CHART STORY:
BTS IS A BFD

BigHit/Columbia’s BTS have debuted at #1 on the HITS Top 50 Chart with Map of the Soul: Persona, which scored 230k—the K-Pop sensations’ best opening yet. The band previously debuted with 185k for Love Yourself: Answer last August.

Ron Perry’s Columbia has the #1 slot on every one of this week’s charts, as BTS also reign in pure album sales and Lil Nas X’s smash “Old Town Road”—along with its Billy Ray Cyrus remix—dominates in the Streaming Songs, Song Revenue and Country Song Streams areas.

The week’s second-biggest bow belongs to Aftermath/12 Tone’s Anderson .Paak, whose Ventura rounds out the Top 5 with nearly 50k.

Other noteworthy new releases include Beyoncé’s Homecoming: The Live Album (Parkwood/Columbia), which is benefiting from only two days of activity due to the set’s surprise drop on a Wednesday, alongside a Netflix documentary chronicling her landmark Coachella performance.

There’s also Aaron Lewis’ State I’m In (Big Machine/BMLG), which enters at #14, moving 23k.

In her third week, Darkroom/Interscope’s Billie Eilish holds at #2. WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP tacks on an additional 91k, down just 21% after her sensational Coachella bow. We hear John Janick’s flower crown is now gold-leafed.

UMG leads the pack with 40% marketshare; SME follows with 33% and WMG takes 26%, while the Indies claim 1%.

Streeting this week are RCA’s Cage the Elephant and Strange Music’s Tech N9ne.

We wish you all a lovely holiday weekend, whether you're celebrating Easter, Passover or 4/20.