Italy Stopped BTS at Gold Five Times. ‘ARIRANG’ Finally Went Platinum

Featured photo: The seven members of BTS at the White House, May 31, 2022. Photo: The White House, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

BTS’s fifth studio album, “ARIRANG,” has been certified platinum by FIMI, the Federation of the Italian Music Industry. It’s the first time an album by a K-pop artist has gone platinum in Italy, and the five BTS albums before it all stopped at gold (FIMI certification database, Kyunghyang Shinmun, November 4).

I’ll be honest: when I found the line “ARIRANG – BTS – platino” in FIMI’s certification list myself, my heart raced as a fan. This time, BTS crossed the line five albums couldn’t, with no concert in Italy, on the music alone.

In Italy, FIMI certifications count “units” that combine physical sales, downloads and streaming: 25,000 units for a gold album and 50,000 for platinum. “ARIRANG,” released March 20, is BTS’s fifth studio album, named after the folk song nearly every Korean can sing at least a line of.

The title track’s video stood at 173.13 million views as of November 7 (HYBE LABELS official channel).

Italy loved the songs, but the albums always stopped at gold

Italy fell for BTS’s songs early. FIMI’s singles certifications show “Dynamite” going gold in 2020, platinum the same year and double platinum in 2021, while “Butter” and “Boy With Luv” went gold too. “My Universe,” with Coldplay, went double platinum in 2023 (FIMI certification database).

The albums were a different story. “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” and “BE” went gold in 2021, “MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA” late that same year, and “LOVE YOURSELF 結 ‘Answer'” and “Proof” only reached gold in 2025 (FIMI certification database). For “Answer,” that was six and a half years after release. All five albums got to gold and never made it to the next step.

“ARIRANG” didn’t stop at that wall. It went gold in April (FIMI week 17 of 2026), a month after release, and platinum in the October 23 to 29 chart week (week 44) (FIMI certification database). It passed in one month the gold that the other albums took years to reach, then doubled it in seven months. Broadcast news including MBC’s “News Today” and SBS reported it as a “K-pop first” (MBC, November 4).

Also read: It Took RESCENE Two Years to Hit No. 1. This Time It Took Two Hours.

No concert, and 28 weeks on the chart anyway

What makes this record even more striking is that BTS didn’t play Italy. This year’s European tour in June and July covered five cities, Madrid, Brussels, London, Munich and Paris, and all 10 shows sold out, but Italy wasn’t on the schedule (Newsen, November 4; The Fact, November 4). The usual formula, where concert fever drives album sales, simply couldn’t work in Italy.

Instead, Italian fans held on through the chart. “ARIRANG” entered FIMI’s album chart at No. 2 and stayed at No. 2 for a second week. From the March 20 to 26 week through the September 25 to October 1 week, it stayed in the top 100 for 28 straight weeks, then came back at No. 92 in October (FIMI weekly album chart). “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” peaked at No. 3, and “BE” and “Proof” at No. 2. “ARIRANG” broke through not with a higher peak but with the time it stayed (FIMI weekly album chart).

“ARIRANG” on the certification map

Italy is one square that “ARIRANG” has newly colored in on the certification map. France’s SNEP certified it platinum (100,000 units) on April 27. “MAP OF THE SOUL : 7” and “Proof” took a year and two months to reach the same level; “ARIRANG” took one month. The Recording Industry Association of Japan certified it triple platinum (750,000 copies) 11 days after release, the UK’s BPI certified it gold on May 29, and Spain went gold too (Newsen, Herald Economy, November 4). On the U.S. Billboard 200, it’s at No. 57 on the November 7 chart, its 32nd straight week (Herald Economy, November 4).

In South American stadiums, the crowd sang “Arirang” to BTS (see: 85,000 fans in São Paulo sang ‘Arirang,’ and BTS put down their microphones). In Italy, where there was no stage, fans didn’t let go of the album for seven months. Each country simply loved the same album in its own way.

BTS pick up the tour on November 19 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, then move on to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Jakarta: 15 shows in five cities (Maeil Business). I’m waiting, right alongside the Italian fans who handed BTS a platinum after five golds, for the day they get to sing “Arirang” in a stadium themselves.

Sources

• FIMI certification database (albums and singles, searched “BTS,” checked November 7, 2026): https://www.fimi.it/top-of-the-music/certificazioni/
• FIMI weekly album chart (2026 weeks 13 to 44; 2020 weeks 9 and 48; 2022 week 24): https://www.fimi.it/top-of-the-music/classifiche/
• Kyunghyang Shinmun, November 4: https://www.khan.co.kr/article/202611042020005
• Herald Economy, November 4: https://biz.heraldcorp.com/article/10926197
• Newsen, November 4: https://www.newsen.com/news_view.php?uid=202611041754392610
• SBS News, November 4: https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1008831281
• MBC News Today, November 4: https://imnews.imbc.com/replay/2026/nwtoday/article/6863300_37012.html
• The Fact, November 4: https://news.tf.co.kr/read/entertain/2385016.htm
• Maeil Business (Southeast Asia tour dates): https://www.mk.co.kr/article/12194283
• YouTube views: HYBE LABELS official channel, checked November 7, 2026