LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - MAY 01: BTS arrive the '2019 Billboard Music Awards' at MGM Grand Arena on May ... [+]
K-pop is one of the hottest genres in the world and one of the most-talked-about styles of music in the United States at the moment, which makes it difficult to believe that it wasn’t until 2017 that any musical act from South Korea reached the top 10 on the U.S. albums chart, the Billboard 200. Despite the fact that a number of bands already had large and devoted fan bases in the largest music marked in the world, it wasn’t until BTS’s Love Yourself: Her debuted at No. 7 that a barrier was broken for all artists performing in Korean.
Since then, quite a lot has happened for musicians hailing from the Asian nation, and in at least one way, 2020 has already become one of the most important periods for Korean acts making it in America, and the year is only a quarter over.
In 2020, the number of Korean acts that have reached the Billboard 200’s highest tier has doubled, with two names hitting the region for the first time.
In the past month alone, both Monsta X and NCT 127 have snagged their first top 10 titles in the United States. First, Monsta X’s All About Luv (which was actually performed primarily in English, but which was still pushed by a band from South Korea) peaked at No. 5. Now, just a few weeks later, NCT 127’s Neo Zone has repeated that placement, starting its time on the list at No. 5 as well.
Before 2020 began, only two South Korean groups had broken into the Billboard 200’s top 10. BTS had done so four times (with the previously-mentioned Love Yourself: Her and their trio of chart-toppers Love Yourself: Tear, Love Yourself: Answer and Map of the Soul: Persona) and newly-formed septet SuperM also managed the feat by debuting their first release, a self-titled EP, at No. 1.
SuperM is likely hard at work on their next project, while BTS just grabbed a fourth driver, Map of the Soul: 7, which opened atop the Billboard 200 earlier this month as well.
A fifth Korean band is surely going to enter the Billboard 200’s top 10 at some point in the not-too-distant future, but whether it will be a name that has come close to doing so before or a brand new artist or band that hasn’t even been announced yet (like SuperM last year) is anybody’s guess.
