BTS HAVE made history as the first Korean band to score a number one album in Ireland.
The seven-member South Korean boy band topped the charts with Map of the Soul: 7 their fourth Korean-language studio album and seventh overall.
Formed in Seoul back in 2010, the septet previously scored top ten albums in Ireland with Love Yourself: Tear and Map of the Soul: Persona, which peaked at eight and six respectively.
The band also earned top 20 successes with Love Yourself: Her (19), and compilation Love Yourself: Answer (15).
This latest charting represents a major breakthrough with BTS becoming the first Korean musical act of any kind to reach the chart summit in the Emerald Isle.
According to data released by the Official Charts Company, the band edged out their top competitor on the chart by just 500 units to reach the summit.
Official Irish Albums Chart: @BTS_twt claim their first Number 1 in Ireland with Map Of The Soul: 7 https://t.co/oMJHMK2itL pic.twitter.com/vxYX1msOPo
— Official Irish Charts (@irishcharts) February 28, 2020
They topped the charts just ahead of Lewis Capaldi and the album Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.
Map of the Soul: 7 also scored 2020’s biggest week of physical sales in the process.
The album’s opening week chart sales of 38,000 outstripped those Eminem’s Music to Be Murdered By, which previously held the record for the year’s biggest debut week with just over 36,000 units.
Just under 32,000 of BTS’s opening week figure came from physical and download sales.
On the singles chart Map of the Soul: 7’s lead single On opened at No. 22, becoming one of only a handful of K-pop songs to break into the top 40.
