BTS
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Photo for The 5th Album ARIRANG RM · J-Hope · Jung Kook · Jimin · Jin · Suga · V | |
| Also known as | Bangtan Boys Bangtan Sonyeondan Beyond the Scene Bulletproof Boy Scouts |
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| Origin | Seoul, South Korea |
| Genres | K-pop · Pop · Hip hop · R&B · EDM |
| Years active | 2013–present |
| Labels | Big Hit Music · Pony Canyon · Def Jam Japan/Universal Music Japan · Columbia · Universal · Geffen |
| Members | RM · Jin · Suga · J-Hope · Jimin · V · Jung Kook |
| Website | bts.ibighit.com |
BTS (Korean: 방탄소년단, Bangtan Sonyeondan, meaning "Bulletproof Boy Scouts") is a South Korean boy band that debuted on June 13, 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment (now HYBE). The group consists of seven members — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook — who co-write and co-produce much of their own music. In July 2017, the group adopted the additional English meaning "Beyond the Scene" to represent growing from youth into adulthood.
Starting as a hip hop act, BTS gradually broadened their sound to encompass pop, R&B, EDM, rock, and various other genres. Their lyrics have tackled subjects ranging from the pressures faced by young people in South Korea's education system, to mental health, self-love, individualism, and Korean cultural identity. The group's work has also drawn on literature, philosophy, and psychology, and includes an interconnected alternate universe storyline known as the BTS Universe.
BTS is the best-selling musical act in South Korean history, with over 40 million albums sold as of 2023. They were the first Korean act to top both the Billboard 200 and the Hot 100, and they became the fastest act since The Beatles to accumulate six number-one singles in the United States. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry named them the Global Recording Artist of the Year in both 2020 and 2021. Following a hiatus from 2022 to 2025 during which all seven members completed South Korea's mandatory military service, BTS released their fifth Korean-language studio album Arirang on March 20, 2026, accompanied by an 82-date world tour spanning 34 regions.
1 Name✎
The Korean name 방탄소년단 (Bangtan Sonyeondan, Hanja: 防彈少年團) translates literally to "Bulletproof Boy Scouts." According to J-Hope, the name reflects the group's desire to deflect the stereotypes, criticisms, and pressures directed at young people. In Japan, the group was known as Bōdan Shōnendan (防弾少年団) until they began using the "BTS" abbreviation internationally. In July 2017, the group expanded the meaning of their acronym to also stand for "Beyond the Scene," signifying growth from boyhood into adulthood.
2 History✎
BTS's trajectory spans more than a decade, evolving from an underdog hip hop group on a small label into one of the biggest musical acts in the world.
2.1 Formation and debut (2010–2014)✎
The group originated when Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk decided to build a hip hop group around RM, an underground rapper already well-known in the Seoul music scene. Bang had left JYP Entertainment to found Big Hit, and at a time when physical album sales were declining, he saw potential in the passionate fan culture surrounding idol groups. Unlike the rigidly managed idol groups that dominated K-pop, Bang envisioned a group where the members would be free to express their individuality and contribute to the music. Auditions were held in 2010, and the members — eventually settled as RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook — lived together and practiced up to 15 hours a day before their debut.
BTS released their debut single album 2 Cool 4 Skool on June 13, 2013, with the lead single "No More Dream." The song confronted the intense pressure placed on young people by South Korea's education system, a theme considered somewhat provocative in the K-pop landscape at the time. Their early releases formed the "School Trilogy" — 2 Cool 4 Skool, O!RUL8,2? (September 2013), and Skool Luv Affair (February 2014) — all rooted in a 1990s-influenced hip hop sound and centered on the anxieties and aspirations of youth. Skool Luv Affair topped the Gaon Album Chart and marked BTS's first appearance on Billboard's World Albums chart, peaking at number three.
Although BTS debuted outside the "Big Three" agencies (SM, YG, JYP) that dominated K-pop, they built a following through social media engagement and direct communication with fans. They established the fan club name A.R.M.Y. (Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth) at their first fan meeting in Seoul and launched ongoing traditions like BTS Festa, an annual celebration of their debut anniversary. Their first studio album Dark & Wild arrived in August 2014, reaching number two in South Korea, and they embarked on their first concert tour, the Red Bullet Tour, that October.
