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The article in not about BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) which still has an aggregate GPD a little more than half the G7 one (at least according to a cursory google search) but about BRICS-extended which include a lot of petro-states and south-east asian countries.

An interesting article but the title is clickbait.

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It's only referring to BRICS. You are looking at nominal GDP, and not Purchasing Power Adjusted (PPP). If a dollar goes twice as far in China, then their nominal GDP would need to be doubled to get the "real" comparable value. That's what PPP is.

I thought it was the other way around? Nominal was supposed to be better for comparing overall economic heft among countries, while PPP is better for internal measures and comparisons in living standards (GDP PPP per capita for example)?

You are correct - PPP is how many Big Macs you can buy (the Big Mac Index) in a country, Nominal GDP is how many nuclear submarines you can buy

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