“RESPECT BTS” — ARMYs Are Calling Out Billboard For Sabotaging The Success Of Jimin’s Track “Like Crazy”
BTS‘s Jimin made history after becoming the first Korean soloist to get a number-one song on the Billboard charts. Yet, ARMYs have raised anger online, trending several strong phrases after calling out Billboard for their lack of respect towards the group and Jimin.
In March, BTS’s Jimin shocked fans after releasing his new album FACE. Along with some amazing tracks, The title track, “Like Crazy,” captured the hearts of fans with its unique sound and beautiful music video.
It was so popular that ARMYs couldn’t hide their excitement when Jimin was announced as the first Korean soloist to get a Billboard #1 with the track.
Jimin is now the first K-Pop soloist in history to reach #1 on Billboard Artist 100. pic.twitter.com/UTvamKgf54
— The BTS Chart (@thebtschart) April 4, 2023
On April 11 (KST), the phrase “RESPECT BTS” started trending on social media along with several other phrases, including “RESPECT JIMIN” and other phrases specifically targeting Billboard, such as “BILLBOARD CORRUPT.” For many, recent figures from Jimin’s sales were seemingly suspicious to fans after a huge differentiation in numbers.
That’s crazy 😭#BillboardCorrupt #BillboardRacist #BillboardXenophobic pic.twitter.com/4RKH1v0BPx
— dee the astronaut (@zonequal) April 11, 2023
After being number one on Billboard’s first week of release, ARMYs were shocked that “Like Crazy” didn’t even make the top ten in the second week. Yet, it remained consistently high on the other charts, including the global charts.
THE DIFF B/W THE CHARTS THAT DON’T COUNT PAID RADIO-PLAY , LIKE CRAZY IS A STABLE QUEEN ON THE CHART !! BILLBOARD IS MAKING JOKE OUT OF THEMSELVES!! pic.twitter.com/6Cg0JIeDeY
— JIMIN VOCAL | threads & analyses (@PJM_vocal) April 10, 2023
If that wasn’t enough for ARMYs, there seemed to be some huge discrepancies in the figures for Jimin’s sales.
According to one website, the song was meant to have sold around 120,000 units, but Forbes released figures (the source of sales information for the Billboard music charts) saying it had sold less than 15,000 units. It had fans unsurprisingly wondering where the other 100,000 units had gone.
.@HITSDD reported "Like Crazy" to have sold around 120K units
Meanwhile according to @Forbes, and according to information shared by Luminate, @billboard is reporting "Like Crazy" to have sold under 14.8K units.@billboard @billboardcharts @gthot20 Where are those 100K+ sales? pic.twitter.com/L8WuiOtWjM
— JIMIN DATA (@PJM_data) April 11, 2023
ARMYs quickly noticed how Billboard had seemingly changed the rules when it came to artists charting and found it odd how it happened just as Jimin released his album. While the charts had implemented changes earlier about bulk buying, it was only focused per week rather than as a whole.
they saw us mastering the new rules and said hold tf up😭😭😭 anyways apparently now we can only buy an album/song once per e-mail forever so pls always change your e-mail after buying or the sales will get filtered. SPEAD SO MORE ARMYS KNOW‼️
— outroseokss⁷🪞 (@callmebyyourjin) April 9, 2023
When the information was released, ARMYs shared their anger online with hashtags. For many, they believed that it was blatant disrespect towards BTS once again, with a change being implemented to impact the group’s success.
This is clearly sabotage cuz billboard nearly removed all his sales#BillboardCorrupt #BillboardRacist #BillboardXenophobic pic.twitter.com/JuiNZNJAxR
— Sumsum⁷🍊PEOPLE PT. 2 👥️ (@SumSumSeVeN) April 11, 2023
"The right to know about the personal information a business collects about them and how is used"
"Flitering through credit card numbers, IP addresses, and device foot prints" – storing and saving this without customers knowing?#BillboardCorrupt #BillboardRacist pic.twitter.com/16Iw37aReI
— 노랑망개🐣 (부계) (@jimin95themoon2) April 11, 2023
like crazy did not free-fall btw. the song was pushed down forcefully by the change of rules and lack of payola. he had enough sales, enough streams to be in top 10.#BillboardCorrupt #BillboardRacist #BillboardXenophobic
— tay(tae)⁷ | d-day 아포방포 (@kimgayism) April 11, 2023
In particular, many also pointed out that there should have been an announcement if there was a change to how Billboard measured success. ARMYs also pointed out that, in the past, Billboard has given a period of time before a new criterion is made applicable.
just asking but doesn't it take a while for billboard to implement rule changes on charts?
don't they usually announce a change the time from when it'll be applicable?instead they just changed it suddenly over the span of a week to stop BTS members from charting on top 10?
— Sel⁷ (@BTStranslation_) April 11, 2023
While BTS is known worldwide and still gaining success, ARMYs believe that many are still out to discredit or tear down the members’ success. ARMYs want answers and Western outlets to be honest with them, as they believe the rules are constantly being changed to impact BTS’s success.
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