The K-pop group BTS’s Tiny Desk Concert on NPR blasted through the series’ previous viewership record in about 20 minutes, an NPR spokesperson tells Washingtonian.
Billie Eilish previously held the first-day record for views, with 782,000 on the first day of her session. BTS had 700,000 views in the first 15 minutes the concert was online, and more than 950,000 by 9 AM, NPR’s Anais Laurent says.
The Korean band’s session, taped at the Vinyl & Plastic by Hyundai Card record store in Seoul, is also the first occasion on which the group performed “Dynamite” with a live band.
“It’s been the roughest summer ever,” BTS’s RM says in the session, “but we know that spring will come” before introducing “Spring Day.”
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
