The main reason behind BTS success are their main singles.

    Yes you read that right. I said the main reason behind BTS success are their main singles.


    In broader perspective I feel main singles are very important for any artist's success. I mean just think about it. What is the first song you came across of any artists you listen to? It's more often than not a single or a main single of the album. If that song doesn't click, it decreases the possibility of giving other songs or the said artist's discography a listen, doesn't it?

    There are multiple reasons why main singles are important and it will take the whole day to list them. But one of the main is that the artists also promote their main singles alot more than any other songs on the album. Especially kpop artists. That leads to imply they themselves think it is one of the best songs of the album. So it has to be really good for them to consider promoting that song over any other. So as a listener we also unconsciously give more importance to the main singles than other songs and judge a comeback based on it.


    With BTS, they have always delievered great main singles. Their run of main singles from their debut to more than 8 years now is unprecedented. I haven't come across such a run in any of my music listening experiences bar Eminem let alone kpop. Just have a look at this.


    No More Dream > N.O > Boy in Luv > Danger > I Need U > Run > Fire > Blood, Sweat & Tears > Spring Day & Not Today > DNA > Fake Love > IDOL > Boy with Luv > ON > Life Goes On > Butter


    This list is just bop after bop after bop. It also shows alot of things. Let's talk about two of them here since it is already getting long lol.....


    1. How versatile BTS are as musicians and performers. I mean they released double main singles 'Spring Day' & 'Not Today' for 'You Never Walk Alone'. Those two songs could not be any more different than each other. A ballad and a high energy performance based song. This versatility stems throughout their main singles. They have all bases covered. Pop songs, hip hop songs, ballads, edm songs. You name what you like and BTS have them as their main single.


    2. It also shows that BTS are album artists. You can see that BTS have never had a titular track as a main single till 'Butter'. For those who don't know : Even after not having titular tracks as a main single, they have almost always had a titular track in their album. It's just that they never chose that song as a main single. It has been either intro, outro or end of an era type song.

    That's because their aim when creating an album is to create a cohesive, thorough theme based album where every single song on the album is important. They don't make albums based around a particular song or put just good to listen songs together to create an album. They create an album as a whole entity and then they choose a song from the album as a main single which represents the album in the best way possible. They choose a song which can show listeners what the album is about either sonically or conceptually very well. You get the idea what is the theme of 'LY : Tear' after listening to 'Fake Love' or you anticipate listening to similar high quality productions after listening to 'Run' in 'HYYH Pt.2'. BTS just know what they are doing when they create an album.


    To conclude, I'll say yes there are many reasons behind BTS success and there isn't any concrete reason where you can say yeah this is it because BTS really are once in a lifetime phenomenon. It's just that I feel this is the main reason. And don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying BTS main singles are better than their album songs. Because none of these main singles will make my top 10 BTS songs. It's just that if not for these high quality main singles I probably wouldn't have even given a listen to their discography to discover many more gems which I think most of you can relate to.

    That's why I think BTS main singles are the main reason behind their enormous success and will always be. Peace.


    Edit : Forgot to put up a question lol.....

    What is your favourite BTS main single? And why?

    Quote from onlyfacts

    1. How versatile BTS are as musicians and performers. I mean they released double main singles 'Spring Day' & 'Not Today' for 'You Never Walk Alone'. Those two songs could not be any more different than each other. A ballad and a high energy performance based song. This versatility stems throughout their main singles. They have all bases covered. Pop songs, hip hop songs, ballads, edm songs. You name what you like and BTS have them as their main single.

    This is such an important point honestly. The versatility of their main singles is what is amazing and what pulls in so many people. I will always say that one of the best things that BTS did in their career was the combination of DNA and Mic Drop (Remix) as singles for LY Her.

    They already had Mic Drop as a b-side on LY HER with DNA as the main single in it's september release. DNA is more edm/pop showing their brighter but still powerful side... they promoted it and than finally performed it on the AMAs stage (a life changing stage for them) and a few days after that performance they released the Steve Aoki Mic Drop Remix... and i can't tell you enough how smart that decision was cause they had that interest from people checking them out after the AMAs performance and releasing Mic Drop just after a DNA performance helped show people the versatility of the boys since DNA was pop/edm while Mic Drop was their hip hop side. And in turn more people listened to LY Her even more to see the full versatility of BTS and fell down the rabbit hole from there.

    Blood Sweat and Tears. The gorgeous song matched perfectly with the stunning visuals of the music video. I could watch it a 1000 times and the images and music always feel brand new and exciting to me

    Interestingly the song that made me hooked to them was not a main single. It was “Dope”, but I do believe people are attracted to BTS’s main singles primarily and they stay bcos of their B-sides. They have the most versatile album discographies. They know how to explore and express themselves tastefully in a variety of different genres- a testament to the kind of artists they are.

