BTS tops list of best-selling artists in Japan for 2nd year

 K-pop superband BTS has become the first overseas act to top the Japanese music tracker Oricon’s total annual sales ranking for the second consecutive year.

The South Korean band ranked No. 1 both in the total rankings and digital rankings in the “artist sales” category, according to the annual rankings for 2022 unveiled by Oricon on Friday.

The artist sales charts rank artists by the sales of their singles, albums, DVDs and streaming content. The septet became the first non-Japanese act to top the total ranking last year. Even when Japanese artists are included, only four acts, including BTS, have been on the throne two consecutive times.

BTS also was No. 1 in the digital rankings boosted by the streams of its megahit songs “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance,” and downloads of the digital version of its anthology album “Proof.”

“We were able to take the honor thanks to ARMY and the many others who love our music,” the group said through its agency, Big Hit Music, citing the name of its global fandom. “We were happy to hold concerts in various places and meet you ARMYs around the world this year. We’ll exert efforts to become an artist who returns the love with better music.”