BTS Jimin’s ‘Like Crazy’ becomes the fastest Korean song to surpass 1 billion streams in Spotify’s history

Park Jimin, a member of BTS, is currently experiencing tremendous success as a solo artist on a global scale. His song Like Crazy has reached an impressive milestone of 1 billion streams on Spotify. This achievement holds great significance as it is the quickest Korean song and the fastest solo song by a Korean artist to reach this milestone within a year of its release. Additionally, as of April 4, 2024, it remains the only song by a Korean solo artist and the sole composition by the artist himself to reach this remarkable feat.

On March 24, 2023, South Korean artist Jimin, a member of BTS, released his second single “Like Crazy”from his debut solo studio album FACE. The English version explores the burden of stardom and the fear of losing oneself, while the Korean version reflects on the realization of losing someone special and desperately holding onto their memory.

A synth-pop song, co-produced by Pdogg and Ghstloop, has been mastered in both English and Korean. Pdogg, Blvsh, Chris James, Ghstloop, Jimin, RM (a member of BTS), and Evan collaborated in writing both versions.

Jimin’s Solo Track “Like Crazy”Breaks Records as First and Fastest Korean Act to Achieve This Milestone

Jimin has been consistently delivering content for his fans leading up to the release of FACE. A week before the EP’s official release date, he dropped Set Me Free Pt.2 on March 17, 2023, marking the beginning of the FACE era. Before this, he had also teamed up with Taeyang from BigBang for their song Vibe in January 2023, as well as releasing tracks that were previously only available on SoundCloud and YouTube.

Rolling Stone has recognized FACE as one of the top albums of 2023 globally. The magazine commended the album, created by the now-solo artist, for showcasing the pop talent and smooth vocals of the singer-dancer in a captivating manner.

Jimin’s song “Like Crazy”made history by becoming the 66th song to reach the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States since the chart’s inception in 1958. This achievement also marked Jimin as the first solo South Korean artist to debut at No.1 on the Hot 100 and maintain the top spot for four consecutive weeks, following in the footsteps of Asian artists Kyu Sakamoto, Far East Movement, and BTS. As of April 8, 2023, Jimin joined an elite group of only four Asian artists to have achieved this feat.

The lead single from Jimin’s debut solo album FACE, titled “Like Crazy,”was released internationally on March 24, 2023. The song garnered 10 million streams, propelling Jimin’s debut onto the Streaming Songs chart at No.35. In its first week, it also sold a combined total of 254,000 downloads and CD singles.

Despite being released only in non-US regions, the song quickly climbed to the second spot on the Global Excl US chart with an impressive 61.4 million streams and 48,000 purchases. It also marked BTS’s third consecutive No.1 on the Digital Song Sales chart and garnered 64,000 radio airplay audience impressions.

According to a report published on November 28, 2023, by the South Korean media site Star News, Jimin’s album launch was the most successful for a Korean soloist on the 2023 United World Charts.

Despite being nominated for a 2023 Fact Music Awards Best Music (Spring) nomination, Like Crazy did not win in the category. However, in October 2023, it received two nominations: Best Dance Performance-Male Solo and Song of the Year at the MAMA Awards.

In addition, it was also recognized with nominations for the Top Global K-Pop Song and Top Selling Song categories at the Billboard Music Awards. It was further acknowledged in December at the Circle Chart Music Awards in the Global Streaming genre and at the Golden Disc Awards in the Digital Song category.