MediaGPT | Music Industry Analysis
ARIRANG's 17 vinyl variants sell 208,000 in week one, the most by a group since 1991 — album drives 16% U.S. CD growth in H1; U.S. becomes top importer of Korean albums for the first time
BTS(방탄소년단)' fifth studio album ARIRANG sold 208,000 vinyl(LP, 바이닐) copies in its first U.S. week (March 20–26). That is the most by a group since Luminate(루미네이트) began electronically tracking sales in 1991, and sixth among all albums in the modern era, behind five by Taylor Swift. According to Billboard on March 29, the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 dated April 4 with 641,000 equivalent album units. Vinyl made up about 40% of its 532,000 pure album sales.
ARIRANG is the group's first studio album since BE in 2020 and the first released with all seven members since 2022, after they completed military service. During the hiatus, Korean physical album sales fell 17.7% in 2024 to about 98.9 million, the first decline in nine years.
In the U.S., Stray Kids(스트레이 키즈) added seven Billboard 200 No. 1s over the same period. The March 21 comeback show at Gwanghwamun Square(광화문광장) in Seoul, streamed live by Netflix(넷플릭스), drew 18.4 million viewers worldwide, and the album passed 110 million Spotify(스포티파이) streams on its first day.