BTS' #StopAsianHate Is Twitter's Most Retweeted Hashtag In 2021

BTS made an important mark on Twitter as the group's #StopAsianHate tweet in March is hailed this year's most retweeted post on the microblogging platform.

Twitter published its year-end report, titled "2021 #OnlyOnTwitter," which features the biggest tweets of the year.

BTS' #StopAsianHate tweet in March garnered over a million retweets as online users sympathized with the famous septet's call against harsh discrimination against Asians.

Hate crimes, including anti-Asian and antisemitic attacks, increased in New York City alone this year compared to 2020, NBC reported. Such crimes in the city's five districts tally up to 503 cases this year as compared to just 22 last year.

"We recall moments when we faced discrimination as Asians. We have endured expletives without reason and were mocked for the way we look. We were even asked why Asians spoke in English," BTS tweeted as Asian hate incidents surged in March.

Data from Stop AAPI Hate showed that 65% of hate crimes included verbal harassment, while "shunning" or the "deliberate avoidance of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders" was the second most common hate crime followed by physical assault.

New York and California list the most number of cases of hate crimes as these areas count the most number of Asian American populations compared to other states, the data shows.

"Our own experiences are inconsequential compared to the events that have occurred over the past few weeks. But these experiences were enough to make us feel powerless and chip away our self-esteem," the group, which counts millions of loyal fans – known as ARMY, said in their tweet.

BTS' leader Kim Nam-Joon, also known as RM, recalled the band members' experiences when he spoke in a press conference during the "Permission To Dance Concert" in Los Angeles on Nov. 28.

"For Asian hate, I wasn't born and raised abroad, but Asians…[our path around the world] we truly felt the walls," he said.

Aside from having the most retweeted topic this year, #BTS was also the most used hashtag on Twitter in 2021.

Moreover, this year's second most-liked tweet belongs to Jungkook for his "pouty-lips" selfie in January, which received 3.2 million likes. A tweet from the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden is the most-liked tweet of the year. It received 4 million likes.