BTS's "Map Of The Soul: Persona" Named 2019's 2nd Best-Selling Physical Album In The US

BTS had a huge year for album sales in the United States!

Nielsen Music recently released its 2019 Year-End Music Report for the United States, with the success of BTS’s April 2019 mini album “Map of the Soul: Persona” reflected on its charts.

“Map of the Soul: Persona” comes in sixth overall on the chart for Top 10 Albums (Total Sales) in the United States in 2019, with 454,000 in sales. This chart is based on physical and digital sales of the album and not overall equivalent album units (which in addition to album sales, also includes album equivalent songs from downloads and song streaming volume).

Top 10 Albums (Total Sales)

1. Taylor Swift’s “Lover” — 1,085,000
2. Billie Eilish’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” — 676,000
3. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born Soundtrack” — 486,000
4. Jonas Brothers’s “Happiness Begins” — 469,000
5. Harry Styles’s “Fine Line” — 458,000
6. BTS’s “Map of the Soul: Persona” — 454,000
7. Tool’s “Fear Inoculum” — 388,000
8. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody (The Original Soundtrack)” — 366,000
9. Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding” — 357,000
10. Beatles’s “Abbey Road” — 333,000

In terms of physical albums alone, “Map of the Soul: Persona” reached 415,000 in sales, second only to Taylor Swift’s “Lover” with 699,000.

Top Physical Albums

1. Taylor Swift’s “Lover” — 699,000
2. BTS’s “Map of the Soul: Persona” — 415,000
3. Billie Eilish’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” — 395,000
4. Jonas Brothers’s “Happiness Begins” — 379,000
5. Harry Styles’s “Fine Line” — 354,000
6. Beatles’s “Abbey Road” — 306,000
7. Backstreet Boys’s “DNA” — 303,000
8. Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born Soundtrack” — 294,000
9. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsoy” — 293,000
10. Queen’s “Greatest Hits 1” — 227,000

Included in the report is Nielsen Music’s statistics related to K-pop in the United States, which state, “K-Pop fans skew male and are more likely to be nonwhite than the general population.” The report states that K-pop fans in the United States are outspending the general population on total music spend across digital, physical, and live music. It also shares that K-pop fans spend more hours per week listening to music than the average music listener.

It was also revealed on January 10 that Gaon recorded physical album shipments of 3,718,230 copies of “Map of the Soul: Persona” in 2019, making it the top-selling physical album on Gaon last year.

BTS is currently gearing up for the February 21 release of their new album “Map of the Soul: 7,” and they kicked things off with Suga’s comeback trailer “Interlude: Shadow” this week.

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