Stereogum: BTS Ruined Charts System + Butter Is Not The Most Popular Song

[Robo Ga 15,281]

It’s kind of short sighted to say they “ruined” the system. A) the system isn’t and was never perfect and B) every major group eventually sees a decline in popularity, and even though it seems impossible right now, it WILL happen with BTS eventually. They won’t be able to game the system forever because their fans will grow up and lose interest in promoting a boy band like it’s a full-time job. When we look back on the charts, yes we may know that they were unduly influenced by huge numbers fans working to game the sales, but that is also an accurate reflection of how popular they are. So in my mind I don’t really see as much of an issue. No one has a fan base like BTS right now, and that’s facts 

[LOVEDRUG 10,459]

3 minutes ago, JusKeepBreathin said:

Old white men doing there thing. Delegitimizing a minority win. 

And people here agreeing. As if GagaDaily it's self didn't turn into a streaming player last week for Gaga.

not the case. whilst there are people who have this opinion, i can safely say i, and many others, aren't included in that. many of us, who complain about this, don't obsessively stream any artists.

i can sleep soundly at night knowing i've never made a streaming playlist or followed a 'how to stream' guide in order to inflate numbers.

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

2 minutes ago, Melancholia said:

not the case. whilst there are people who have this opinion, i can safely say i, and many others, aren't included in that. many of us, who complain about this, don't obsessively stream any artists.

i can sleep soundly at night knowing i've never made a streaming playlist or followed a 'how to stream' guide in order to inflate numbers.

Me neither but who cares about charts anyways. They are pointless and mean nothing. Obviously they don't indicate good taste in music. 

Just let them have their win. They barely beat Olivia. It means their fans are slowly starting to not care either. 

[River 113,841]

so wait, this is why Dua was not #1?

[LOVEDRUG 10,459]

1 minute ago, JusKeepBreathin said:

Me neither but who cares about charts anyways. They are pointless and mean nothing. Obviously they don't indicate good taste in music. 

Just let them have their win. They barely beat Olivia. It means their fans are slowly starting to not care either. 

if only that were true. getting a number one is a direct marketing point, and something that labels... artists... producers etc. can use to get more opportunities or notoriety within the industry. there's a reason why label-backed chart manipulation is taken so seriously, because the charts are like the stock exchange. if you're on them, people want a piece of you and your career.

ratings matter, they always have, in every industry. you need a way to be able to gauge what's actually popular, and base your decisions henceforth.

[IllusionLover 6,628]

40 minutes ago, OMonster said:

That is Gaga?

There's literally a scene in her documentary where she does this lol

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

1 minute ago, Melancholia said:

if only that were true. getting a number one is a direct marketing point, and something that labels... artists... producers etc. can use to get more opportunities or notoriety within the industry. there's a reason why label-backed chart manipulation is taken so seriously, because the charts are like the stock exchange. if you're on them, people want a piece of you and your career.

ratings matter, they always have, in every industry. you need a way to be able to gauge what's actually popular, and base your decisions henceforth.

Well it's not working for BTS. They don't get radio airplay or much of the benefits from having #1's. It's not working for Lil Nas X either. Cardi B's not getting radio airplay either. It only works for white acts.

Let them have their win. 

[Aloe 1,199]

There’s nothing wrong in what they did. If Gaga had this amount of fans willing to splurge their savings on her singles we would all be celebrating. It’s just the way the charts work 

[IllusionLover 6,628]

22 minutes ago, PEZ said:

The article's author got absolutely bombarded by the Army on Twitter for several days, as you probably could have guessed I did laugh at this reply though:

 

These 12 year olds need to really go out and touch some grass, harassing anyone online just because they don't say nice things about their group isn't gonna take them anywhere. Also does anyone else finds it sick that they can even find the tweets when you censor the group's name like B75 or ***. It's sick and twisted. If you ask me.

[LOVEDRUG 10,459]

Just now, JusKeepBreathin said:

Well it's not working for BTS. They don't get radio airplay or much of the benefits from having #1's. It's not working for Lil Nas X either. Cardi B's not getting radio airplay either. It only works for white acts.

Let them have their win. 

they literally are. d'you think it's a coincidence that bts suddenly started becoming a household name once they started getting top ten debuts? ever since fake love, they've been exponentially growing because they look so popular. literally every video of someone checking them out for the first time (literally for the past three or four years) starts with "they're so huge that they must be good...", showing that to people outside of stan culture, they don't know them for anything other than chart positions or inflated numbers.

it's frustrating, because they have amazing music, and i'd love to see them getting organic hits. but selling 8 remixes of dynamite or 3 (so far) of butter, is an obvious attempt by bighit to pander to the fans, and give them as many things as possible to buy and stream.

[LOVEDRUG 10,459]

24 minutes ago, JusKeepBreathin said:

Old white men doing there thing. Delegitimizing a minority win. 

And people here agreeing. As if GagaDaily it's self didn't turn into a streaming player last week for Gaga.

also let's not do the normal army thing and claim racism at every opportunity. bts have faced disadvantages and unfair criticism because of their race, but that doesn't make EVERY critique of them racist.

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

Just now, Melancholia said:

they literally are. d'you think it's a coincidence that bts suddenly started becoming a household name once they started getting top ten debuts? ever since fake love, they've been exponentially growing because they look so popular. literally every video of someone checking them out for the first time (literally for the past three or four years) starts with "they're so huge that they must be good...", showing that to people outside of stan culture, they don't know them for anything other than chart positions or inflated numbers.

it's frustrating, because they have amazing music, and i'd love to see them getting organic hits. but selling 8 remixes of dynamite or 3 (so far) of butter, is an obvious attempt by bighit to pander to the fans, and give them as many things as possible to buy and stream.

Girl K- pop is just it right now. Why do you think the third biggest track on Chromatica is SC and in Spotify it only trails SL by 17 million streams. One was the lead and the other isn't even a single. 

I know we would like to think it's just BTS stans but K-pop rules pop right now. It just is what it is. 

[memomemome 1,478]

ouch, so brave of them bringing article about this. I hope him well 

 

[LOVEDRUG 10,459]

6 minutes ago, JusKeepBreathin said:

Girl K- pop is just it right now. Why do you think the third biggest track on Chromatica is SC and in Spotify it only trails SL by 17 million streams. One was the lead and the other isn't even a single. 

I know we would like to think it's just BTS stans but K-pop rules pop right now. It just is what it is. 

it does, but not to the same extent. none of the other groups at a similar level of fame to bts get such highly inflated chart positions. blackpink don't even have a top ten, and they're arguably just as big as bts. it's a kpop issue, but it's amplified a thousand times in the case of bts.

bts have inflated their us success by mobilizing their fans to get them number ones and break flashy records, whereas twice, blackpink, nct etc. don't use the same sh!tty tactics, and therefore don't have the same degree of 'success' as bts.

[JusKeepBreathin 19,311]

1 minute ago, Melancholia said:

it does, but not to the same extent. none of the other groups at a similar level of fame to bts get such highly inflated charted positions. blackpink don't even have a top ten, and they're arguably just as big as bts. it's a kpop issue, but it's amplified a thousand times in the case of bts.

BTS has a bigger base hence larger numbers and right now they are basically the only boy band in the American market. The other one is what 5SOS. I'm not even sure they even care about the US even though 3 of there 4 albums have been #1 here. 

Boy bands just get great #s.