BTS makes history on Japan’s Oricon year-end album, total sales charts in 2021

K-pop superstars BTS set a new record by becoming the first foreign group to grab the No. 1 spot on Japanese music chart Oricon’s year-end album and total sales rankings, earning nearly $162 million in the country alone.

The Oricon Annual Ranking 2021 listed the best-selling singles, albums and digital music, and most streamed tracks for the year in Japan.

According to Oricon, BTS’ “BTS, The Best” album, released on June 16, ranked No. 1 on the year-end album chart with sales of 992,837 copies.

With this, BTS became the first foreign group to top the year-end chart and the first foreign artist to grab the top spot on the chart in 37 years since the late King of Pop Michael Jackson reigned on the chart in 1984 with his “Thriller” album, which sold 575,000 for the year.

BTS also became the third foreign artist to top the Oricon year-end album chart after Jacksonin 1984 and the late Elvis Presley whose 1971 album "That's The Way It Is" sold 255,000 copies in Japan.

“BTS, The Best” album sold 782,000 copies in the first week of release and topped Oricon’s weekly album chart. This is the highest first-week sales in Oricon history for foreign male artists and the second highest total sales after Mariah Carey’s “The #1's,” which sold 1.04 million copies in 1998.

BTS No. 1 in total sales in Japan

In addition, Oricon released on Dec. 24 the ranking of artists by total sales in 2021. BTS grabbed the No. 1 based on total sales in Japan, and according to Oricon, this is the first time in Oricon history that a foreign artist bagged the top spot.

According to Oricon, BTS’ sales in Japan in 2021 totaled 18.48 billion yen, or a whopping $161.6 million.

The sales rankings are based on singles, albums, music DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, digital singles, digital albums and streaming.

Of the 18.48 billion yen that BTS earned, album sales totaled 7.3 billion yen ($63.8 million).

DVDs and Blu-ray Discs sales came in second with 5.83 billion yen ($51 million) followed by digital music with 5.34 billion yen ($46.7 million).

“This time, we won first place in the Oricon Annual Ranking 2021’s total ranking of sales division by artist. We are really happy that you love our songs. It is also a great honor to receive such a wonderful award. Thanks to ARMYs who always support us. Thank you very much,” said BTS, according to Oricon.