BTS’s Jimin first S. Korean solo artist to top US songs chart

NEW YORK – Jimin, a member of the K-pop supergroup BTS, has made history as the first South Korean solo artist to land the number one spot on the top US songs chart, Billboard announced Monday.

The single Like Crazy debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 this week, bumping Miley Cyrus’s Flowers out of the top spot, where it had reigned for eight weeks.

“Jimin is the first South Korean soloist to score a No. 1 hit on the #Hot100, thanks to Like Crazy,” Billboard tweeted.

The song, off Jimin’s first solo album Face, is the 66th track to debut at the peak of the Hot 100 chart, which dates back to 1958 and combines all-genre US streaming, radio play and sales data, the industry tracker reported.

Face hit Billboard’s main albums chart at No. 2, making it the highest-charting album by a South Korean solo musician and beating fellow BTS member RM’s Indigo, which reached No. 3 in December, industry outlets reported.

BTS is considered South Korea’s biggest-ever cultural phenomenon, selling out stadiums around the world and dominating the charts while raking in billions for the country’s economy and building a global legion of fans known as ARMYs.

But the K-pop juggernaut announced a hiatus last year due to South Korea’s required military service.

All able-bodied men in South Korea must serve at least 18 months in the military and, after a years-long debate about whether BTS deserved an exemption, Jin, the oldest member of the group, enlisted last year.

Before the pause, BTS bagged six No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 and all seven members of the boyband have reached the top songs chart with solo tracks, Billboard said.

Before BTS’s dominance, South Korean rapper Psy’s global hit Gangnam Style peaked at No. 2 in 2012, according to Billboard.