BTS becomes the first foreign artist to top Oricon's “Reiwa Era Artist” chart by achieving over 30 billion yen in revenue

BTS has again demonstrated its dominance in Japan by becoming the best-selling artist on Oricon’s first-ever “Reiwa Era Artist Chart." This ranking is based on sales within Japan from May 2019 to January 2024, aptly known as the "Reiwa era."

The boy band attained this achievement by generating a total revenue of a whopping 48.15 billion yen. With this, BTS also became the first foreign act in Japan to earn a revenue of over 30 billion yen. This particular milestone was bestowed upon the group by their song, Butter.

According to the 'Reiwa Ranking' released by Oricon (a Japanese firm that provides statistics about domestic and international music), on April 12, BTS' single CD Butter, released in July 2021, secured the top spot in the 'Aggregate Single Ranking' category.

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BTS unlocks a new Japanese achievement on Oricon

Japan is one of the largest music markets in the world, and any kind of achievement coming from the country is considered crucial. BTS has been one of those artists whom they have loved immensely and showered numerous records over. As a result of all this support, BTS was recently crowned the most successful foreign artist by Oricon.

"Oricon Reiwa Era Artist" refers to acts who have achieved extreme success and popularity in the Japanese music industry during the Reiwa era. This term refers to artists who have topped the Oricon charts, achieved high album and single sales, and garnered recognition during the Reiwa era.

These artists include a diverse range of performers from various genres, including J-pop, rock, hip-hop, and more, from all around the world.

On April 19, 2024, the news came to light about BTS’ Butter being the most successful foreign music project in the country. Also, the septet became the only foreign artist to earn a revenue of over 30 billion yen.

In May 2021, their single CD Butter, featuring the title track of the same name as well as the song Permission to Dance, was released. Also, the instrumental versions of both tracks were released. During the ranking period, the album recorded over 3.2 million streams and sold more than 230,000 digital singles, accumulating a total of 3,434,886 points.

Only two works have achieved over 3 million points in this ranking, including Butter and the song Yoru ni Kakeru, released by the Japanese hybrid band YOASOBI in 2019.

Additionally, BTS' single Dynamite, released in August 2020, ranked fourth in this ranking with 2,897,165 points. Dynamite features various remix tracks in addition to the title track and instrumental version.

In the 'Streaming Ranking' category, the group's first English song, Dynamite, surpassed 760 million streams, ranking third, while their second English song, Butter, ranked ninth with over 540 million streams. Permission to Dance, released in July 2021, surpassed 470 million streams, ranking 24th on the chart.

Notably, Dynamite became the first foreign artist in Oricon history to exceed 700 million streams in the "Streaming Ranking." Butter maintained the top spot on the Oricon "Weekly Streaming Ranking" for eight consecutive weeks upon its release, while Permission to Dance clinched the top spot in the "Aggregate Single Ranking" category for product sales in the 2021 Oricon annual ranking.

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BTS achievements in Japan

Some of the achievements of BTS in Japan can be given as follows:

• The first foreign artist to top the Oricon album chart since Michael Jackson in 1984
• The first foreign artist to top the Oricon artist chart two years in a row
• The first foreign artist to top the Billboard Japan year-end artist chart
• Only K-pop act to reach the top 5 on the Billboard Japan year-end artist chart
• The first foreign artist to top the Reiwa era combined single chart
• First foreign act to get a Riaj diamond with Dynamite (2nd overall)
• Dynamite is the second-most streamed song in Japan.

Being recognized as an Oricon Reiwa Era Artist signifies an artist's influence and impact on the Japanese music scene during this particular period in time.