Play in this article ↓BTS LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear': FAKE LOVE and the First Billboard 200 No. 1
Published:
- Category: Album guide
- Artist: BTS
KPOP NO1 Editorial · Sources checked November 6, 2026
The LOVE YOURSELF series is a love story told in parts, and LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear' is the part where it breaks. BTS's third studio album came out on May 18, 2018, led by "FAKE LOVE." It became the first album by Korean artists to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Here's what the album is about, how its 11 songs run, which official videos to open first, and why that chart week mattered.
The idea behind Tear
The whole LOVE YOURSELF series rests on one message: loving yourself is where true love begins. The two releases before Tear, LOVE YOURSELF 起 'WONDER' and LOVE YOURSELF 承 'HER', showed the heart-fluttering, tingling moments of love. Tear turns that around and shows the pain of boys facing a parting. BIGHIT album page
BIGHIT sums the album up in two lines. Fake love inevitably leads to loss and separation, and true love can only begin once you learn to love yourself.
Each title in the series carries one Chinese character: 起 for WONDER, 承 for HER and 轉 for Tear. The title after Tear is LOVE YOURSELF 結 'Answer', which also reached No. 1 (more on that below).
Start with FAKE LOVE
FAKE LOVE is track 2 and the album's lead song, and it's the clearest way into the idea: the title names the fake love that, in BIGHIT's words, leads to loss and separation. The music video went up on HYBE LABELS on May 18, 2018, the day the album came out.
Two weeks later, on June 2 (Korean time), BTS released a longer cut. If the first video left you with questions, the extended version runs about a minute longer.
Official video · HYBE LABELS / YouTube
Watch the original on YouTube ↗
Archival photo: BTS performing "FAKE LOVE" at the Seoul Music Awards, January 15, 2019. Credit: I Dare U JK, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Linked from Wikimedia Commons at a smaller size; no other edits by KPOP NO.1.
How the comeback rolled out
The era opened with a comeback trailer set to "Intro : Singularity," the album's first track. It went up on May 7, 2018 (Korean time), eleven days before release.
Official video · HYBE LABELS / YouTube
Watch the original on YouTube ↗Two FAKE LOVE teasers followed in the last week, on May 15 and May 17. The first one's description set the date: the MV would be released on May 18, 2018.
Official video · HYBE LABELS / YouTube
Watch the original on YouTube ↗BIGHIT's album page also lists four sets of concept photos, labeled Y, O, U and R. Put together, the four letters spell YOUR.
The 11 songs
Here's the official running order, with lengths from BIGHIT's album page. BIGHIT album page
| # | Song | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro : Singularity | 3:14 |
| 2 | FAKE LOVE | 4:06 |
| 3 | The Truth Untold (Feat. Steve Aoki) | 4:02 |
| 4 | 134340 | 3:49 |
| 5 | Paradise | 3:30 |
| 6 | Love Maze | 3:40 |
| 7 | Magic Shop | 4:36 |
| 8 | Airplane pt.2 | 3:39 |
| 9 | Anpanman | 3:54 |
| 10 | So What | 4:44 |
| 11 | Outro : Tear | 4:45 |
The album opens with an intro and closes with an outro that carries its name, with nine songs in between. The Truth Untold is the album's only feature, with Steve Aoki.
Our take: listen in order the first time. The series is built as a story, and the running order is how BTS chose to tell this chapter of it. After that, go back to the songs that stood out and read the official track list alongside them.
The first Korean No. 1 on the Billboard 200
Tear ranked No. 1 on the Billboard 200 on Sunday, May 27, 2018 (U.S. time). That made BTS the first Korean artists to top the main U.S. albums chart. The Korea Herald
The album launched with 135,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending May 24, and 100,000 of those were traditional album sales. Billboard reported the figures, citing Nielsen Music.
It was also the start of a streak. LOVE YOURSELF 結 'Answer' reached No. 1 in September 2018, and MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA followed in April 2019. Yonhap via The Korea Times MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 made it four in a row in 2020, which you can read about in our MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 guide.
Official Tear videos
Dates are the YouTube publication dates in Korean time.
| Type | Official video | Channel | Published, KST |
|---|---|---|---|
| Comeback trailer | Tear 'Singularity' Comeback Trailer | HYBE LABELS | May 7, 2018 |
| Teaser | 'FAKE LOVE' Official Teaser 1 | HYBE LABELS | May 15, 2018 |
| Teaser | 'FAKE LOVE' Official Teaser 2 | HYBE LABELS | May 17, 2018 |
| Music video | 'FAKE LOVE' Official MV | HYBE LABELS | May 18, 2018 |
| Music video | 'FAKE LOVE' Official MV (Extended ver.) | HYBE LABELS | June 2, 2018 |
Keep exploring
New to BTS? The BTS starter guide introduces the seven members and the songs to start with.
Curious about the fans who sent Tear to No. 1? Our ARMY fandom guide explains the name and the history.
Next chapter: the LOVE YOURSELF 結 'Answer' guide ends the series, then MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA, MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 and the pandemic-era album BE.
Sources
- BIGHIT MUSIC, LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear' album page
- The Korea Herald, "BTS snatches No. 1 on Billboard 200, first time for Korean artist," May 28, 2018
- Yonhap via The Korea Times, "BTS' 'Map of the Soul: 7' tops Billboard 200 album chart," March 2, 2020
- Official YouTube channel: HYBE LABELS