in 2nd with 5M units), and most likely the biggest album debut in the US this year.

  • Nope their Korean songs do less well maybe it will hit 1 in America first week but everywhere else there is no big cross over. All of BTS songs will do well at the start due to strong fanbase.

  • It is true radio stations aren't giving appropriate airtime.


    But irrespective, will a new BTS Korean song, attain success to the extent of Dynamite, Butter, PTD in channels like Spotify, Youtube etc.


    However measured, will their brand and music, transcend language barriers?


    You need to ask why though? Butter had awful radio callouts . People acting like its some agenda or something but Radio do play the English songs alot the first few weeks.


    Butter had the most negative reaction for its radio play.


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  • Radio plays songs from the labels that pay them the most money, they prioritize that over callouts.


    Callouts still show quite alot though if you get good callouts chances are very high for radio to play it.


    Labels can use like soft power to force them to play it at the start but later on they wont.


    Taylor Swift is a example her songs had terrible callouts and were dropped pretty fast.

  • Callouts still show quite alot though if you get good callouts chances are very high for radio to play it.


    Labels can use like soft power to force them to play it at the start but later on they wont.


    Taylor Swift is a example her songs had terrible callouts and were dropped pretty fast.

    There are also songs on the hot 100 that are charting solely because of radio, their sales and streams are abysmal. A good example of this is POV by Ariana Grande, at that point good callouts don't mean much if it isn't being consumed anywhere else besides radio.

  • Radio play is only one of the variables, not even the most important one.


    And that's not the question posed in this post.


    Will BTS new Korean songs achieve even the levels of success of Butter?


    That's all.

  • The answer is no. Even disregarding radio, their Korean songs don't get the same support on the major playlists of streaming platforms like spotify, youtube, apple music, etc. They can still be successful though, Boy With Luv did well on youtube and spotify even compared to english songs from western artists. Their albums, on the other hand, will continue to break records whether they are in Korean or English.

  • There are also songs on the hot 100 that are charting solely because of radio, their sales and streams are abysmal. A good example of this is POV by Ariana Grande, at that point good callouts don't mean much if it isn't being consumed anywhere else besides radio.


    True but also means that radio or listeners enjoy the song but to have high peaks you normally just need good streaming and a little radio. BTS have the downloads which no-one else really has.


    Anyways I dont think a Korean song will ever touch Dynamite which was way bigger then Butter.

  • True but also means that radio or listeners enjoy the song but to have high peaks you normally just need good streaming and a little radio. BTS have the downloads which no-one else really has.


    Anyways I dont think a Korean song will ever touch Dynamite which was way bigger then Butter.

    Tbh I personally don't think radio is a valid chart metric anyway, it doesn't serve much purpose other than being a medium that labels can throw money into to help their chart positions. Sales and streams are much more indicative of popularity since both are driven by active consumption. As for the second point, I agree. Dynamite was a smash hit worldwide, it will probably remain as their biggest and most recognizable song throughout their career.

  • Tbh I personally don't think radio is a valid chart metric anyway, it doesn't serve much purpose other than being a medium that labels can throw money into to help their chart positions. Sales and streams are much more indicative of popularity since both are driven by active consumption. As for the second point, I agree. Dynamite was a smash hit worldwide, it will probably remain as their biggest and most recognizable song throughout their career.


    Sales are not indicative at all and are generally irrelevant and need to be weighed down more honestly.


    Its the streaming era.

  • Sales are not indicative at all and are generally irrelevant and need to be weighed down more honestly.


    Its the streaming era.

    Sales are the only form of consumption that is purely active. When you buy a song, you are searching for it and paying money to listen to it, and a sale is more valuable than a stream since it makes more money per transaction. Even streaming is partly passive consumption since songs can be forced down your throat in the major curated playlists. Radio shouldn't even count for the chart since consumers can't control what they listen to.

  • Sales are the only form of consumption that is purely active. When you buy a song, you are searching for it and paying money to listen to it, and a sale is more valuable than a stream since it makes more money per transaction. Even streaming is partly passive consumption since songs can be forced down your throat in the major curated playlists. Radio shouldn't even count for the chart since consumers can't control what they listen to.


    I mean streams are purely active also.


    I would agree with sales if it wasnt website sales, I dont think you should be allowed to re buy the same song every week and it still counts even if you bought the like 4 versions 4 times the previous week.


    Downloads are not exactly accurate either. You can buy 20 copies each week through website sales.


    I would agree to a revenue chart which I think would be the most accurate at least.

  • I mean streams are purely active also.


    I would agree with sales if it wasnt website sales.


    I would agree to a revenue chart which I think would be the most accurate at least.

    Streams are mostly active, but not entirely due to curated playlists existing. Website sales are still active consumption too, you are still paying to listen to a song.

  • You need to ask why though? Butter had awful radio callouts . People acting like its some agenda or something but Radio do play the English songs alot the first few weeks.


    Butter had the most negative reaction for its radio play.


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    So did Levitating, worse than Butter and where is it now? Lmao


    The obsession, most Armys are unaware of things you know. If only I coukd be this invested in a group I don't stan. Tis a malaise.

  • Expecting every song to do as good as your best performing song or better than the last song released is not logical imo. Michael Jackson had a career of more than 25 years after 'Thriller' - his best selling album and song. Eminem is still as legendary as he was in 2010s.

    There are many factors that affect the success of the songs. BTS next song will and can do as good as 'Permission to Dance' did. Now it depends on you how you take it. Their albums have always done great.

