BTS' 'Dynamite' music video hits record-breaking 500M views
BTS just became the first Asian group to release a music a video that reached 500 million YouTube views the fastest. The video: Dynamite. Date and time released: August 21 at 1pm in Korea. Date and time it reached half a million views: October 20 at around 9am same timezone. Days and hours it took all in all to break the previous record: 58 days and 20 hours.
It must be that the already solid BTS fans have consumed more of their music in confinement due to the pandemic. Or that those who used to favor only Western music have since found themselves suddenly hooked to the song—the Kpop group's first in full English. (When you guest on Jimmy Fallon for a week and have the likes of even John Cena fanboy over you, it's bound to happen.)
Whatever the reason, the numbers are concluding the obvious: BTS is a phenomenon.
Disco meets Kpop in Dynamite, written by David Stewart and Jessica Agombar and produced by Steward. The song incorporates 70s sensibilities and energy—from the fashion to the never-not-catchy K-trademark melody. The song debuted on top of the Billboard Hot 100, making it BTS' first number one single in the US and hailing the group as the first Korean act on the chart. It stayed there for three weeks.
Dynamite garnered around 7.8 million Spotfiy streams on its opening day, the biggest for a 2020 song. It then hit 265,000 paid downloads on its first week.
Yet, the recent milestone is not BTS’ first. Besides Dynamite, it has had nine other music videos to hit 500 million views: DNA, Fire, Fake Love, MIC Drop (Steve Aoki Remix), IDOL, Dope, Boy With Luv, Blood Sweat & Tears, and Save Me.
With Dynamite, BTS broke BLACKPINK’s previous record with How You Like That. The latter reached half a million views in two months and 12 days.
Banner image taken from BTS' Instagram account