BTS is Thailand’s most-streamed act on Spotify for 2019

…and the most streamed K-Pop act in the world.

Another year of music is about to play its final chords. Streaming services, a mere curiosity a decade ago, are now the main source of revenue for many artists. In 2019, Streaming music will account for 80% of industry revenues, nearly US$9 billion this year.

Bangtan Sonyeondan, better known around the world as BTS, were the most streamed artist in Thailand, and the the most streamed K-Pop artist in the world this year. The South Korean septet also topped the global streaming table on Spotify. BTS had more than 3 billion streams among global audiences this year.

In Thailand, the top five places were all K-Pop artists, despite the groups singing, mostly in Korean. Blackpink were second, followed by GOT7, NCT 127 and EXO.

More than 14 million listeners in Thailand follow BTS each month and the Korean girl group Blackpink has 8 million followers a month. Blackpink’s ‘Kill This Love’ was the most streamed song in Thailand, followed by the BTS hit ‘Boy with Luv’ (feat. Halsey). Globally, the two songs switched positions, with ‘Boy with Luv’ coming first, followed by ‘Kill This Love’.

‘Boy with Luv’ was streamed more than 300 million times so far this year.

Blackpink has a huge Thai following because one of its members is a Thai national. Lalisa “Lisa” Manoban was one of three people from Thailand chosen to be on Time magazine’s Time 100 Next 2019 list.

BTS are the only act, local or international, to sell out two stadium concerts at the Rajamangala Stadium in Bangkok. In another of its 2019 record-breaking streaks, BTS landed the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to reach 1 million followers on the video-sharing platform TikTok.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

PHOTO: It looked like The Beatles performing in the same Ed Sullivan Theatre in 1964, but in May this year BTS performed on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. The producers recreated the same look and feel as the earlier Fab Four performance. Only The Beatles and BTS have had three number ones on the Billboard music charts in the same year.