BTS K-Pop Comeback: Bangtan Boys Sell Half A Million Copies Of ‘WINGS’ In First Week Of Pre-Sale [Teasers]
The K-pop community, especially those who are a part of the A.R.M.Y. (devoted fan club of BTS), are waiting with bated breath as Monday draws near. On October 3, BTS — also known as the Bangtan Boys or the Bulletproof Boy Scouts — will be making their K-pop comeback with their album, WINGS.
WINGS will be BTS’ second studio album, which makes it a perfect ending of a very successful year. Other accomplishments and events that made this year phenomenal for the K-pop group signed under Big Hit Entertainment include the release of their finale in “The Most Beautiful Moment In Life” trilogy, a compilation album titled The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever — which featured the popular song “Fire” — earning the title of most retweeted artist on Twitter for the month March, the release of their special video BTS in Dubai, and selling out all 144,000 tickets on their last tour.
Pre-orders for WINGS went on sale last Wednesday, September 28. According to Soompi, BTS sold half a million copies of their second studio album within one week, starting from the day pre-sale orders began to last Wednesday, October 5. Compared to their previous K-pop comebacks, it is triple the pre-sale count for The Most Beautiful Moment In Life Part 2, which sold 150,000 copies, and 200,000 copies more than the pre-sale count for The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever, which sold 300,000 copies.
To be frank, BTS garnering such high sale numbers is not surprising, but there is one major reason why the numbers for WINGS is so much higher than their previous K-pop comebacks over the last two years. Besides the obvious fact that this is their second studio album, it has been over two years since they released their previous studio album, Dark & Wild, on August 19, 2014. Also, it was revealed that all the individual short films each member had earlier refers to a solo song title for the member it is associated with. For those who cannot remember, Jungkook has “Begin,” Jimin has “Lie,” V has “Stigma,” Suga has “First Love,” J-Hope has “MAMA,” Jin has “Awake,” and Rap Monster has “Reflection.”
It also helps that BTS and Big Hit Entertainment kept releasing teasers for WINGS. Earlier, individual and group photo teasers were released, but now a teaser for the music video for the title song “Blood, Sweat & Tears” has been uploaded on Big Hit Entertainment’s official YouTube. According to K-pop Herald, the music video teaser was uploaded on Thursday night, October 6. From what can be recalled from it, the setting for the music video is in darkened rooms showcasing a shadowy ambiance fitting of a jazz club. One of the members in the teasers is vocalizing accompanied by the smooth tones of an electric piano.
Apparently, the music video teaser for “Blood, Sweat & Tears” did its job very well in establishing anticipation for WINGS. Since its upload, there have been over 1.5 million views with almost 200,000 likes.
WINGS, the second studio album made by BTS, will release this coming Monday, October 10 at midnight KST. For K-pop fans who want to reserve their copy of WINGS, they can purchase their pre-order at YesAsia. The random version is just the album, while the special edition version (known as the W+I+N+G Version) consists of four discs. There is also an option to buy either version along with a poster in a tube.
[Featured Image by Big Hit Entertainment]
