Twitter was the latest platform in which ARMYs, the loyal fanbase behind K-pop phenom BTS, showed their love and support - in the form of 300 million tweets about the group's latest single "Butter."
Proving itself as one of the most concerted fanbases ever, the ARMY has begun its social media campaign far before the latest BTS track was released on May 21, midnight ET. The BTS "Butter" release was accompanied by a world premiere performance on May 23, 8 PM ET, at the globally streamed 2021 Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs).
The tweet campaign was found to hit its peak sometime around the actual release, from midnight to 1 AM ET on the 21st, with the global fanbase averaging 5 million tweets per hour.
ALSO READ: BTS 'Butter' Breaks Record for Most Viewed Music Video Within 24 Hours
Furthermore, Twitter itself also showed support for the campaign around BTS' "Butter," releasing exclusive emojis for the ARMY around the world to use together with their hashtags such as a "Butter" logo as well as the BTS and AMRY's yellow logo. Additionally, the social media platform surprised the fans by releasing two additional hashtags, #SmoothLikeButter, together with an image of melting butter that shows the lyrics, and the #Got_ARMY_Behind_US, to show love and support to the BTS fans.
Of course, the boys themselves released tweets for "Butter" through the group's official handle (@bts_bighit) and the members' official handle (@BTS_twt). Shortly after the release of "Butter," BTS secured multiple awards at the Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) on May 24: Top Social Artist Award, Top Duo/ Group, Top Selling Song, and Top Song Sales Artist. Furthermore, this recent victory marks the fifth consecutive year that BTS is the Top Social Artist on the platform.
During the Billboard Music Awards, BTS performed their latest single and expressed gratitude to their fans all over the world. For the three-hour duration of the BBMAs, BTS ARMY managed to generate over 14.4 million tweets related to the South Korean boy group.
Among the global fans, those that generated the most traffic for BTS include ARMY from South Korea, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, Japan, the Philippines, Mexico, Thailand, India, and Peru. The following hashtags were some of the most prominent around the "Butter" release.
"#BTSARMY is very passionate and well-known for their love for new BTS releases, and 'Butter' showed their fans reaching new heights in celebrating their favorite artists," said YeonJeong Kim, Twitter's Head of Global K-pop Partnerships. "From sharing their anticipation for the new single to sharing their reactions as it happened, to commemorating the sights and sounds of the music video starting right after the release, BTS' fans shared all of this together via Twitter. Twitter will continue to support BTS and ARMY staying connected through public conversations worldwide without any barriers."
K-pop fans have been increasingly committed to staying in touch in the new normal through Twitter Topics - a new way of finding the most interesting and most relevant content about topics they care about. From BTS to other K-pop groups like BTS, BLACKPINK, NCT, SEVENTEEN, or ITZY, all fans can find a conversation they can jump in.
Watch BTS' "Butter" below:
