The song, featuring Desiigner, debuts at No. 40 on the radio airplay survey.
Add another chart honor for BTS: The act posts the first hit for a K-pop group in the history of Billboard's Rhythmic Songs radio airplay chart, as "MIC Drop," featuring Desiigner (and remixed by Steve Aoki), debuts at No. 40 (on the chart dated Feb. 3).
The song is just the second K-pop track overall to reach the ranking. Rapper PSY's smash "Gangnam Style" hit No. 15 on Rhythmic Songs in 2012.
The Rhythmic Songs chart, which began in 1992, measures total weekly plays, as tabulated by Nielsen Music, among its reporting panel of 55 stations that largely cover the middle ground between pop and R&B/hip-hop.
KKWD Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, leads all Rhythmic Songs panelists with 90 plays for "MIC Drop" in the week ending Jan. 28. The song's next biggest format champions, by total plays last week: KPHW (71 plays) and KDDB (59), both in Honolulu, Hawaii, and KZFM Corpus Christi, Texas (57).
Oklahoma City remains a hotbed of radio support for the seven-member South Korean boy band in the U.S., as Pop Songs reporter KJYO in the market leads all stations with 579 total plays for "MIC Drop" through Jan. 28.
As on Rhythmic Songs this week, "Mic Drop" previously became the first Pop Songs entry for a K-pop group when it debuted on the chart dated Dec. 23. On the current, Feb. 3-dated Pop Songs tally, the track holds at its No. 25 high.
A week prior to its Pop Songs entrance, "MIC Drop" debuted at No. 28 on the streaming, sales and airplay-based Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, likewise marking the first top 40 Hot 100 entry for a K-pop group.
Meanwhile, on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated Oct. 7, BTS earned the first top 10 for a K-pop act when its Love Yourself: Her debuted at its No. 7 chart high.
As previously reported, Dua Lipa earns her first Pop Songs No. 1 this week, as "New Rules" rises 3-1. Miguel's "Sky Walker," featuring Travis Scott, takes over atop Rhythmic Songs (4-1), marking Miguel's first No. 1 on the chart and Scott's third.
