The world could see BTS’s name rising to the top, but this time they were at the number 1 song spot on the Billboard Global 200 songs list.  

The South Korean pop band, Bangtan Sonyeondan, better known as BTS exceeded everyone’s expectations this year by reaching the number 1 spot on billboard twice this year with summer single Dynamite and their most recent one, Life Goes On reaching it with no radio play. The band shares their accomplishments with fans and even other South Korean artists that celebrate their achievements with them and cheer on the band. Both of these songs come in as a response to the global pandemic everyone is facing right now. Dynamite inspires listeners to feel happiness and to dance no matter how disappointing a situation may be; it’s a song to be played through any moment in life as a pick me up and to make everyone shine as bright as they do in the song. BTS member Kim Namjoon, better known as RM even states, “The goal of ‘Dynamite’ is really simple… to explore the world with positive vibes and energy,” he said. “We’ve been through all the sadness and desperation but with this song and performance we just hope the world gets more positive.” 

Life Goes On even furthers this message of positivity in times of trauma and hopelessness, yet it is extremely different from Dynamite: Dynamite was their English only song, but Life Goes On is the opposite.

Life Goes On is the band’s first Korean single to reach the spot, the first single in any non-English language to hit the spot ever. It comes in their newest album, Be, which has more songs just as popular and shares messages of longing for human connection. This accomplishment isn’t only satisfying for the band, but their hundreds of millions of fans (ARMY) that celebrated with them. “It’s a proud moment that any non-English speaking person should celebrate,” an anonymous, student BTS fan says. “To recognize that music that isn’t in your primary language is beautiful and can be used to send messages to their fans and even wider audiences is an amazing accomplishment BTS has under their belt.”

Even more see how the band deserved such rankings before, as their hard work is after 7 years in the KPop industry. Julia Ghagare, a loyal fan of BTS says, “BTS has gained a very strong following as their career progressed, and worked hard to get the chart-topping awards they have. But the degree to which they worked never changed, it’s the audience that opened their eyes and changed. I think BTS broke through barriers that the industry here put up for them and opened the door for other groups to follow suit and create a more inclusive environment.”

This Billboard-topping isn’t just for the group as it serves as standing for other non-English speaking music groups that they could accomplish the same. It opens the close-minded world to a larger culture and society in Korea and other countries around the world through mediums such as music as more artists continue to break charts and records in English dominated spaces.