2.2 Rise to prominence (2015–2016)✎
The release of The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 in April 2015 marked a turning point. The album began a three-part series — known by its Korean title 화양연화 (Hwayangyeonhwa) — exploring the beauty and anxiety of youth. BTS moved beyond strict hip hop, experimenting with a wider palette of sounds. The single "I Need U" became a top-five hit in South Korea and earned the group their first music show win. "Dope," another track from the album, surpassed 100 million YouTube views and reached number three on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart. By this point, all seven members were deeply involved in songwriting and production.
The series continued with Pt. 2 in November 2015, which topped the Gaon Album Chart and made BTS's first appearance on the Billboard 200 at number 171. The trilogy concluded with the compilation album The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever in May 2016, which won Album of the Year at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.
In October 2016, BTS released their second studio album Wings, inspired partly by Hermann Hesse's novel Demian and featuring individual solo tracks from each member exploring themes of temptation and adversity. The album debuted at number 26 on the Billboard 200 — the best showing for a K-pop album in the US at that time — and became the highest-selling album in Gaon Chart history. Its repackaged edition, You Never Walk Alone, followed in February 2017 with the enduringly popular single "Spring Day," and the combined releases helped BTS surpass 1.49 million copies sold in a single month.
2.3 Global breakthrough (2017–2018)✎
BTS's second world tour, the Wings Tour, began in early 2017 and sold out arenas across the US, including the Prudential Center and the Honda Center. In May, they attended the Billboard Music Awards and won Top Social Artist — the first K-pop group to receive a Billboard award — breaking a six-year streak held by Justin Bieber. The international media took notice of ARMY's ability to mobilize, with fans casting over 300 million votes.
Later that year, BTS launched the "Love Yourself" album series, built around the Korean narrative structure of 起承轉結 (beginning, development, turn, conclusion). The first installment, Love Yourself: Her (September 2017), debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200 — the highest-charting K-pop album at that time. Its single "DNA" became BTS's first entry on the Hot 100, and a Steve Aoki remix of "MIC Drop" cracked the top 40, making BTS the first K-pop group to do so. Both singles earned Gold certifications from the RIAA, with "MIC Drop" later achieving Platinum. In November, BTS became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards.
The series reached its climax with Love Yourself: Tear in May 2018, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 — the first K-pop album to top the US chart. Its lead single "Fake Love" debuted in the Hot 100's top ten, a first for a song performed predominantly in a language other than English. The group also incorporated traditional Korean musical elements, with the compilation closer Love Yourself: Answer featuring the single "Idol," which included pansori vocal techniques and Korean percussion sounds. Answer became the first Korean-language album certified Gold, and later Platinum, by the RIAA.
In 2017, BTS partnered with UNICEF to launch the Love Myself campaign against violence, abuse, and bullying affecting young people. The following year, they became the youngest recipients of South Korea's Order of Cultural Merit for their contributions to spreading Korean culture and language. They addressed the United Nations General Assembly for the first time in September 2018, speaking about self-acceptance and the importance of young people finding their own voices.
2.4 Continued dominance and English-language singles (2019–2021)✎
Map of the Soul: Persona (April 2019) continued BTS's commercial momentum. The music video for its lead single "Boy with Luv" drew 74.6 million YouTube views in 24 hours. The full album Map of the Soul: 7 followed in February 2020, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. In South Korea, it became the first album to surpass four and then five million registered sales.
In August 2020, BTS released "Dynamite," their first fully English-language single. The song debuted at number one on the Hot 100, making BTS the first all-South Korean act to top the chart. Its music video set a YouTube record with over 101 million views in 24 hours. Their album Be arrived in November 2020, with the lead single "Life Goes On" also debuting at number one — making BTS the first group to replace themselves at the top of the Hot 100.
In 2021, "Butter" debuted atop the Hot 100 and held the position for a record-setting ten nonconsecutive weeks. "Permission to Dance" then knocked "Butter" from the top spot, marking only the second time in Billboard history that an act replaced itself at number one. A collaboration with Coldplay, "My Universe," also reached number one, making BTS the fastest act to accumulate six US chart-toppers since The Beatles in 1966. That September, BTS returned to the United Nations as special presidential envoys for South Korea, addressing the General Assembly about the challenges faced by young people during the pandemic.
BTS was named IFPI's Global Recording Artist of the Year in both 2020 and 2021, and received multiple Grammy Award nominations, though a win has eluded them to date.
2.5 Hiatus and military service (2022–2025)✎
On June 14, 2022, BTS announced a temporary pause in group activities. Each member would pursue solo projects before fulfilling South Korea's mandatory military service. All seven members enlisted between December 2022 and late 2023, with the final member discharged in June 2024.
During the hiatus, every member released substantial solo work. J-Hope put out Jack in the Box (2022) and Hope on the Street Vol. 1 (2024). RM released Indigo (2022) and Right Place, Wrong Person (2024). Suga, under his Agust D moniker, released D-Day (2023) and embarked on a solo world tour. Jimin released Face (2023) and Muse (2024). Jung Kook released Golden (2023), which included the global hit "Seven." V released Layover (2023). Jin released Happy (2024). The anthology album Proof (June 2022) and the digital single "Take Two" (June 2023) served as the group's final collective releases before the hiatus.
On July 1, 2025, the seven members reunited for their first group livestream in three years, officially announcing a new album and world tour.
2.6 Reunion and Arirang (2025–present)✎
BTS began working on new material together in Los Angeles during the summer of 2025. By August, RM shared on Weverse that the group was making steady progress, and in November, Jimin confirmed the album was complete. On New Year's Eve 2025, Korean fans with Gold membership status received postcards hinting at the comeback date. Big Hit Music formally announced the album and world tour on January 4, 2026, with the title Arirang revealed on January 15 — a reference to the centuries-old Korean folk song symbolizing connection, longing, and reunion. The label described the title as capturing "BTS's identity as a group that began in Korea."
Arirang was released on March 20, 2026, featuring 14 tracks: "Body to Body," "Hooligan," "Aliens," "FYA," "2.0," "No. 29" (interlude), "Swim," "Merry Go Round," "NORMAL," "Like Animals," "they don't know 'bout us," "One More Night," "Please," and "Into the Sun." The lead single is "Swim," described as an upbeat alternative pop track about navigating life's challenges. The album was produced alongside collaborators including Diplo, Kevin Parker (Tame Impala), Flume, JPEGMafia, Mike Will Made-It, Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic), El Guincho, and Artemas, along with longtime BTS producer Pdogg.
The album received widespread critical acclaim. Metacritic assigned it a weighted average of 89 out of 100 based on critical reviews, indicating universal acclaim. On release day, its fourteen tracks occupied all fourteen of the top spots on Spotify's global top fifty chart, and it accumulated 110 million streams on the platform in its first day — the highest first-day total for any album released in 2026.
On March 21, the day after the album's release, BTS performed a free concert at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul — BTS The Comeback Live | Arirang — streamed live worldwide on Netflix. Directed by Hamish Hamilton (known for his work on the Super Bowl halftime show and the Oscars), the event drew an estimated 260,000 fans to central Seoul, making it the largest public concert in South Korean history. Only 22,000 held "Golden Tickets" for direct entry, but the surrounding area was packed with fans. A documentary about the album's creation, BTS: The Return, directed by Bao Nguyen, is set to premiere on Netflix on March 27.
The Arirang World Tour, BTS's largest to date, is scheduled to span 82 dates across 34 regions from April 2026 through March 2027. All announced shows sold out immediately. Analyst Kim Yu-hyuk of IBK Investment & Securities estimated the comeback would generate at least 2.9 trillion won (approximately $1.93 billion) for the South Korean economy.
3 Music and artistry✎
BTS's musical evolution has been among the most dramatic in modern pop. Their earliest releases drew on 1990s hip hop, with aggressive tracks critiquing South Korea's education system and addressing socioeconomic inequality. Over time, their sound expanded to incorporate R&B, tropical house, EDM, future bass, Latin pop, pop rock, disco, and experimental electronic music, while hip hop has remained a core element throughout.
A defining feature of BTS is the members' deep involvement in writing and producing their material. The rap line — RM, Suga, and J-Hope — has co-written or co-produced a significant portion of the discography, and the vocal line members have increasingly contributed as well. Their lyrics have traced an arc from school-age frustrations in the "School Trilogy," through explorations of youth and identity in the Most Beautiful Moment in Life series, to philosophical meditations on self-love in the Love Yourself and Map of the Soul series (the latter drawing on the psychology of Carl Jung), to a return to Korean cultural roots on Arirang.
