ARMY Accused of Cheating Billboard, BTS at the Forefront

Kapanlagi.com - Single Butter successfully made it to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 for 13 consecutive weeks. Released in June, Butter held the top spot for nine weeks and was briefly replaced by BTS' single titled Permission to Dance. With this incredible achievement, ARMY is proud of BTS and hopes that good things will always be a part of BTS.

However, the higher the tree, the stronger the wind. Accusations have emerged against ARMY that they have manipulated physical album sales by making mass purchases, thus affecting the Billboard chart. Those who made the accusations, fans of other pop stars, also provided explanations that BTS has fewer streams and radio broadcasts compared to other songs.

Having the largest fandom is indeed a source of pride for BTS because the support given by ARMY is not trivial. ARMY is able to move together in various actions related to BTS or not. Unfortunately, there are also netizens who try to bring down ARMY, and this puts pressure on BTS.

RM, whose real name is Kim Namjoon, as the leader of BTS, responded strongly to defend ARMY in an interview for the August issue of Billboard magazine. RM explained, "Feel free to change the rules and ranking indicators of Billboard to be more weighted if necessary." However, criticizing us and our fans for the achievements we have made is an action that may or may not be justified. It's as if we are an easy target to be brought down just because we are a Korean boy band and have highly loyal fans."

Big Hit as the agency of BTS also responded firmly to the accusations. Shin Young, the head of Big Hit Music, sarcastically said, "It seems better if we really have the ability to manipulate it." He also added, "I myself don't believe in the huge market of BTS. The US market is one that can easily be topped just with manipulation. We are proud of that achievement."

In addition, ARMY also demanded an apology from Billboard for the interview session questions included in the magazine article. ARMY created the hashtag #BillboardApologizeToBTS to defend BTS. As of now, there has been no response from Billboard regarding the magazine boycott. Hopefully, this issue will be resolved soon and will not hinder the shine of BTS in continuing to create!

Written By: Salma Tsabita Wiradara

(kpl/jje/mag)