It’s official. Taylor Swift’s epic YouTube record has been broken by none other Korean pop group BTS. According to Billboard, the septet’s most recent “Idol” music video now holds the record for the biggest music video debut in YouTube history.
According to a spokesperson for the video platform, the clip earned over 45 million views within the first 24 hours, beating out Taylor Swift’s previous record of 43.2 million views for her “Look What You Made Me Do” release of last year.
The clip was uploaded Friday morning and by Monday morning had amassed 85 million views. At the time of this writing, it sits at just over 111 million views. Over its debut weekend, the video count remained frozen somewhere in the 70 million range for a while. YouTube explains that the site “may temporarily slow down, freeze, or adjust the view count, as well as discard low-quality playbacks” so that views can be validated. This, they say, helps to “maintain fair and positive experiences for content creators, advertisers, and users.”
The new video arrived in conjunction with the group’s newest Love Yourself: Answer album and coincided with the kickoff of their Love Yourself tour. Getting things started on Friday, August 25th in Seoul, the group will return to the United States at the top of September to begin a mostly-sold out North American and European trek, starting with a four-night bid at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on the 5th.
