KPop princes BTS smash yet another record with over 100mn YouTube views in 24hrs

The South Korean boy band is showing no sign of giving up their habits of breaking records and topping charts as their latest single 'Dynamite' scores yet another milestone this week.

The seven-member KPop band's first ever group track in English, Dynamite became the first video to cross 100 million views less than 24 hours after its release. The music video also recorded the fastest video in YouTube history to hit 100 million views. According to YouTube, the video crossed over 101.1 million views in a day since it was premiered on August 21. The music video also cracked the record for the most-viewed YouTube Premiere with more than 3 million concurrent live viewers.

The funky and cheerful song accompanied by a retro themed music video that stirs up a nostalgic fondness towards the early 90s has so far gained over 190 million views on YouTube. The highly anticipated release however came as a single, unlike the usual album releases. This is the first major release made by the team after their last album Map of the Soul: 7 which came six months ago. the band is set to release another album later this year.

The young group members said in a livestreamed news conference ahead of the release of "Dynamite" that they hoped the song would give their fans the same surge of energy it had given them, Reuters reported. "Everyone in the world is going through tough times right now," member Jimin told the news conference aired via YouTube.

"Dynamite is a song that can lift anyone’s spirit. We gained a lot of energy singing and rehearsing it," he said.

Group leader and rapper RM said the coronavirus had forced a halt to many of their activities but it had also allowed them to clear their heads and come up with new material. "It served as an impetus for Dynamite, this was a ray of light, a sip of sweet water," he said.

The seven-member group is at the forefront of South Korean pop music and has helped win K-pop fans around the world since their 2013 debut. BTS, also known as Bangtan Sonyeondan or Beyond the Scene, are set to return with two concerts in Seoul in October, with a limited audience observing social distancing, which will also be streamed online, Big Hit said.

Their tour of more than 20 concerts in the United States, Europe and Asia was cancelled because of the coronavirus but some 756,000 fans paid to watch an online concert in June. BTS broke into the U.S. market in 2017 and were the first Korean group to win a Billboard music award. They performed at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in January.