(LEAD) BTS takes top two spots on Billboard singles chart

(ATTN: UPDATES with additional information; RECASTS paras 5-7 to correct "Dynamite" spends its second consecutive week at No. 2 on the Billboard chart; RESTRUCTURES)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (Yonhap) --South Korean boy group BTS has achieved its second No. 1 on Billboard's main singles chart with a song featuring the South Korean septet climbing to the summit this week, Billboard reported Monday.

"Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat)," the latest version of hit song "Savage Love" by U.S. singer Jason Derulo and New Zealand producer Jawsh 685 featuring BTS has taken the realm on the Billboard Hot 100, according to Billboard.

"The song becomes the second Hot 100 No. 1 each for Derulo and BTS and the first for Jawsh 685," it reported.

Last week, the song was ranked No. 8 on the singles chart.

BTS' first No. 1 song on the Hot 100, "Dynamite," remains at the No. 2 spot for a second consecutive and fourth nonconsecutive week, according to Billboard.

"Dynamite" debuted at the top of the Hot 100 and dipped to No. 2 after spending two consecutive weeks at the summit. It, however, had climbed back to the top after spending two consecutive weeks at No. 2, following the release of its remixes.

It dipped to the No. 2 spot again last week.

Still, in terms of digital song sales, "Dynamite" continued to dominate the U.S. music industry for a seventh consecutive week since its release with its digital sales gaining 9 percent from a week earlier to 94,000, according to Billboard.

The Billboard singles chart is set to be refreshed Tuesday.

Billboard noted the jump of "Savage Love" from No. 8 to the top was largely helped by the release of its latest versions featuring BTS.

"The bulk of its overall sales owed to the BTS remixes and the song's overall streams split more evenly among the versions with and without BTS in the tracking week, its overall activity in that span favored the Jawsh 685/Derulo/BTS versions, so BTS is now officially listed on the Hot 100 as a billed act on the song for the first time," reported Billboard.

The song's 8 to 1 ascent also marks the greatest leap this year and since "The Weekend's "Heartless" vaulted 32-1 on the chart dated Dec. 14, 2019," it added.

BTS is the first group to simultaneously take the top two spots on the Billboard singles chart in more than a decade.

"With "Savage Love" at No. 1 and "Dynamite" at No. 2 on the Hot 100, BTS is the first group to double up in the top two simultaneously since The Black Eyed Peas did so for four weeks in June-July 2009 with "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling," said Billboard.

BTS is the first-ever South Korean artist to top Billboard's main singles chart. Previously, the highest-charting South Korean artist was soloist PSY with his 2012 hit "Gangnam Style," which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

bdk@yna.co.kr
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