The group BTS performs at the <BTS Comeback Live: Arirang> held at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul on the 21st. Courtesy of BigHit Music and Netflix

The group BTS is breaking the previous records set by its own mega-hits like ‘Butter’ and ‘Dynamite’ with the title track ‘Swim’ (SWIM) from its fifth studio album, <Arirang>.

According to the global music streaming platform Spotify on the 26th, the number of new listeners who discovered BTS’s music for the first time after the release of <Arirang> increased by more than 690%. In particular, the title track ‘Swim’ logged about 14.64 million streams on Spotify alone on its first day, surpassing the records of BTS’s signature hits ‘Butter’ and ‘Dynamite’ by 1.3 times and 1.9 times, respectively. However, it should also be noted that Spotify’s user base is larger now than it was 5∼6 years ago, when those two songs were released in 2020 and 2021.

‘Swim’ also appears poised to enter the upper tier of the U.K. Official Singles Chart ‘Top 100’. On the 22nd (local time), the Official Charts ran an article titled ‘BTS set to pursue their first singles No. 1 with Swim’, predicting that “‘Swim’ will become the group’s highest-charting single”. BTS’s previous peak on this chart was No. 3, achieved by ‘Dynamite’ and ‘Butter’.

‘Swim’ is also highly likely to debut near the top of Billboard’s main singles chart, the ‘Hot 100’. However, as one day remains in the chart tracking period, the final ranking may change.