    The main singles do catches attention, but it's the album track that turn casual listeners to fans. And their personalities make fans into stans. At least that's how it was for me.


    They first caught my ears with Danger and Boys in Love. Sorry to say but their aesthetic at the time did not fit my taste at all, but their performance energy was off the chart. Then I went down the rabbit hole. They also perform a lot of their non-title tracks, that got me interest in their album tracks, then I look up the lyrics, then their personalities make them feel relatable, then everything ties everything together.

    Agree, their tt make them stand out much. They are super good. And are really effective in getting new fans to look at their other stuff.


    And the albums are super amazing too, I remember when I got into kpop after bp I listened to bts idol and it made me check out their other title tracks, i liked them a lot BUT it wasn’t until boy with love that I checked out persona and the rest of their music. It’s very good. I still love the persona album a lot and listen to it.


    Their quality music made them

    personally the first song I found was woh, which is not a main single. I know I don't represent the majority of people lol, just wanted to say I think it was smart that they tended to promote more than 1 song from their albums, for example dope wasn't a title track but it did pull in many fans.


    that being said, I agree with all the points you made in this thread, title tracks are usually the first songs non fans listen to, and bts titles through the years have had both quality and diversity. their range as singers and performers is really impressive.

    Quote from onlyfacts

    It also shows that BTS are album artists. You can see that BTS have never had a titular track as a main single till 'Butter'. For those who don't know : Even after not having titular tracks as a main single, they have almost always had a titular track in their album. It's just that they never chose that song as a main single. It has been either intro, outro or end of an era type song.

    That's because their aim when creating an album is to create a cohesive, thorough theme based album where every single song on the album is important. They don't make albums based around a particular song or put just good to listen songs together to create an album. They create an album as a whole entity and then they choose a song from the album as a main single which represents the album in the best way possible. They choose a song which can show listeners what the album is about either sonically or conceptually very well. You get the idea what is the theme of 'LY : Tear' after listening to 'Fake Love' or you anticipate listening to similar high quality productions after listening to 'Run' in 'HYYH Pt.2'. BTS just know what they are doing when they create an album.

    onlyfacts coming through with facts :yesr:

    I love how you described this, and I think it's one of the main things that set bts apart from other artists. you can tell how much work has been put into their albums :borahae:

    Quote from onlyfacts

    What is your favourite BTS main single? And why?

    I think I'm more attached to I need u since it was my first bts cb, but I'm not sure it's my #1 title track. that would be either danger, I need u, spring day or life goes on . or maybe N.O or ON, it's hard to pick few when they have so many excellent ones :cryingk:

    I agree that their main singles are attention-grabbers and help people dive into the rabbit hole, but I would argue that the main reason behind their success is actually because of their b-sides. Most artists have main singles that are meant to gain a ton of attention and hype. But when you decide to check out other work from these artists, expectations fall flat. Many mainstream artists don't put nearly as much effort into their b-sides and instead opt for filler tracks in their albums that are underwhelming at best. This is where BTS's power lies. ALL of their album songs are top-notch quality to the point where any one of them could have been promoted as a main single (exs: Bapsae, Outro:Wings, Paradise, Dis-ease, Louder than Bombs, etc). Their consistency when it comes to making quality music like this is why they have such a high conversion rate of causal listener to stan compared to their western and kpop counterparts. So while main singles are very beneficial and contribute to the vast majority of first-time listens, their b-sides are what make these listeners stay for the long run :borahae:

    Quote from worldlove27

    This is such an important point honestly. The versatility of their main singles is what is amazing and what pulls in so many people. I will always say that one of the best things that BTS did in their career was the combination of DNA and Mic Drop (Remix) as singles for LY Her.

    They already had Mic Drop as a b-side on LY HER with DNA as the main single in it's september release. DNA is more edm/pop showing their brighter but still powerful side... they promoted it and than finally performed it on the AMAs stage (a life changing stage for them) and a few days after that performance they released the Steve Aoki Mic Drop Remix... and i can't tell you enough how smart that decision was cause they had that interest from people checking them out after the AMAs performance and releasing Mic Drop just after a DNA performance helped show people the versatility of the boys since DNA was pop/edm while Mic Drop was their hip hop side. And in turn more people listened to LY Her even more to see the full versatility of BTS and fell down the rabbit hole from there.

    BTS have always been smart when it comes to choosing which songs to promote. 'DNA' + 'Mic Drop' is the best example of this.

