Unmatched Popularity Continues Even During Military Service – Jimin Leads Global Voting 187 Times, V Dominates Japanese Rankings

BTS members who are currently serving in the military remain prominent on global charts and popularity rankings thanks to their fans’ consistent music consumption and voting support. Jimin secured first place in the weekly ranking for the first week of April (March 31 – April 6, 2025) on the global K-pop idol popularity voting platform “KDOL,” receiving 48,192,636 hearts. This marks his 187th time reaching the top of the weekly ranking, breaking his own record for the most consecutive first places. With a cumulative total of 18.26759882 billion hearts, he maintains a huge lead of over 5.7 billion hearts over the second-place candidate, thus keeping his position at number one in the Hall of Fame. Despite the members’ military service, fans continue to consume their music. The group stays on various charts on a weekly basis as their fandom streams, purchases, and supports their music even though they are currently inactive due to military duty. BTS occupies two spots out of the 25 positions on the Billboard World Albums Chart. Their compilation album “Proof,” released in 2022, rose from ninth to seventh place, while “Love Yourself: Tear,” released in 2018, reentered the chart at 23rd position. “Love Yourself: Tear” has been on the chart for 208 weeks, and “Proof” for 147 weeks; both albums previously reached number one. V has achieved multiple first places in major Japanese popularity rankings. On the Japanese idol ranking site “NEHAN,” he surpassed his own record of 210 consecutive weeks at first place in the male idol ranking vote. On the Korean actor ranking site “BIHAN,” he held first place for 59 consecutive weeks in the “Actor Popularity Ranking” category and for 206 consecutive weeks in the “Top 20 Korean Actors” category. On the K-culture information site “K-board,” he remained at first place for 166 consecutive weeks in the “K-pop Idol Popularity Ranking.” He also topped the rankings in the “Korean Drama Male Actor General Election” and “Handsome Man Election” categories throughout those periods. On the K-pop information site “KPOP JUICE,” he continues to lead with a cumulative total of 5.74 million votes. As a versatile artist in Japan who works as a singer, actor, and entertainer, V holds the highest rank on X (formerly Twitter)’s “Celebrities Ranking” among solo artists outside the group. He also records the highest number of mentions among K-pop artists on Japanese Google Trends. The drama “Hwarang,” starring V, is still being broadcast multiple times on Japanese TV and OTT platforms, and V’s name is actively utilized in its promotion campaigns. Additionally, a new book by the author of a book recommended by V was published first in Japan, demonstrating his influence even in the Japanese publishing industry.