Oh my my my: BTS scores third #1 album in a year; Beyonce debuts top 10

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Big Hit EntertainmentThree number one albums in 12 months? For a group, that kind of milestone hasn’t happened since the ’90s…but BTS has just pulled it off.

Map of the Soul: Persona debuts at #1 on the Billboard album chart with first-week sales of 230,000 units.  That’s the K-pop group’s best sales week ever.

The group’s previous number one albums were Love Yourself: Tear, last June, followed by Love Yourself: Answer this past September.

Before BTS did it, the last traditional group to rack up three number one albums in less than a year — 11 months and one week — was The Beatles, who did it with their archival albums Anthology 1, Anthology 2 and Anthology 3. They all debuted at #1 between December 9, 1995 and November 16, 1996.

Billboard uses the term “traditional” group because technically, the cast of Glee scored three number one albums in one months and three weeks in 2010, but that was more of an ensemble, with different singers.

The last group to grab three number one albums faster than BTS was The Monkees, who did it in just nine months and three weeks, from February to December of 1967.

Of note, the last act overall to grab three #1s faster than BTS was Future, who did it in six months and three weeks, between August of 2015 and February of 2016.

Elsewhere on the chart, Beyonce’s new live album Homecoming: The Live Album managed a number seven debut after just two days of tracked sales. It could reach #1 next week.

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