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A promotional image for BTS (provided by Big Hit Music)

The K-pop group BTS logged a seventh straight week on top of the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with its song “Butter.”

Many are now watching to see whether the throne gets passed along to the group’s latest release, “Permission to Dance,” which came out on Friday.

On the latest Hot 100 chart announced by Billboard on Monday, “Butter” sat in the top spot for the seventh week in a row. This puts it just behind Olivia Rodrigo’s song “Driver’s License” (eight weeks) as the longest-running number one of the year.

Released by Billboard on Monday, the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated July 17 showed “Butter” at number one again. (Twitter screenshot)

Of the 54 songs in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 that debuted at the top, “Butter” is just the eighth to remain there for seven or more weeks. It’s now the second longest-running number one for a group after the 1995 song “One Sweet Day,” a collaboration by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men that remained on top for 16 straight weeks.

After the Hot 100 chart was released, BTS tweeted, “We can’t believe this is really happening to us. Thank you SO MUCH X 7.”

The question now is whether “Permission to Dance” will follow “Butter” to the top of the Hot 100. Having been included on the recently released single CD for “Butter,” the song is scheduled to make its chart debut next week.

If “Permission to Dance” does reach the top spot on next week’s Hot 100, it will be another big coup for the group as it replaces itself at #1.

Within 52 hours of its release, the video for “Permission to Dance” — co-written by British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran — had scored more than 100 million views on YouTube. It entered Billboard’s Global Top 200 chart at #2, collecting 7.34 million streams on Spotify, the world’s biggest music streaming platform, on the day of its release.

A promotional image for BTS’ latest single, “Permission to Dance,” celebrates the song’s music video recording 100 million views on YouTube. (provided by Big Hit Music)

The rate was not fast enough to eclipse the five Guinness records set by “Butter” when it passed 100 million YouTube views and 11.04 million Spotify streams within 24 hours of its release. But the fast out-of-the-box performance of “Permission of the Dance” has been drawing notice.

BTS is expected to face stiff competition on next week’s Billboard charts from “Stay,” a collaboration between Australian rapper The Kid Laroi and pop star Justin Bieber. “Stay” has spent three days so far on top of Spotify’s Top 200 chart for the US.

By Jung Hyuk-june, staff reporter

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