    Another example is 'I Need U' + 'DOPE'. They made the best decisions when they had to and those became the two biggest turning points in their career.

    Quote from merribelle

    Blood Sweat and Tears. The gorgeous song matched perfectly with the stunning visuals of the music video. I could watch it a 1000 times and the images and music always feel brand new and exciting to me

    Same. I absolutely fall in love with 'Blood, Sweat & Tears' from the first encounter. It was high quality stuff all around. Visual aspects like MV, styling, concept and then the music. It was the first time someone in kpop used moombahton elements in their music. Since then almost everyone has started using them because BST became such an astounding success.

    I always say 'Blood, Sweat & Tears' is the most iconic comeback in kpop history. It literally changed the landscape of kpop in ways no one ever imagined.

    Quote from ohpuhlease

    Interestingly the song that made me hooked to them was not a main single. It was “Dope”, but I do believe people are attracted to BTS’s main singles primarily and they stay bcos of their B-sides. They have the most versatile album discographies. They know how to explore and express themselves tastefully in a variety of different genres- a testament to the kind of artists they are.

    Yeah I was gonna mention this point as well but it was already getting long so I talked about only 2 main points.....

    Anyways 'DOPE' & 'MIC Drop' are outliers. Those are two of the best songs ever released. 'DOPE' is the most celebrated song in the fandom for a reason. Because it literally blew BTS out of kpop niche.

    I think BTS have some superpower. They always know which song should be promoted. I mean 'Dionysus' is another example.

    Btw you hit nail on the coffin with those last 2 lines. That was my main point. These main singles show you how versatile and high quality BTS music is and then you dive into their discography to discover more better music.

    Quote from MassiveKpopFan

    The first main single I heard was Blood Sweat & Tears, and a few minutes later my friend showed me Butterfly. I was hooked instantly.

    Quote from Flowercrew

    Oh yes!! I wouldn't have become a BTS fan if not for Butterfly, BST etc...


    There is something about 'B'.

    Artist : BTS

    Best main single : Blood, Sweat & Tears

    Best promoted single : Black Swan

    Best album song : Butterfly.


    :smirks2:

    Just kidding......

    'Butterfly' is ethereal. I remember being blown away when I first heard it. That prologue mix always ALWAYS gives me goosebumps.

    Edited 2 times, last by onlyfacts ().

    Quote from mashimaroluff0

    The main singles do catches attention, but it's the album track that turn casual listeners to fans. And their personalities make fans into stans. At least that's how it was for me.


    They first caught my ears with Danger and Boys in Love. Sorry to say but their aesthetic at the time did not fit my taste at all, but their performance energy was off the chart. Then I went down the rabbit hole. They also perform a lot of their non-title tracks, that got me interest in their album tracks, then I look up the lyrics, then their personalities make them feel relatable, then everything ties everything together.

    That's how it is for every ARMY I guess. I'm just saying that if their main singles weren't as good as they are, many people probably wouldn't have given their albums a listen to discover more gems from their discography.

    Because I am kinda like that. If I don't like a main single, I rarely listen to the album. If I hadn't liked 'Boy With Luv' & 'Fake Love', I most probably wouldn't have listened 'LY : Tear' which became my favourite BTS album which lead to me stanning them.

    I think the same happens with casual listeners or radio listeners. For anyone to be your fan, you have to listen the songs other than main singles. Because more often than not main singles are that for commercial purposes and songs on the album show what artists really want to express with the album.

    Quote from Afriyieau1

    Yeah it was a title track that pulled me in


    Spring Day :lover1:such a beautiful song. I can’t thank them enough for releasing this bop

    If anyone comes across 'Spring Day', they're bound to fall for BTS. That song just hits different from the get go. You love the sound for its alternative hip hop and some rock influence. Then you get to know what the song is after reading the lyrics and you love it more. Then you dig more to find what the song is really for and start finding things you missed in the MV, you love it even more. 'Spring Day' is just magical. No wonder their stocks in Korea rose after this song. It also became the first ever Korean song to chart on 'Bubbling Under'. Imagine a Korean ballad on American chart. 'Spring Day' is just too iconic to put into words :lover1:

    Edited 2 times, last by onlyfacts ().

    Quote from onlyfacts

    'Butterfly' is ethereal. I remember being blown away when I first heard it. That prologue mix always ALWAYS gives me goosebumps.

    The prologue mix always feels transcendent. 5 minutes isn't nearly enough, it always feels like it's too short

    Is he.....you know?

    투모로우바이투게더 ᛫ 방탄
    레드벨벳 ᛫ 엑소 ᛫ 샤이니 ᛫ 에이티즈

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