Jungkook's 'Golden' hits No. 2 on Billboard 200 with biggest-ever sales for a Korean soloist

Jungkook becomes fourth BTS member to reach the second spot on US chart

An image of BTS' Jungkook holding his first solo album "Golden." (Big Hit Music)

Jungkook of BTS has made his solo arrival on the Billboard 200, with "Golden" reaching No. 2.

On Sunday, US music publication Billboard previewed the album chart for this week, showing "Golden" behind only Taylor Swift's "1989 (Taylor's Version)."

"Golden" recorded 212,000 equivalent album units, the chart's highest-ever weekly sales by a K-pop solo singer.

Equivalent album units comprise physical and digital album sales, as well as streaming counts. In terms of its pure physical album sales -- 164,800 -- "Golden" was the week's biggest seller, Billboard added.

Three of his bandmates have also reached No. 2. Jimin became the first K-pop soloist to reach the second spot on the albums chart in April with "Face." Rapper-producer Suga, as Agust D, dropped his album "D-Day" in the same month and tied the record, followed by V in September with EP "Layover."

Other bandmates have also notched up high positions on the Billboard 200: Leader RM reached No. 3 with "Indigo" and rapper J-Hope hit No. 6 with "Jack in the Box."

Jin, who has not dropped a solo album yet, is the only BTS member not to have entered Billboard 200.

Jungkook made his solo debut in July with the single "Seven (feat. Latto)," which entered Billboard's Hot 100 at No. 1. The song achieved a Guinness World Record on Tuesday by reaching 1 billion streams on Spotify in the fastest time.

"Golden," which came out Nov. 3, has made a splash on Spotify as well, logging the highest first-day streams by a Korean soloist in the platform's history.

The album's 11 songs dominated the Daily Top Song Global chart's top 30 ranks, with "Seven" and "Standing Next You" placing at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

By Choi Ji-won(jwc@heraldcorp.com)