BTS are still "having a hard time grasping" the success of their new single, ‘Dynamite’.
The K-Pop stars – RM, SUGA, Jin, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jungkook – made history with the release of their latest track, as they became the first Asian act ever to debut at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, with a debut sales week that outsold every song released in the last three years.
The song also broke streaming records on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube, and earned the group their highest charting single in the UK when it debuted at number three on Friday (28.08.20), and the band have now said they still can’t believe the song’s success is "real".
Speaking during a press conference held to celebrate the band’s achievements with ‘Dynamite’, SUGA said: "I’m still having a hard time grasping that this is real. We talk a lot about our goals, and we often said, ‘Oh, number one on the Hot 100’, as if it was something we would like to happen, [but not something that ever would].
"It became a goal one day – and it’s not like we worked hard to specifically achieve this goal – but it feels like a dream that we have reached this goal. The fact that we have accomplished this … there was this surge of excitement. When I learned the news, I actually pinched myself to see if it was real."
Whilst J-Hope added: "To be honest, BTS reaching number one on the Hot 100 … we never imagined it. It still feels like a dream, I don’t know if this is reality. I’m still shaking, I’m still excited."
And Jimin explained that whilst they seemed "calm" during the conference, they had been "going berserk" earlier this week when the Billboard chart positions were announced.
He said: "Yesterday we were so happy, so thrilled. I think we’ve calmed down a little bit, because we were just going berserk because we were so happy. So I think we’ve calmed down a little bit. This is something that we never really imagined would happen."
Jimin even confessed to bursting into tears when he heard the news at 4am in South Korea, and said he was crying until 7am, when he eventually wore himself out enough to sleep.
He added: "It was after 4am that I heard the news, and I was basically crying until 7am, and then I just fell asleep exhausted from crying."