Jimin of BTS takes No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 with 'Like Crazy'

Jimin of boy band BTS [BIGHIT MUSIC]

Jimin of boy band BTS landed in the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart, a first for any solo K-pop star, with his song “Like Crazy” in a victorious feat for Korean pop history.

“I have no idea what to say because it feels so unreal,” Jimin said in a live video to fans through the Weverse fan community app on Tuesday morning.

“I thank you so, so much. The producers that I worked with are crying. Thank you to everyone that helped make the album, but, mostly, thank you to everyone who liked it.”

The news was shared on the U.S. music chart’s official Twitter account on Tuesday as a heads-up for the updated chart for the week starting this Saturday. Jimin will be followed by Miley Cyrus’ “Flowers,” Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” and SZA’s “Kill Bill."

“Like Crazy” is the lead track from Jimin’s first official solo album “FACE,” which was released on March 24. “FACE” will sit at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart when it is updated this week, another new high for a solo K-pop artist.

This makes "Like Crazy" the 66th song to land atop the Billboard main chart straight after its release, as opposed to landing lower and later climbing to the top.

Jimin’s feat comes as a victory not only for the singer and his band, but for K-pop as a whole as the made-in-Korea music genre continues to expand its scope in the global music scene with a variety of players.

The last peak for a K-pop solo was when Psy saw his 2012 hit “Gangnam Style” sit on the second spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, but he was unable to beat the radio play of Maroon 5’s “One More Night.”

Psy then landed three more songs on the Hot 100 chart each year afterward — “Gentleman” in 2013, “Hangover” featuring Snoop Dogg in 2014 and “Daddy” featuring CL of girl group 2NE1 in 2015 — until CL landed her own song “Lifted” on the chart in 2016.

It was in October 2017 when BTS’s “DNA” sat on No. 85 of the singles chart for the first time in its career. The rest is history: BTS topped the chart for the first time in September 2020 with “Dynamite” then again with “Life Goes on” in December that year, followed by “Butter” and “Permission to Dance” in 2021.

“I know this was possible because I’m [a part of] BTS and because I have you guys, ARMY, and I never forget that,” Jimin said in the Weverse session, mentioning the band’s loyal fan club.

“I’m so proud of you guys, I’m so proud of BTS and I’m so proud of everyone who worked with me. This is such a happy day for me.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]