BTS returns with Arirang, tops Korean charts

The group BTS announced the king’s return by topping the digital and album charts simultaneously with their first full-group comeback in 3 years and 9 months.

BTS released all tracks from their fifth studio album “Arirang” (ARIRANG) and the music video for the title track “SWIM” at 1 p.m. on the 20th through various music sites.

This new release from BTS comes 3 years and 9 months after the anthology album “Proof,” released on June 2022, and it is their first studio album in 6 years and 1 month since “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7,” released in February 2020.

As fans around the world had waited a long time, the reaction was explosive. The title track “SWIM” from BTS’s new release reached No. 1 on Melon’s Top 100 chart on domestic music sites within one hour of release. In addition, every track on the album was positioned within the top 50, boasting overwhelming popularity.

In addition, the physical album of the fifth studio album “Arirang” recorded sales far exceeding 1.2 million copies on Hanteo chart as of 5 p.m. that day.

Meanwhile, BTS’s new release “Arirang” is an album that contains BTS’s identity and universal emotions that many people can relate to. It includes 14 songs that let listeners feel the “current BTS.”

The title track “SWIM” is an upbeat alternative pop song that sings about continuing to move forward without stopping amid life’s waves. It expresses the will to calmly swim through the incoming currents at one’s own pace as a “love of life.” RM participated broadly in the songwriting, adding depth to the song, and Bang Si-hyuk chaired the album’s overall production to enhance its completeness.

Source: Chosun Biz
--Agencies