Bangtan Boys first K-pop act to make Bloomberg 50 list

SEOUL: Another firsts, again, for Bangtan Boys aka BTS!

BTS has become the first - and so far only - Korean artist to be included on Bloomberg's list of 50 most influential people of the year, called “The Bloomberg 50,” which was revealed Friday on the US media outlet's website.

Notably, BTS and Taylor Swift are the only two singers who made this year's list.

“BTS ranked No. 1 on Billboard's album chart with its ‘Love Yourself Tear' and topped the chart again with another album ‘Love Yourself Answer,' showing unprecedented success in US,” Bloomberg said on why BTS made it to the list.

According to the US media outlet, the group's popularity stems from its willingness to address social issues, mental health and politics, not just lighter topics.

The yearly list recognises notable accomplishments in a wide variety of areas including business, entertainment, finance, politics, technology, and science.

In separate news, a tweet from BTS has become the country's most retweeted of the year.

In a tweet Wednesday, the social media platform revealed the “Golden Tweet of 2018”: a post with a short clip of Jungkook singing in a studio to a background track.

The monumental tweet in Kpop history from the group's main account @BTS_twt had been retweeted over 620,000 times with over 1.2 million likes as of Wednesday afternoon.

“The golden tweet that South Koreans retweeted the most in 2018 is this. It has been retweeted over 610,000 times,” a tweet from Twitter Korea read, which has been a success in its own right, having quickly been liked over 22,000 times.

The group's fan base widely known as “Army” erupted in glee via Twitter, showering the group with a flood of moving images to celebrate the impressive feat.

“Golden Maknae gaining another gold status,” one Twitter user wrote. Jungkook is the youngest member of the group, which is referred to as the “maknae” in Korean.

One fan chimed in to clarify some minor confusion over another tweet with a clip showing J-Hope doing the #InMyFeelings challenge, which had more retweets and shares than the Golden Tweet featuring Jungkook.

“This means it was the most retweeted among South Koreans with South Korea-based accounts. It comes second when all the global fans are counted,” the tweet explained.