2024 was the year of BTS

The solo works of BTS members are being continuously named among the best albums of 2024 selected by major overseas media outlets.

RM's second solo album 'Right Place, Wrong Person' and Jin's first solo album 'Happy' were named on Billboard's 'The 25 Best K-Pop Albums of 2024: Staff Picks' recently released by Billboard, an American music media outlet.

RM's 'Right Place, Wrong Person' was praised as "the best K-pop album of the year and the most daring record of 2024 across all genres." Billboard said, "RM's monumental leap forward is a genre-defying one, shifting effortlessly from hip-hop to jazz, Afrobeats to punk, all while maintaining artistic consistency." It continued to praise, "The lyrics, which balance self-exploration and social commentary, demonstrate RM's growth as a musician and storyteller. RM has created a masterpiece that transcends cultural and genre boundaries."

Jin's 'Happy' was described as an "impressive pop rock album." Billboard described the album as containing the retro songs 'Running Wild' and 'I'll Be There' that remind one of rock bands The Killers and Fitz and the Tantrums, and the smooth modern pop song 'Heart on the Window (with Wendy)'. It continued, "'Happy' shows that Jin is firmly on his own path and ready to run toward a successful solo career."

'Right Place, Wrong Person' has been evaluated as a masterpiece by many media outlets other than Billboard. Global culture media outlet HYPEBEAST selected this album for 'The 10 Best Music Projects of 2024' and introduced it as "an album that will change the prejudice against RM who we only see on screen." HYPEBEAST mentioned the diverse music genres in the 11 tracks and conveyed the value of this album, saying, "It proves RM's essence by maintaining focus even in a wide range."

British music magazine NME also expressed surprise at RM's diverse musical colors and consistent messages, and selected this album as number 16 on its 'The 50 best albums of 2024'. NME said, "It's a work full of ideas that is one of the few albums released this year."

RM's second solo album was included in Rolling Stone's "The 100 Best Albums of 2024," becoming the only K-pop album to make the list this year. "Psychedelic and emotional, the album blends soulful lyrics with music that invites exploration," Rolling Stone described it as.

BTS's group song also made it onto the list of hit songs. American entertainment media outlet UPROXX selected the digital single "Dynamite," released in 2020, as the 71st on "The 100 Best Hit Songs Of The Century So Far." This is all the more meaningful because it took into account factors such as lasting influence and long-term listenability. UPROXX said, "BTS brought color and joy to the world at a time when everything seemed boring. Most importantly, 'Dynamite' signaled that K-pop can smoothly advance into the global market."

Also, BTS was ranked as the K-pop artist with the most global streams for the 7th consecutive year in the '2024 Wrapped Year-End Settlement' announced by Spotify, the world's largest music streaming platform. This year, they recorded 3.9 billion global streams on Spotify. In this way, BTS is showing off a strong presence on major global year-end charts while receiving unwavering love.

I'm so proud of the news that BTS members are breaking records overseas!