BTS Jimin’s “Interlude: Dive” becomes the first and fastest ‘between-the-play’ track by a K-act to reach 100 million Spotify streams

On May 24, 2024, BTS' Jimin clinched another victory as his song, Interlude: Dive, surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify. The achievement is significant since the song is the first "interlude" by a K-pop artist to garner these many streams in such a short period of time.

For the unversed, an instrumental segment that appears in between words in a song is called an interlude. Usually interlude tracks are used by artists for a seamless transition from one song genre to the next and shift the album's narrative. For instance, Namjoon's latest track ?(interlude) from Right Place, Wrong Person was placed in between Domodachi and Groin to switch gears in his album transition.

Other artists before Jimin, who have released interludes are BTS' Suga as himself and as Agust D, Heize, DPR LIVE, and NCT, among others.

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Jimin's debut solo album FACE still charting and amassing streams more than a year after its release

As of May 25, Interlude: Dive from FACE currently has 99,279,107 Spotify streams and 2194,363 counted daily streams, which takes the total to over 101 million streams. Meanwhile, BTS Suga's Interlude : Dawn has over 42 million streams and was released with his debut solo album D-DAY in April 2023.

Other interlude tracks by artists and their streams as per Kword.net are as follows:

Agust D/Suga:

• Interlude : Set me free — 32 million
• Interlude : Dream, Reality — 21 million

Heize:

• Destiny, it’s just a tiny dot. — 1 million
• E.T's Letter - Empty Version — 647,460

NCT:

• Interlude: Past to Present — 6 million
• Interlude: Oasis — 2.4 million
• Interlude: Present to Future — 1.6 million
• INTRO: Neo Got My Back — 15 million
• Outro: Dream Routine — 2.2 million

DPR LIVE:

• Interlude — 2.9 million

Interlude: Dive is a dreamy instrumental with water noises and Jimin speaking live. His debut solo set explored his narrative of embracing his actual self and taking a fresh artistic step forward on a thematic level.

The album captures the range of emotions he went through over the course of the last several years, as shown by the promotion schedule graphic, which included remarks like "Circle of Resonance" and "Reflection of vulnerable minds and unexposed wounds".

With FACE, Jimin became the first solo artist in Hanteo Chart history to sell over 1 million copies on its first day of release, smashing sales records. The album also debuted at #1 on the Circle Album Chart and he became the first solo artist to sell over 1.45 million copies in its first week of release.

FACE became the highest-charting album by a South Korean solo artist in Billboard chart history when it debuted at #2 on the US Billboard 200. Its musical style is diverse, encompassing pop, hip hop, and R&B. Notably, the title track, Like Crazy, debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, which further made him the first Korean and K-pop soloist to top the American chart.

In Japan, FACE peaked at the top of the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart as well as the Oricon Albums and Digital Albums rankings. In 2023, Jimin thus became the first solo performer to debut at the top of both Oricon album charts.

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In other news, Park Jimin enlisted in the Republic of Korea Army on December 12, 2023, alongside his bandmate Jeon Jungkook. A day before, BTS' Kim Namjoon aka RM, and Kim Taehyung (V) enlisted in the military.

Currently, all seven BTS members are serving in the South Korean military. Kim Seokjin will return on June 10, 2024, after completing his 18-month conscription. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant last year.