BTS Score Their Biggest Hit On Pop Songs Airplay Chart With ‘Boy With Luv’ Featuring Halsey
The song bests the group's prior high set by "MIC Drop." Plus, moves for Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X & Shawn Mendes.
BTS boasts its highest-charting hit on Billboard‘s Pop Songs radio airplay chart, as “Boy With Luv,” featuring Halsey, jumps 27-22 (on the list dated May 11).
The track tops the K-pop kings’ prior best, established when BTS’ first Pop Songs entry, “Mic Drop,” featuring Desiigner, reached No. 25 in January 2018.
BTS has made two other Pop Songs appearances: “Fake Love” reached No. 34 last July and Steve Aoki’s “Waste It on Me,” featuring the group, peaked at No. 38 in December.
The Pop Songs chart ranks titles by weekly plays on a panel of 167 mainstream top 40 stations, according to Nielsen Music.
One K-pop track has hit the Pop Songs top 10: PSY’s “Gangnam Style” (No. 10, 2012).
BTS and Halsey performed “Boy With Luv” live for the first time last Wednesday (May 1) on the 2019 Billboard Music Awards. On the Billboard Hot 100, which blends all-genre streaming, airplay and sales, the song debuted at No. 8 (April 27), also marking BTS’ best placement on the chart.
Another song performed on the BBMAs, Taylor Swift‘s “Me!,” featuring Brendon Urie of Panic! at the Disco, vaults into the Pop Songs top 10 (20-10) after its first full week of tracking, following its April 26 release. Reaching the top 10 in just its second chart week, the song matches the record for the fastest flight to the tier, last made by Swift’s own “Look What You Made Me Do” in September 2017.
Swift scores her 17th Pop Songs top 10, tying for the fifth-best total since the chart began in 1992. Rihanna leads with 30, followed by Maroon 5 (20), P!nk (19) and Justin Timberlake (18). Mariah Carey and Katy Perry also sport 17 Pop Songs top 10s.
In other Pop Songs action, Jonas Brothers‘ first No. 1, “Sucker,” reigns for a third week; Lil Nas X’s incumbent Hot 100 leader “Old Town Road,” featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, reaches the top 10 (11-8), marking each artist’s first top 10 on the chart; and Shawn Mendes‘ new single “If I Can’t Have You” debuts at No. 25, his highest career entrance, after three days of airplay following its release Friday (May 3) at midnight ET.
All charts will update tomorrow (May 7) on Billboard.com.