Dear Gossips, 

Yesterday I posted about BTS’s Jungkook taking the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for his song “Seven” ft Latto. There’s no overstating just how close it was – and while I wrote yesterday that BTS fans, like me, had been refreshing all day waiting for the results to come up, it wasn’t just us. The entire industry was watching because it’s been a long time since the #1 has been so competitive. 

 

Morgan Wallen’s “Last Night” held the top spot on the chart for 14 weeks. As Hugh McIntyre noted in Forbes, “holding on to the top position is often easier than displacing one of the most significant and long-running chart-toppers in recent memory”. 

And then there’s Jason Aldean. “Try That in a Small Town” was released in May and it’s wasn’t exactly burning up. Until, of course, he released that video last week. You know, the one with all the pro-lynching imagery? You could say, then, that he leaned in on racism for the attention, which activated all the other racists, borrowing from that accused criminal who ran for president and actually f-cking won. That video galvanised the white nationalists, and they put a lot of effort into streaming and buying the song to make a point after CMT pulled the video out of rotation. 

It was a tight race, very, very close, and there were some people who were predicting that it would be either Wallen or Aldean. So for Jungkook and Latto’s “Seven” to prevail… well… it’s not hyperbolic to say that it’s huge. It’s a big f-cking deal. An artist from Korea and a Black female rapper, occupy the top spot on the Hot 100 thanks to the devotion of BTS’s ARMY who were always going to support Jungkook but were given even extra incentive once Jason Aldean came out with his f-cksh-t. 

 

For Latto, this is her first #1 hit. 

 

And Jungkook? Also made history: 

 

This all happened yesterday shortly after JK’s new interview with Rolling Stone UK was posted, featuring a new thirst-trappy photo of him giving abs: 

If he wants to thirst-trap all the way to the top for a second week, who are we to complain? In fact, why don’t we help? 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey