BTS' "Swim" Drops to No. 2 on the Hot 100. The Album Is Still No. 1.
"Swim" slipped one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 this week, landing at No. 2 on the April 11 chart after debuting at No. 1 the previous week. Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas" reclaimed the top position for a fifth non-consecutive week. The single still leads Billboard's Digital Song Sales chart for the second straight week.
The chart dip doesn't change the bigger picture. Arirang, BTS's fifth studio album, held at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a second consecutive week - the first time a K-pop group or artist has managed back-to-back weeks at the top of the US album chart. It also rules the Billboard Global 200 for a second week, with 106.3 million streams and 114,000 downloads worldwide in the period ending April 2.
The album's footprint on the Global 200 remains remarkable. "Body to Body" holds at No. 2. "Hooligan," "FYA," "Normal," and "2.0" all stay in the top 10. Six BTS tracks from Arirang sit in the Global 200's top 10 simultaneously - a chart configuration only Taylor Swift has previously matched, when songs from The Tortured Poets Department monopolized the top nine in May 2024.
The context for "Swim"'s Hot 100 performance is worth noting. The song debuted at No. 1 with 15.3 million US streams, 25.8 million radio airplay impressions, and 154,000 combined digital and physical sales in its first week - BTS's seventh Hot 100 No. 1 overall and sixth to debut at the summit, the most first-week chart-toppers among groups in the chart's history. Dropping to No. 2 in week two behind a country track with five weeks of accumulated momentum is not a collapse. It's a chart settling into a pattern.
BTS launches the Arirang World Tour in three days. The first of three shows at Goyang Stadium kicks off April 9. All 82 announced dates have sold out.
