Many people like to downplay LGO achievements, but if we look at things objectively, it is a huge hit, expecially considering the context of kpop.
Something to take into account while looking at LGO's achievements is slower songs in general normally have less streams (YT and Spotify wise), than the more upbeat ones (this can be seen for many acts).
LGO had almost no playlisting on Spotify (it debuted at #12 on Today's Top Hits while being the follow up song for Dynamite, the holder of biggest Spotify debut day ever). It had no remixes, not even an intrumental version.
Billboard
1. Life Goes On STILL Holds the Biggest Streaming Week EVER on the Global 200
- AIWFC could not beat it during Christmas
- Despite Driver's License dominance on streaming platforms, it also failed to break LGO's record.
2. Life Goes On is 1 of only 8 songs to ever go #1 on the Global 200
- It is the only Korean language song ever to top the Global 200 and the only song by Korean artist other than Dynamite (and SLR)
- 3/8 of the songs that went #1 were BTS (Dynamite, Life Goes On, Savage Love (BTS REMIX)).
- Its still charting on both global 200 charts.
- It is still one of only 3 songs to bebut at #1 on both Global 200 and Global excl US 200
- It is still one of only 3 songs to bebut at #1 on both Global 200 and Global excl US 200 and Hot 100
- It is still one of only 5 songs to be at #1 simultaneously on both Global 200 and Global excl US 200 and Hot 100
3. LGO's #1 on the Hot 100
- WITH ABSOLUTELY NO SUPPORT it managed to do what it did. LGO probably had the least Radio play for a BTS song ever, it is the song to top Hot 100 with the least amount of radio play ever. It has no remixes, not even an instrumental version. It was a Korean ballad.
- It managed to do this, while fandom attention was also divided by an album release and while charting ALL songs from the album on Hot100, including a b-side as high as at #13!
- It was the first non-English song EVER to debut at #1 on Hot 100
- It was 4th non-English song to hit #1 on Hot 100 since 1987, after La Bamba, Macarena, Despacito
Spotify
- Life Goes On is BTSs best performing song on Spotify after Dynamite and BWL
- Life Goes On passed 100M of Spotify faster than BWL and passed 200M on Spotify only 7 days slower than BWL. WHY Is this significant? BWL had playlisting support thanks to Halsey's Label for a month, thus helping its streams especially in its first few months, not to mention it was pushed on radio so it got exposed to more people. As well as many more promotions in general as well as it being a collab.
- LGO managing to compete with Dynamite and BWL which are the epitome of BTSs most supported songs on the platform, show just how much the fandom has grown that a slower chill song (with little to no promotions on its own), it able to rival bwl's numbers say a lot about how well the song had done.
- LGO hit 200 streams almost as quickly as other highly playlisted songs, its only 3 days off from being the 3rd quickest song by Korean artist to hit 200 million on Spotify
Youtube
- LGOs 1st 24 hours on YT is honestly amazing
- Similar to that of its Spotify streams, the fact that LGO got almost the same amount of views in 24 hours as BWL is extremely impressive. The MV itself was not extravagant in ANY WAY. It was probably one of if not the most chill MV in BTSs entire discography. Its the type of MV that for most acts doesn't get that many views at all (slow song, MV with a storyline instead of dancing). Yet it was again still able to compete with BWLs 24 hour view count and BWL is the type of BTS song that normally does the best (e.g. pop bts with dancing) and on top of it was a collab which helped it gain a tiny bit more interest. - LGO getting 71M views on its first day again shows the growth that BTS had during the year of 2020.
Top 24 hours Youtube views for music:
1. "Dynamite" 101.1
3. "Ice Cream" 79.0
4. "Boy with Luv" 74.6
5. "Life Goes On" 71.6
6. "Me!" 65.2
7. "Lovesick Girls"61.4
Japan
- LGO is likely locked on for 2021s Year End Hot 100 in Japan already (BTS have 2 songs locked with Dynamite and LGO from predictions). LGO will likely receive a 30M streaming certification from Oricon soon.
Worldwide charts
If we look at 2020 K-pop songs and excluding dynamite cause its an exception, LGO had the highest and best charting in Canada, Ireland, Lithuania, Scotland, Slovakia, Switzerland, UK, US, Spain, Greece, Hungary, Malaysia, and Singapore. And in most of the other countries, LGO was only second to ON.
LIFE GOES ON is one of BTSs least promoted title tracks ever, it didn't even have music show performances. Life Goes On never got any promotions on its OWN and was thus overshadowed by Dynamite most of the time, even during the times it was performed which were actually a few weeks after its release and not at release. And yes this makes a difference. If someone performs their hit song alongside another song all the time, the song that is already a hit song (Dynamite) will likely overshadow the other track.
IN CONCLUSION: Life Goes On is one of the biggest global hits out of Korea ever.
Credit to worldlove27 for most of the stats and commentary 
