Purchasing Guide
How to Purchase BTS Music
Why is purchasing important?
Purchasing BTS’s music is one of the most effective and efficient ways to help them qualify for RIAA Certification, as well as charts such as Billboard. BTS’s music can be purchased digitally and physically.
QUICK GUIDE TO PURCHASING
Below is a quick guide to purchasing BTS’s music. Follow these tips to help the group with charting.
DIGITAL PURCHASES
➡️WHERE CAN I BUY BTS DIGITAL MUSIC?
Amazon Music | iTunes | Qobuz
➡️HOW DO I MAKE MY DIGITAL PURCHASES COUNT?
Limit purchases to 1 copy per customer.
For albums, buy each track separately; do not select “Complete My Album.”
Download your purchases to a computer.
Do not gift albums/tracks.
PHYSICAL PURCHASES
➡️WHERE CAN I BUY BTS PHYSICAL ALBUMS?
Online stores such as Weverse Shop USA | Weverse Shop Global* | Amazon** | Target | Walmart
Offline stores such as Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart
*Sales count for Hanteo and Gaon charts but do not count for Billboard
**Make sure the listing says “Sold & Shipped by Amazon”
➡️HOW DO I MAKE MY PHYSICAL PURCHASES COUNT?
Limit purchases to 4 copies per customer per week.
Note that pre-orders count for Billboard the day after when they are shipped.
FULL GUIDE TO PURCHASING
Check out this full guide if you’d like more comprehensive information about buying BTS’s music and making sure your purchases count.
Digital Purchases
➡️ WHERE TO buy bts digital Music
➡️ HOW TO MAKE YOUR PURCHASES COUNT
In order to help with charting, it is strongly recommended to NOT purchase more than 1 copy per customer!
Single Music reported that only 1 purchase of any album, EP, single, or track will be counted per customer. If a customer buys more than 1 of any particular album, EP, single, or track, the sale will only count as 1 unit for Billboard charts.
This limitation MAY OR MAY NOT reset after a certain period of time. According to Billboard, there has been a 1 digital album sale cap per customer per week. However, it has also appeared that Billboard has limited its count to one digital sale per customer forever.
Note: This information has not been officially confirmed by Luminate / P-MRC Data.
IMPORTANT! Digital purchases need to be downloaded to a computer in order to count toward sales
Artist Web Stores
As reported by chart data, Billboard does not count digital download singles from artist web stores towards the Hot 100 chart.
iTunes
It is also important to note that you should NOT gift songs/albums on iTunes as it will not count for the Billboard charts!
As reported by Billboard, "Sales of any specific album purchased on iTunes and gifted to another are not reported to Nielsen Music by Apple, and thus, do not count on Billboard's charts."
Stationhead
Songs are available for purchase during buying parties. According to Stationhead, only one purchase is Billboard chart eligible. Stationhead notes that “7digital reports daily to Billboard and labels. All purchases are reported as a batch and not individual thus filtering is not a factor.”
Note: This information has not been officially confirmed by Billboard or Luminate. Without further information at this time, it is recommended to use a digital purchasing platform such as iTunes, Amazon Music, or Qobuz and follow the purchasing limits outlined above.
Physical Purchases
➡️ Where to buy BTS physical albums or Songs
(Visit our Discography section for additional streaming links to your favorite BTS albums and songs)
Amazon***
Offline stores: Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart
Stores on Luminate’s list of Active Retailers
Notes:
*100% of album sales on Weverse Shop USA count for Billboard charts.
**Albums sold on Weverse Shop Global are not counted for Billboard; they are 100% counted on South Korea’s Hanteo and Gaon charts.
**If you are purchasing from Amazon, please make sure it says “Sold & Shipped by Amazon.” If it doesn’t say that, then that means it’s from 3rd party sellers. HYBE Corporation or Big Hit Music do not have an official Amazon shop.
➡️ HOW TO MAKE YOUR MUSIC PURCHASES COUNT
In order to help with charting, it is strongly recommended to NOT purchase more than 4 copies per customer per week!
Single Music reported that if a customer purchases up to 4 copies of an album, EP, or single, each copy is counted as a sale. Purchases of 5 to 9 copies will only count as 4 sales. Purchases of 10 or more copies constitute bulk sales, and none will count towards Billboard charts.
This limitation is PER CUSTOMER. Multiple orders by the same customer will not count for more than 4 copies.
According to Billboard, Single incorporates the following criteria to identify weekly per-customer limits:
Email address
IP address
Shipping address
Billing address
Note: This information has not been officially confirmed by Luminate / P-MRC Data.
Physical + digital bundles count as physical purchases.
According to Billboard, "any digital download will not be counted as a digital sale and will only be counted as a physical sale upon shipment to the customer."
This means that any pre-orders of physical albums/products will not be counted as a physical sale for the Billboard charts until it's been shipped out.
Luminate and Billboard-approved fan packs count as physical purchases.
According to Billboard, “combinations of merch and albums, dubbed ‘fan packs,’ will be restricted to just two options per album release — a sweatshirt with an LP and a t-shirt with a CD, for example — with the requirement that each individual item must also be sold separately in the same web store. Fan packs will include only merch — not tickets, meet-and-greet opportunities, virtual items or non-tangible benefits — and they must also contain a physical copy of an album.”
Pre-orders and early shipments sold by retailers that use Single:
According to Billboard, fulfilled albums “report the day after the date of shipment regardless of the album release date entered in Single. If the order is shipped ahead of Luminate’s physical reporting window (Tuesday to Monday) then the sale will not be counted.”