Jimin is known to have vast general public and fan support in South Korea. For example, in 2018, he became the only male idol to top the Gallup survey for ‘most preferred idol’ in the history of the survey, and later became the only idol, in general, to rank #1 for two years (2018 and 2019), before the survey was discontinued. In addition, he is the only idol to rank #1 in the brand reputation ranking for individual boy group members for 35 consecutive months (as of November 2021) and 48 months overall (as of May 2023). Both of these rankings are a reflection of the general perception that the public has towards an idol, and it determines the marketability of an idol in the country [read examples here].
Moreover, looking at the South Korean media tendencies, it is also evident that Jimin is a favorite. Whenever the media reports on BTS’ activities or other K-pop-related topics in general, Jimin is consistently highlighted as a representative figure of both the group and K-pop in general. For example, media reports on BTS concerts always use Jimin-focused footage or use his images or mention his name specifically in the news coverage [refer here, here, here, and here for some examples].
This insurmountable love that South Korea has for Jimin is yet again demonstrated in how the country loves and supports his artistry, as seen from two different occurrences over the past few days, on one of the country’s music consumption platforms, Spotify.
On June 7, Jimin’s latest music release ‘Angel Pt.1’ where he is a featured artist garnered over 106k daily streams on Spotify South Korea Daily Top Songs Chart. This made it only the 4th song in history to achieve over 100k streams in a single day on the chart, and this includes songs by Korean as well as foreign artists. The three other songs to reach this mark are from group acts, and this means that Jimin is the first and only solo artist (not just Korean solo artist but a solo artist in general) to ever get more than 100k daily streams on Spotify South Korea!
What is more, Jimin’s songs occupied the entire top 4 spots on the Daily Top Songs chart, he also snatched 6 out of the top 10 spots and 7 out of the top 15 spots on the chart with songs from his solo album! It is evident that the country is hooked to his first ever official album.
With such a good performance in daily streaming numbers for his solo releases, Jimin has maintained his position at the #1 spot on Spotify South Korea Daily Top Artists Chart for a 50th day as of June 8. He joins his own group BTS as the only artists to spend at least 50 days at #1 on this chart, and Jimin becomes the first and only solo artist in history to achieve this feat!
In fact, thanks to the consistently high daily streams for ‘Angel Pt.1’ where it has remained the #1 song for several days now on the Daily Top Songs chart, the other artists on the track have also attained high rankings on the Daily Top Artists chart within the top 10, when they never had an appearance on the chart prior to this song’s release! Jimin’s impact speaks for itself.
South Korea is Jiminland indeed, congratulations Jimin!
