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On February 29, 2024, BTS Jungkook became the only K-pop solo artist to be named one of the top album-selling artists of the fourth quarter of 2023.
Universal Music Group (UMG) highlighted Jungkook's GOLDEN as one of the highest-selling albums of 2023. The debut solo album by the idol was released on November 3, 2023, and sold over 2.6 million copies on Hanteo in its first week.
Fans were euphoric and hailed the Please Don't Change singer as the "most successful Korean soloist."
GOLDEN is a full-length album consisting of 11 tracks, along with collaborations from artists like Ed Sheeran, Shawn Mendes, DJ Snake, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Latto, and Jack Harlow, among others. The full-English album made a chart-topping debut and also earned Platinum RIAA for selling over 500K copies of SEVEN—a pre-release from GOLDEN.
"Golden deserves to be recognized": Fans lavish praise as BTS Jungkook achieves a new laurel amid UMG's dispute with TikTok
Previously, Universal Music Group (UMG) announced that it would take the music of K-pop artists like BTS, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, ENHYPEN, and others off of TikTok on January 31, 2024.
Following the inability to reach a new licensing agreement with TikTok, UMG said that it would be taking down the music collection of its artists, including K-pop artists, from the platform. The list also included Hollywood artists like Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Taylor Swift, Drake, and more.
A continuous licensing dispute between TikTok and Universal Music Publishing Group's parent business (Universal Music Group) has led to the removal of music licensed by UMG artists. On February 27, 2024, additional videos stopped playing and songs by artists including BTS, BLACKPINK, Ateez, SZA, Harry Styles, and Bad Bunny stopped showing up in TikTok searches.
Nevertheless, UMG named BTS' Jungkook, along with Taylor Swift, Drake, and Stray Kids, as the top album-selling artists. According to Luminate, Jungkook's first solo album, GOLDEN, sold 164,800 copies in the United States in the week of November 9, and it debuted at the top of Billboard's Top Album Sales chart dated November 18, 2023.
Fans took X by storm as they showered the Standing Next to You singer with congratulatory messages and hailed him as a global pop star.
With 210,200 equivalent album sales, it entered at number two on the Billboard 200 in the United States. It was the best-selling album of the week, with 164,800 pure sales (128,500 CDs and 36,300 digital downloads).
The album gained 29,800 streaming equivalent album (SEA) units, or 41.59 million official streams of its 10 tracks upon request (on demand), and 15,600 track equivalent album (TEA) units. The pre-release track SEVEN also debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100 and cliched to the throne for seven consecutive weeks.
Additionally, GOLDEN sold more than 2.6 million copies globally as of November 2023. According to Billboard, the album was the tenth best-selling CD album of the year in the United States in 2023, with 244,000 copies sold.
Jungkook took home the 38th Golden Disc Awards' Album Bonsang and the 13th Circle Chart Music Awards' Artist of the Year—Album for his debut record in 2023. Currently, he has been serving in the South Korean military since December 12, 2023, and will be discharged from duty in June 2025.
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