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Jimin of K-pop group BTS. (courtesy of Big Hit Music)

K-pop has made history once again as a Korean solo artist topped Billboard’s Hot 100 songs chart for the first time ever.

Jimin, a member of the K-pop group BTS, claimed the No. 1 spot with “Like Crazy,” the main single on his solo album.

A Billboard tweet on Tuesday about this week’s top 10 songs on the Hot 100 chart said that “Like Crazy” beat out bangers such as “Flowers” by pop star Miley Cyrus, “Last Night” by up-and-coming country musician Morgan Wallen and “Kill Bill” by R&B singer-songwriter SZA.

Billboard’s Hot 100 rankings. (from Billboard Twitter account)

Prior to this, the only Korean music group or musician to have claimed the No. 1 spot on the Hot 100 was BTS. The international pop sensation has sent six tracks to the top of the charts, beginning with “Dynamite” in 2020 and concluding with “My Universe,” a collaboration with the band Coldplay, in 2021.

Prior to this, the best showing by a solo artist was Psy’s “Gangnam Style,” which held the No. 2 spot for seven weeks in a row in 2012.

Jimin of K-pop group BTS. (courtesy of Big Hit Music)

By bagging No. 1 with his latest single, Jimin — whose full name is Park Ji-min — has pulled off the remarkable feat of topping the chart both as a group and on his own.

The Billboard Hot 100 determines its rankings by combining streams, downloads, physical actual sales and radio plays. “Like Crazy” had a combined tally of 254,000 downloads and single CD sales during March 24-30, when the ranking was tabulated. The track was also streamed 10 million times and heard by an estimated 64,000 people on the radio.

“Like Crazy” — a synth-pop song that leans on the synthesizers — is the lead single on “Face,” Jimin’s first official solo album, which dropped on March 24.

Jimin of K-pop group BTS. (courtesy of Big Hit Music)

Some of today’s hottest singers, including the Weeknd and Harry Styles, have enjoyed success recently with retro-sounding synth-pop songs. That trend seems to have smoothed the way for Jimin’s latest song.

Jimin helped write both the music and lyrics for “Like Crazy,” which was inspired by the 2011 romance film of the same name, one of the artist’s personal favorites. The lyrics detail the agony of searching for a lost love in a dream. The singer longs to remain in the dream forever despite the risk of losing himself in the dazzling light.

By Suh Jung-min, staff reporter

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