Jungkook, a member of the K-pop boy band BTS, has his latest solo track Stay Alive, topping the charts in over 80 different regions across countries on Friday, making him the first-ever Korean solo artist to achieve the feat.
Stay Alive is a track from BTS’ original webtoon 7 Fates: Chakho, and is produced by co-member Suga. The webtoon was released on January 15 and so far, five episodes have been out online.
7 Fates: Chakho is a futuristic urban fantasy inspired by Joseon Dynasty’s tiger-hunting officers, known as chakhogapsa. It revolves around the story of seven boys connected by fate, who form a tiger hunting team called Chakho. Together, they face various obstacles and grow up together.
Stay Alive managed to rise up the iTunes top song charts in 51 regions of the world, in just a span of three hours after its release. Moreover, it soon became the first song by any Korean solo artist in history, to reach the No 1 spot in 80 different regions, within the shortest duration. Shortly after, Stay Alive topped the iTunes Top Songs charts in the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany.
Earlier in December 2021, another BTS member V released a solo track Christmas Tree, which managed to top the Billboard Digital Song Sales chart. It was released as part of the original soundtrack from the Korean drama Our Beloved Summer.
Recommended
Further, the seven-member band, comprising Jimin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, and Jin apart from V and Jungkook became the first Asian group to win the Artist of the Year award at the American Music Awards (AMAs), in 2021.
BTS also went on to win the Favourite Pop Group award as well as the Favourite Pop Song award, for their single Butter, which they performed at the event. So far, the group has totally won nine awards, at the AMAs.
The K-pop group gained global recognition after their debut in 2013 and catapulted the genre of K-pop to a global fanbase.
Owing to its contributions to the Korean entertainment sector, the South Korean parliament passed a revision to the military service law, which currently allows K-pop artists, including BTS, to postpone partaking in military services until the age of 30, in December 2020.