BTS dropped IDOL and casually blew fans’ minds

BTS’ ARMY thought it was ready for the new album, single, and Nicki Minaj collaboration. The fans were wrong, and there are plenty of metrics to prove it.

BTS has had a really great 2018, which is putting it really mildly considering today’s latest string of news. To accompany the group’s new album, Love Yourself: Answer, there came a new single, “IDOL,” with not one, but two version: the BTS-only version, and a Nicki Minaj alternate version.

That’s right: Nicki Minaj has crossed over to the world of K-pop, or, more accurately, BTS has hit a new level in terms of awareness in American pop culture.

How well is it going for BTS and its ARMY, the legions of fans worldwide?

An “all-kill” in K-pop fan parlance means that the group is ranking at the top of all the major music streaming sites in South Korea. It’s difficult to achieve these days. It’s also, as the above tweet notes, 1 a.m. in South Korea (though it’s daytime on the other side of the world, meaning that international fans are probably doing their best to stream the song).

According to Soompi, since the music video arrived at 6 a.m. Eastern time, it’s racked up over 20 million views worldwide on YouTube. Meanwhile, #AnswerIsHere is trending on Twitter to the point that, as of this writing, Twitter won’t even tell this writer how many tweets are being made about the subject.

That’s right: ARMYs are not done. That bodes really well for FanSided’s Fandom 250. Could ARMYs crack the list? With the kind of attention that BTS is now getting, it’s certainly possible.

You can watch the “IDOL” music video below:

And here’s the Minaj version of the track:

Keep a close eye on this, because fans seem determined to get Love Yourself: Answer and “IDOL” as much attention as they can.