New Around the World: BTS’ Jungkook Scores a First on Global Charts
BTS has been one of the most dominant acts on Billboard‘s global charts since the lists launched in September 2020, with six No. 1 hits on the Billboard Global 200 and five leaders on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart – the top sums among all acts on each ranking.
The group’s success now extends further among its members, as Jungkook notches a top 10 debut on the Global Excl. U.S. chart– the first top 10 on either survey for any BTS member on his own.
“Stay Alive,” co-written and co-produced by Jungkook’s BTS bandmate Suga, arrives at No. 8 on Global Excl. U.S. and No. 13 on the Global 200. Jungkook is the fourth member of the group to hit the global charts as a soloist and the first to crack the top 10 solo.
“Stay Alive” drew 28.6 million streams and sold 45,200 downloads worldwide in its first week (Feb. 11-17), according to MRC Data, making it the best-selling song in the world by a margin of nearly 2:1 (over Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.,” featuring Snoop Dogg, following their performance at the Super Bowl 2022 Halftime Show Feb. 13).
All solo entries by BTS members have hit the global charts in the last few months. Jin kicked off the haul when “Yours” arrived and peaked on the Nov. 20, 2021-dated Global Excl. U.S. and Global 200 lists at Nos. 67 and 90, respectively. Suga then hit the Dec. 25 charts at Nos. 55 and 37 with “Girl of My Dreams,” alongside Juice WRLD. Most recently, V’s “Christmas Tree” debuted and peaked at Nos. 43 and 51 on the Jan. 8 rankings.
Streams for “Stay Alive” split 10% from the U.S. (2.9 million) and 90% outside (25.7 million). This is almost the same as activity for “Christmas Tree” in its debut week, when it split 9% vs. 91%. Further, both tracks fall in line with recent BTS debuts – No. 1 arrivals for “Life Goes On,” “Butter,” “Permission to Dance,” and “My Universe,” with Coldplay, yielded 88-91% of streams from beyond the U.S. in their respective opening weeks.
With 25.7 million streams and 30,400 sold outside the U.S., “Stay Alive” also enters a variety of Billboard‘s new Hits of the World charts. It ranks at No. 2 on Malaysia Songs, No. 4 on Singapore Songs and No. 8 on both Indonesia Songs and Russia Songs. It also appears on the 25-position tallies for the Philippines (No. 18) and Taiwan (No. 20).
On Billboard‘s all-genre U.S. charts, “Stay Alive” debuts on Digital Song Sales at No. 6 and the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 95.
