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BUTTERING UP WORLD LEADERS: South Korean super group BTS broke their own record last week for the most YouTube views within the first 24 hours of release, when their second English-language single Butter hit 113 million views last Saturday.

And French President Emmanuel Macron may have helped by retweeting a BTS fan's post to his 6.9 million followers.

Mr Macron had posted on Twitter last Friday, asking French youth what they would spend €300 (S$486) on if they were provided a stipend for culture and the arts, including books, music, movies and concerts.

He retweeted just three replies, one of which was from a BTS fan: "A BTS concert. Thank you and stream #BTS_Butter, Mr President."

BTS had previously set the record with their first English-language release Dynamite last year, which racked up 101.1 million views in its first 24 hours.

Butter also set a new record for the biggest YouTube music video premiere, with more than 3.9 million concurrent viewers. The song debuted at No. 1 on iTunes' Top Songs chart in 101 regions, including the United States, Canada, Britain and Germany, according to Big Hit Music, which manages BTS.

"Butter is very simple," said BTS member Jungkook, during a news conference last Friday. "The weather is getting warmer and it will be good if many people can enjoy this summer with BTS."

Another member, Jimin, said: "From the title, you can guess that we picked a song for easy listening. You can consider it a cute love song."

The septet will perform Butter live for the first time at the Billboard Music Awards in the United States (today at 8am Singapore time), where it is up for four awards.

On the same day it was released, US President Joe Biden held an in-person meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-In. After discussing weighty political and economic matters, Mr Biden remarked that "K-pop fans are universal", prompting chuckles among the politicians and press in the room. He added: "I can tell those who laugh know what I'm talking about."