  • Expecting every song to do as good as your best performing song or better than the last song released is not logical imo. Michael Jackson had a career of more than 25 years after 'Thriller' - his best selling album and song. Eminem is still as legendary as he was in 2010s.

    There are many factors that affect the success of the songs. BTS next song will and can do as good as 'Permission to Dance' did. Now it depends on you how you take it. Their albums have always done great.

    That's true, the success of albums is far more valuable and a better indicator of growth in popularity. For example, the singles on Map of the Soul: 7 were not all that successful compared to earlier albums, but the album itself is their best selling album to date.

  • Streams are mostly active, but not entirely due to curated playlists existing. Website sales are still active consumption too, you are still paying to listen to a song.

    website sales where you can buy 4 copies of each version every week is not accurate portryal though.



    So did Levitating, worse than Butter and where is it now? Lmao


    The obsession, most Armys are unaware of things you know. If only I coukd be this invested in a group I don't stan. Tis a malaise.

    Your coming for levitating when its like the biggest song of the year and its 3 on the chart after 42 weeks with nearly double the streams and way more airplay.


    Im against all website downloads its clearly fraud. There is a reason it doesnt exist for other countries.


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    Its literally not a obessions and the things I know are because I follow charts.


    Its not a investment its literally a few mins a day checking some threads.

  • It really boils down to this: would you rather have consumers influencing the charts by buying music, or would you rather have labels influencing the charts by paying for their songs to be played on radio and put at the top of every streaming playlist? Personally I'd pick the option driven by consumers.

  • Callouts still show quite alot though if you get good callouts chances are very high for radio to play it.


    Labels can use like soft power to force them to play it at the start but later on they wont.


    Taylor Swift is a example her songs had terrible callouts and were dropped pretty fast.

    mediabase callouts barely hold any sort of weight....dua lipa's levitating had pretty much the same score as butter in the beginning too and look at its radio play now.... this is the "metric" used for the callout score:


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    its literally a poll conducted where they call 1000 random ppl and ask for their opinion on a song. no, radio stations dont just "pull" songs that have a bad callout score. bc radio is easily influenced by these companies. it doesnt rlly seem like you know what you're talking about on this front my dude

  • Expecting every song to do as good as your best performing song or better than the last song released is not logical imo. Michael Jackson had a career of more than 25 years after 'Thriller' - his best selling album and song. Eminem is still as legendary as he was in 2010s.

    There are many factors that affect the success of the songs. BTS next song will and can do as good as 'Permission to Dance' did. Now it depends on you how you take it. Their albums have always done great.

    Sure, but that's yet another distraction from the premise of the post, like the radio play discussion going on.


    But to indulge you, let me rephrase, will ANY of BTS' future Korean language releases, achieve the success of their English language releases among the Western and international general public, and establish that they have achieved a level of greatness that transcends language/cultural boundaries?

  • Levitating debuted with one of the worst callouts possible you clown. That is what I am saying. Now see where it is.

  • Sure, but that's yet another distraction from the premise of the post, like the radio play discussion going on.


    But to indulge you, let me rephrase, will ANY of BTS' future Korean language releases, achieve the success of their English language releases among the Western and international general public, and establish that they have achieved a level of greatness that transcends language/cultural boundaries?

    It's impossible to tell unless it actually happens, it's possible but I can't say for certain whether they will or won't. Regardless, I'd argue that the success of their albums both in and out the west transcends language or cultural boundaries.

  • Sure, but that's yet another distraction from the premise of the post, like the radio play discussion going on.


    But to indulge you, let me rephrase, will ANY of BTS' future Korean language releases, achieve the success of their English language releases among the Western and international general public, and establish that they have achieved a level of greatness that transcends language/cultural boundaries?

    I gave you 'Permission to Dance'. It is an English song.



    Im against all website downloads its clearly fraud. There is a reason it doesnt exist for other countries.

    Idk why you lot are against artist's earning money for their music. They earn more money from 100k digital sales than 150m Spotify streams and do you know how many songs have reached 150m streams in a week? ZERO. Now you know how many weeks we have seen 100k sales this year alone? More than 10. Website sales don't exist in other countries that's why artists are not earning money in those countries.

  • BTS, as the rest of K-pop, is largely supported by fans in the West. Dynamite had a good reach within the GP, but it's very hard for a non-English song to do so.


    But fans are massive and growing, so Korean songs will do well too. Maybe not as good as Dynamite and Butter, but still good nonetheless.

  • K-pop is solely supported by K-pop fans in the West, even for BTS. There's no GP in the West, only in Korea. Only Dynamite broke out of the K-pop-sphere.

    BTS just has a really high fan conversion rate, people who are considered "GP" listen to them and become fans. Most of these fans don't cross over to other groups (although a minority do), as evidenced by BTS' dominance in the west.

  • And converted fans won't be averse to Korean songs.

    A fandom will never be as big as the GP, even if they convert a lot of fans they will still be a minority compared to the rest of the country. Songs like Dynamite and Butter had decent GP support because they were promoted to the GP, just like almost every western hit.

  • I am not sure why you are responding referencing an English song, when my question is whether BTS greatness can get international audience admire their korean songs?

    I'd say that Map of the Soul: 7 being the #1 most successful album of 2020 and BE being the #4 most successful album of 2020, both Korean albums, proves that they can get an international audience to admire their Korean music.

  • I'd say that Map of the Soul: 7 being the #1 most successful album of 2020 and BE being the #4 most successful album of 2020, both Korean albums, proves that they can get an international audience to admire their Korean music.

    Are they as successful as Dyna, Butter or PTD, outside Korea, are Non-Koreans particularly Westerners buying, streaming those songs?


    Please present evidence

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