*There is an updated Version of this article, you can find it here:

https://medium.com/@germanbornasian/how-well-is-bts-doing-in-europe-a-look-into-the-european-apple-music-album-charts-f0b493124eab

As you may know BTS was awarded the top social artist at the billboard music awards 2018 https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/bbma/8456842/billboard-music-awards-2018-winners-list-bbmas

and their new album Love Yourself: Tears is also ranking #1 on the billboard charts, while they are #5 on the US iTunes album charts.

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8458036/bts-earns-first-no-1-album-billboard-200-chart-love-yourself-tear

But how well is BTS doing in Europe?

To answer this question I have made a small research and checked all available iTunes Charts in Europe (from itunes official website on the 28.05.2018). I have put all rankings in the map. So here’s the result:

As you can see BTS is also relatively popular in west Europe.

In all the major European countries such as Germany, France or the UK the Album is doing similarly well.

However, I’m very shocked that BTS is not ranked in Scandinavian countries such as Sweden or Norway, even though they are considered the most progressive countries in Europe. Not too much of a shock is the fact that BTS is also not ranked in in South European countries such as Spain or Portugal. The biggest surprise for me however are Denmark, Turkey and Russia. I’ve never expected BTS to rank so high in those countries.

This leads to three main questions:

1. Why is BTS ranking so much higher in certain Western countries? Are those countries more open-minded to Asian people and therefore also to Asian music as well?

2. If yes, how come they are more open-minded to Asian people?

3. Can we use the music chart rankings as a measurement for openness towards Asian Culture and Asian people?

My first hypothesis is that the openness of a country towards Asian culture and their music is correlated to the number of Asian people living in that country. According to wikipedia 6.8% of the US population is Asian,

While there are around 1.8 million people with Asian background living in Germany in 2011. This would be around 2.2% of the German population. However, in Sweden there are 0.27 million people with an Asian Background, this would be around 2.7% of the Swedish population, which is more than in Germany.

While my first hypothesis has turned out to be wrong, it gives you food for thought.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Americans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_immigrants_to_Sweden

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asians_in_Germany#Demographic_distribution

Can music charts actually be an indicator to measure openness towards Asian people or culture? What do you think? Please let me know and write your opinion in the comments.