The concept photo for “Map of the Soul: 7.” (image: Big Hit Entertainment)
SEOUL, Feb. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — “Map of the Soul: 7,” the new album of K-pop super band BTS, is bound to debut atop the Billboard 200 next week, the band’s historic fourth No. 1 on the chart, the company has said.
“The set, which was released Feb. 21 via Big Hit Entertainment, could earn 300,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Feb. 27, with most of that sum driven by album sales,” Billboard said on its website Monday (U.S. time).
If confirmed as forecast, it marks the band’s fourth Billboard No. 1 in a row in a span of two years after its three previous albums, including “Map of the Soul: Persona” and “Love Yourself: Answer,” all topped the album chart, starting in April 2019.
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.
The upcoming chart dated March 7 will be fully posted on the Billboard website on Sunday (U.S. time), the pop magazine said.
“Remarkably, Map of the Soul: 7 is selling strongly without the aid of a concert ticket/album sale redemption offer, nor any merchandise/album bundles, as has become the norm for many major releases,” Billboard said.
“Map of the Soul: 7 is trending well in sales thanks in large part to the availability of four elaborate collectible CD packages,” it said.
The mainstream British music tally, Official Charts, also said on Monday (British time) that “Map of the Soul: 7″ is set to take the No. 1 spot on its album chart.
“The K-pop band’s seventh studio album tops the U.K.’s midweek Official Albums Chart Update, outselling its three nearest competitors combined. Map of the Soul: 7 is the best-selling album of the week so far on CD and download formats,” Official Charts said on its website.
If confirmed, it marks BTS’ second No. 1 on the chart after “Map of the Soul: Persona” landed atop the tally last year.
(Yonhap)
