BTS becomes first foreign group in history to dominate Japan’s Oricon albums chart

admin 2022年1月9日

Intermediate

entertainment, entertainment - intermediate

BTS is first foreign group to dominate in Japan's Oricon albums chart

©Bighit Entertainment via Twitter (@bts_bighit)

Pre-reading questions:

I will read each question. Then, please answer them.

What do you know about K-pop?
Which K-pop stars do you know or have you heard of?

Vocabulary:

I will read the words, meanings, and sample sentences. Then, repeat after me.

land /land/

[verb] – to bring into or cause to arrive in a particular place, position, or condition
He deserves the promotion. His hard work landed him in that position.

stream /streem/

[verb] – to send or receive sound or video directly over the internet as a continuous flow
Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” has been streamed over 1 billion times on Spotify.

track /trak/

[noun] – one of several songs or pieces of music on a CD or other musical recording
Surprisingly, Drake’s new album contains twenty tracks.

release /ri-LEES/

[verb] – if a company releases a film or musical recording, it allows the film to be shown in cinemas, or makes the musical recording available for the public to buy
Adele’s new album will be released next week.

honor /ON-er/

[noun] – great respect for someone, or the feeling of pride and pleasure resulting when respect is shown to you
It is such a huge honor to become your new team leader.

Article reading:

Please read the whole article. Then, I will check your pronunciation and intonation.

K-pop group BTS has become the first foreign group to land on the No. 1 spot on Oricon’s year-end album charts, earning almost $161.6 million (18.48 billion yen) in the East Asian country alone. The Oricon Annual Ranking 2021 consists of the best-selling singles, albums, music DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, digital singles, digital albums, and most-streamed tracks last year in the country.

As reported by the Japanese music chart, the “BTS, The Best” album released last year topped the year-end album chart with 992,837 sold copies. This makes BTS be the first foreign group to lead the chart and the first foreign artists on the top spot since the late King of Pop Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” 37 years ago with 575,000 sold copies in 1984. “This time, we won first place in the Oricon Annual Ranking 2021’s total ranking of sales division by artist. We are really happy that you love our songs. It is also a great honor to receive such a wonderful award. Thanks to ARMYs who always support us. Thank you very much,” said BTS members RM, j-hope, Jimin, V, Jung Kook, Jin, and SUGA via Oricon.

Comprehension questions

I will read each question. Then, please answer them based on the article.

What Japanese music chart was mentioned in the article?
How much did K-pop group BTS earn in Japan last year? (US dollars or yen is acceptable.)
Kindly name at least four (4) best-selling categories that are included in the Oricon Annual Ranking 2021.
How many album copies had BTS sold in Japan last year?
In what year did Michael Jackson top the Oricon charts with his “Thriller” album?

Discussion questions