Lea Salonga, a known fan of K-pop sensation BTS, has taken to her Facebook page to air out her thoughts regarding an article that seemingly discredited the chart-topping success of the group’s latest single, “Butter.”
The article in question was published last June 2 on Stereogum that claimed that BTS was “rendering the charts useless” and that placing first in the Billboard Hot 100 was solely due to its global fanbase buying their music.
“Here’s the thing, though: “Butter” is not the most popular song in America right now,” the article read. ““Butter” made it to #1 almost entirely based on sales of discounted digital singles. “Butter” did get a lot of streams, but it didn’t get as much as any of the three most popular songs from Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album.”
“So “Butter,” like the big BTS hits that preceded it, sits at #1 right now mostly because BTS have effectively mobilized their tireless fan army,” it continued. “BTS fans are extremely plugged into the whole pop-chart thing, and they’re invested in helping the group get to #1 as many times as possible. If that means buying two different versions of the same song for 69 cents a pop, plenty of them are happy to do it. If you look at the charts, then, you’re going to get a completely distorted idea of how popular BTS actually are.”
A few writers for other websites then debunked this idea and wrote pieces in support of BTS, claiming that they weren’t “ruining the Billboard charts” and that “their success is organic.”
Lea shared these articles on her Facebook page, sharing her own opinion on the issue.
“This needed to be said. For anyone to describe BTS’s success as ‘inorganic’ needs to get their head out of their a**,” she said as she reposted an article from Forbes. “Nothing was sudden, everything was methodical and planned. And now, they’re at the top of the charts and at the top of their game.”
BTS has been making history with “Butter,” earning multiple world records and subsequently becoming the first act to gain four No. 1s on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart this quickly since The Jackson 5 in the 70s.
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