For anyone keeping up with the latest news from Billboard, it will come as no surprise that they have in their recent interview with BTS and through other statements with radio stations, alleged that ‘BTS has ruined the No.1 spot of the Hot 100 chart’ based on groundless rumors of chart manipulation. Those accusations stem from BTS’s weak radio play numbers, despite having their recent two singles top the Hot 100 chart for 9 weeks.

Stereogum’s Tom Breihan published an article titled “BTS And Their Fan Army Are Rendering The Pop Charts Useless”. He claims that their success is somehow inorganic due to their peak spot being based on the strength of 69% digital downloads.

Trollz by 6ix9ine ft Nicki Minaj Let’s give him credit where it’s due – he does mention other artists who have charted No. 1 hits via unscrupulous measures like Travis Scott, 6ix9ine, etc.  He also noted in many previous articles that many of the songs that debuted at No.1 on the Hot 100 plummet several dozen spots in their next week and vanish into thin air like how Trolls by 6ix9ine ft Nicki Minaj did.

He laments about it being a “broken system” and he is certainly right about that. This is why it is absolutely disappointing to see him place the blame exclusively on BTS and use such an obvious rage-bait headline while making scarce mention of all the other English singing artists who have been manipulating the charts for years, with actual proof even released. Like Drake even paying influencers to make a viral dance challenge for the “Toosie Slide” before it even came out.

Let’s keep in mind that BTS has never relied on bundles or payola to sell their music because they simply don’t need to. They’re one of the few artists capable of selling out a global stadium tour in minutes while shattering records everywhere. They weren’t always like this; it wasn’t an overnight explosion. Eight years ago, they started out with almost no national presence in their own country, let alone internationally. It took 2 years for them to crack Billboard 200 with a presence and they kept up a steady ascent before finally topping the charts. You can’t fabricate or manipulate that sort of success. It took them eight years to get here and that’s not a surprise because that’s how popularity works. More fans = more streams & better chart placement.

BTS has not tarnished the charts, it’s simply that the rage from seeing an ethnic group singing in Korean has led to misconstrued accusations that don’t really have anything to do with BTS but rather spotlight how fundamentally broken the charts have been for years. Let’s see them briefly, shall we?

Payola – Pop radio numbers

Pop radio is an outdated metric for chart ranking calculation, yet it is still engraved and kept up because of the status quo obtained by western artists – better if they’re white and conventionally attractive – and a point of income by radio stations.

Ever wondered why you keep hearing the same 10 songs on the radio? Payola. In music, payola means to pay for play. The reason BTS has low radio play numbers is because they are blackballed from U.S Pop radio and other countries as well for simply singing in their native language – Korean. The fact that radio stations were so quick to add their two English-language hits, “Dynamite” and “Butter,” is exciting on one hand, but also indicative of the systemic issues still plaguing the format.

Streaming Platforms

How can we forget about the credibility of companies like Spotify and Apple Music and their involvement in manipulating the charts? Neither company is transparent about its streaming filtration methods. Let’s also not forget the payola that occurs here as well, with Spotify regulating ‘Discovery Mode’. Artists can accept less money in royalties from the platform in exchange for their music showing up on the ‘Discovery Mode’. It’s just reverse payola, my friends.

There are also artist agencies paying for popular playlists to include the artist’s songs for higher streaming numbers. If that doesn’t scream manipulation, I don’t know what does.

Miley Cyrus ‘She is Coming’ EP 2019, bundled with condoms. Bundling

Up until last year, Billboard counted music sold through merchandise and ticket bundles towards the song and album charts which many artists including Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, and many more milked to a ridiculous extent with music being bundled with condoms and lollipops at some point. The Weeknd’s humongous ‘After Hours’ debut was assisted by more than 80 different merchandise bundles.

To their lately implemented credit, Billboard did stop counting these bundles towards its charts last July while also ceasing to allow physical music bundled with digital downloads to be reported as digital sales. In easier words, artists must actually ship physical products before they can be counted towards the charts since many artists took advantage of the loophole.

‘After Hours’ by The Weeknd bundled with lollipops. If you want to argue that the charts are useless or the top spot is tarnished, you have to be willing to admit that it’s been that way for decades and not just exclusively lay blame on a group act that isn’t American or English simply because it’s easier than to admit fault.

Rather than raging at fans for spending money on music, it would make more sense to criticize artists and record labels who spend millions on strong-arming radio stations for airplay numbers. This gatekeeping and pay-for-pay tactic is one of the reasons foreign artists have a hard time topping Billboard charts despite having great streaming and download numbers backing their musicality. In reality, the charts and their metrics are heavily gatekept with streaks of racism imbued onto them.

We should ask the skeptic within us and around us why the notion of a South Korean boy group topping the charts is less credible than one of their Western contemporaries doing so, and why those Western artists don’t warrant the same scrutiny. To accuse BTS of ruining the pop charts is to ignore decades of foul play surrounding the Billboard charts as well as BTS’s own success which took many years to cultivate.

If it took a South Korean group smashing barriers for you to notice the discrepancies in the charts, that’s on you.