Billboard releases 2018 year-end charts, with various Korean artists flourishing and BTS making history yet again!
On December 4th, Billboard released their annual charts for the year 2018, revealing artists who made it big on the Billboard charts dated from December 2nd, 2017 to November 17th, 2018. And to no surprise, various K-pop groups ranked high on the charts!
Starting with BTS, the group made their historic debut as the first Korean artist to enter the year-end Billboard 200 Albums chart,Top Billboard 200 Artists chart and tops the Independent Artists chart. The year-end chart for Billboard 200 Albums ranks the most popular albums in the United States for this year. And BTS, with not just one but three of their releases landed spots on the chart, with “Love Yourself: Answer” at No.85, “Love Yourself: Tear” at No.101, and “Love Yourself: Her” at No.150 spot. On the year-end chart for the Top Billboard 200 Artists, BTS grabs a spot at No. 21 and also earns No.1 in the year-end Independent Artists chart for 2018, as the first Korean act to do so.
This year, Korean artists shine on the charts and once again set a new record with the most (Korean) releases charting at the year-end World Albums chart, surpassing last year’s record of six releases. This year a total of eight (Korean acts) releases have landed a spot on the chart.
Leading the year-end World Albums chart, BTS takes the top three spots, with “Love Yourself: Tear” at No.1, “Love Yourself: Answer” at No.2 and “Love Yourself: Her” at No.3. Followed by EXO member Lay’s album “NAMANANA” (though not Korean release) earning No.4 spot and BTS member J-Hope’s first mixtape “Hope World” landing at No.5. EXO’s “Don’t Mess Up My Tempo” grabs No.8, while BTS leader RM’s “mono” takes the No.9 spot. Not far behind, BLACKPINK’s “Square Up” lands at No.12, followed by BTS’s Japanese album “Face Yourself” at No.13 and NCT 127’s “Regular-Irregular” at No.14.
On the year-end World Album Artists chart for 2018, BTS grabs the No.1 spot followed by EXO member Lay at No.2. EXO takes the No.5 spot, followed by BTS member J-Hope at No.6, BTS leader RM at No.7, BLACKPINK at No.9 and NCT 127 at the No.10 spot.
As Billboard explains, the year-end chart for Top Artists “ranks the best-performing acts of the year based on activity on the Billboard 200 albums tally and the billboard Hot 100 songs list, as well as streaming, social media and Billboard Boxscore [touring revenue] data.” This year at the Top Artists chart, BTS rises to No.8 from No.10 spot in 2017 and EXO enters the chart at No. 76 spot.
The year-end Independent Albums chart, ranks “the year’s top-selling albums across all genres, sold via independent distribution, including those fulfilled via major branch distributors.” For the year 2018, BTS’s “Love Yourself: Tear” grabs No.3, “Love Yourself: Answer” ranks No.4 and “Love Yourself: Her” takes No.9 spot. EXO member Lay’s “NAMANANA” also earns No.34 on the chart.
A significant number of K-pop artists were loved and talked about on social media, this year! After successfully retaining the No.1 spot on the Social 50 chart for a total of 103 weeks, BTS takes the top spot in 2018 year-end Social 50 Artists chart. Followed by EXO grabbing the No.2 spot, GOT7 landing at No.6, NCT at No.9, MONSTAX at No.11, SEVENTEEN at No.12, Wanna One at No.14, NCT 127 at No.23, BLACKPINK at No.28, TWICE at No.33, Stray Kids at No.41, NCT Dream at No.43 and SHINee at No.46.
Also, TWICE has been ranked twice at No.33 on the Social 50 chart which lists only 49 artists, so chances are that the rankings following TWICE might be inaccurate.
In addition to the above mentioned charts, BTS managed to enter a few more year-end charts this year. Just as last year, for the 2018 year-end Top Artists-Duo/Group chart BTS lands at No.2, following Imagine Dragons at No.1 this year. Additionally, Steve Aoki’s track “Waste It On Me” featuring BTS grabs No.38 on the Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Sales chart and No.68 on the year-end Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
Congratulations to all the artists for such an amazing 2018! Looking forward to another incredible year in 2019!