PREVIOUSLY ON BTS (DECEMBER 16TH-22ND): SEVEN CHERRIES ON TOP OF ARMY’S LIFE

A week with BTS usually means seven days worth having in one’s life. They, in one way or another, manage to get the first place everywhere: in charts, in our social media lines and of course, in our hearts! And last week was no different. Let’s have a quick recap of the most hectic moments with BTS.

Airport Photos

They kicked off the week by blessing ARMY on their way back to Korea after their Osaka “Magic Shop” Fan Meeting. They arrived at Gimpo Airport in Seoul all playful, happy and smiling – most of them not wearing a mask for once. ARMY were even more happy when they figured out that the airport was not as crowded as usual and that J-Hope and RM allowed themselves to stop and strike a funny pose at the journalists with their identical jackets.

The Season is getting busier

Meanwhile, the pages dedicated to BTS on Big Hit’s website crashed causing everyone to freak out believing that their comeback (CB) was about to be announced. False alarm…but the yet to be confirmed BTS CB is approaching for sure.

Fortunately, ARMY’s thirst for BTS updates was fed with some good news: for those who couldn’t attend the Jingle Ball in Los Angeles (and for those who could, but still wanted to enjoy it again), The CW aired a “Best of the Jingle Ball Shows” on Thursday, December 19th. And that, of course, included one of BTS’ performances in Los Angeles. ARMY were also able to enjoy some “behind the scenes,” with the Jingle Ball’s host, Ryan Seacrest and BTS exchanging Christmas gifts. If you haven’t been able to so far, try to catch up with the event. It will be replayed on Christmas Day at 8PM EST!

Every new day with BTS brings some great news it seems. On December 18th, ARMY were moved and excited when Big Hit confirmed that BTS would join the line-up of "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" in Time Square, New York City, on December 31st. The show will be broadcasted live beginning at 8 PM (EST) on America’s ABC networks. They will perform alongside artists Alanis Morisette and Post Malone among others, in front of thousands of people.

ARMY, let’s get ready not only to join the biggest BTS concert ever, but also to end the decade and start a new one with our seven angels performing live! The show will be livestreamed as well, so don’t worry if you can’t access the U.S. TV network or physically be there.

Formula E and Season’s Greetings

Out of the blue and with no mercy for ARMY’s hearts, ABB FIA Formula E – a motorsport championship using only electric cars for their races - announced they were teaming up with BTS, “to help promote the benefits of electric vehicles and the crucial part they will play in combating climate change.” After FILA, Tokopedia, Hyundai, Lemona and more, BTS will now help to raise awareness about climate change as global ambassadors of the brand.

ARMY had barely time to recover from this news when Formula E dropped a short ad where we could enjoy the boys in white motorsport outfits slowly walking towards the camera. Are we still supposed to know how to breath after that?

Well, even if we wanted to, we didn’t have much time to do so! Only few hours after Formula E’s tweet – which, by the way, was the most retweeted post in the history of motorsports - BTS Season’s Greetings 2020 was released. Ever since, ARMY’s social media has been flooded with pictures of one of their best photoshoots so far. Spoiler alert mode activated: if you had the chance to order the Season’s Greetings 2020 package on Weply and you haven’t received yet, you should definitely stay away from your SNS for a few days.

Little joys of life

This past week, we also enjoyed some Bangtan Bombs, one of them about RM trying to get some snacks while V is messing around and another about Jimin’s talents in calligraphy. As per usual, Jin came to Weverse to joke with ARMY and gave his advice on what sort of “cheap” BTS-related items they could buy (such as a car) and he also made really nice comments about international ARMYs trying to interact with him through the translator. J-Hope and his dog Mickey, and a sleepless V also paid a visit to the app. And ARMY are totally into these small daily interactions, right?

Charts and achievements update

So much record-breaking news came out last week that it was hard to choose what to highlight, but here are some heart-warming facts and numbers. First, BTS became the 1st Korean Group to achieve a gold certification for album in France with Map Of The Soul: Persona (50,000 copies sold).

In the meantime, “Suga’s Interlude” rose from No.41 to No.10 on the Digital Song Sales Chart and J-Hope’s “Chicken Noodle Soup” has re-entered Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales list at No.21, hitting a tenth non-consecutive week in the list and becoming the first solo track from a BTS member to stay there for such a long time.

As for "Map of the Soul: Persona," it sold more than 3.69 million copies since its release in April, topping the album sales category of the Gaon Music Chart compiled by the Korea Music Content Association. BTS also got the 5th spot in this same chart with "BTS World" OST album (553,376 copies sold), “BTS World” also being, one of the AV Club’s favorite games of 2019.

Regarding social media, BTS were declared the first (and only) artists to surpass 4 billion YouTube views in 2019. They are also the 20th most viewed artist on the platform since YouTube has been created.

Last but not least, on December 22nd, Yonhap News revealed the economic value for LY:SY Seoul concerts, in October. The three-day event grossed about $862 million representing the combined annual sales of 6 mid-sized companies. Plus, 187k foreign visitors came to South-Korea for the occasion (in comparison, 280k foreign visitors came for the Olympics). Congrats BTS and ARMY!

With so much great news, we can’t wait to live another month, another year and another decade full of surprises and great content with our boys, can we? Till then, what are your plans with BTS for the end of 2019, ARMY? Purple you!

Written by: Helene B.

Edited by: Shay and Marcie

Design by: Leslie

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