BTS has also incorporated Korean traditional elements into their music. "Idol" (2018) features pansori vocal techniques and the sounds of Korean janggu drums. The album Arirang opens with "Body to Body," which weaves a pansori-style performance of the folk song "Arirang" into a modern percussive arrangement. Their artistic references have drawn from Hermann Hesse's Demian, Ursula K. Le Guin's The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, and Carl Jung's theories of persona and shadow, among other sources.
The BTS Universe (also called the Bangtan Universe) is an interconnected fictional storyline woven across music videos, short films, webtoons, and novels. The narrative follows alternate-reality versions of the seven members through themes of friendship, loss, and choices, and has been expanded through multimedia projects including the webtoon Save Me and the novel The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: The Notes.
4 Members✎
BTS consists of seven members. RM, Suga, and J-Hope form the rap line, while Jin, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook comprise the vocal line, though these distinctions have blurred over time as members have explored both singing and rapping.
 iJin Kim Seok-jin 김석진 b. December 4, 1992 |
 iSuga Min Yoon-gi 민윤기 b. March 9, 1993 |
 iJ-Hope Jung Ho-seok 정호석 b. February 18, 1994 |
 iRM Kim Nam-joon 김남준 b. September 12, 1994 |
 iJimin Park Ji-min 박지민 b. October 13, 1995 |
 iV Kim Tae-hyung 김태형 b. December 30, 1995 |
 iJung Kook Jeon Jeong-guk 전정국 b. September 1, 1997 |
5 Legacy and impact✎
BTS is widely credited with breaking down barriers for Asian artists in the Western mainstream music industry and dramatically expanding the global reach of K-pop. Their success has coincided with and accelerated the broader Korean Wave (hallyu), encompassing film, television, fashion, cuisine, and other cultural exports. Economically, they contribute billions of dollars annually to the South Korean economy; the Arirang comeback alone was estimated to generate approximately $1.93 billion.
The group's relationship with their fanbase ARMY is a defining aspect of their career. BTS was among the earliest K-pop acts to use social media platforms — first Twitter and YouTube, later V Live (now Weverse) — to maintain direct, personal connections with fans around the world. This strategy has been widely imitated by subsequent K-pop groups. The phrase "I Purple You" (Korean: 보라해, borahae), coined by V at a 2016 fan event and meaning "I will trust and love you for a long time," has become a global symbol of the bond between BTS and ARMY, with purple becoming the group's unofficial color.
Beyond music, BTS has used their platform for social advocacy. Their multi-year partnership with UNICEF for the Love Myself campaign raised awareness about violence and promoted self-esteem among young people. They have addressed the United Nations General Assembly on multiple occasions — in 2018, 2020, and 2021 — speaking on topics including youth empowerment, mental health, and the impact of the pandemic. In 2018, BTS became the youngest recipients of South Korea's Order of Cultural Merit for their contributions to spreading Korean culture and language globally.
Their accolades include multiple American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, and Golden Disc Awards, as well as five Grammy Award nominations. They were featured on Time magazine's international cover as "Next Generation Leaders" and appeared on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019.
6 Discography✎
BTS's discography is extensive, spanning Korean-language and Japanese-language releases across multiple formats. A summary of their Korean studio albums is provided below; for a comprehensive listing, see BTS discography.
6.1 Korean studio albums✎
| # | Title | Released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Dark & Wild | August 19, 2014 | First studio album; peaked at No. 2 on the Gaon Chart |
| 2nd | Wings | October 10, 2016 | First BTS album to sell over one million copies in South Korea |
| 3rd | Love Yourself: Tear | May 18, 2018 | First K-pop album to reach No. 1 on the Billboard 200 |
| 4th | Map of the Soul: 7 | February 21, 2020 | First Korean album to surpass five million registered sales |
| 5th | Arirang | March 20, 2026 | First album after military hiatus; Metacritic score of 89/100 |
Be (November 2020) is counted by Big Hit as an EP rather than a full studio album, though it topped the Billboard 200 and produced the number-one single "Life Goes On."
7 World tours✎
BTS's concert tours have grown dramatically in scale over the course of their career. Their early outings — the 2014 Red Bullet Tour and the 2015 Wake Up: Open Your Eyes tour in Japan — played small to mid-size venues across Asia. By 2017, the Wings Tour had them selling out arenas in North America and Europe, with some dates selling out within minutes.
The Love Yourself World Tour (2018–2019) moved into stadiums, including sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium and the Rose Bowl — making BTS the first non-English-speaking and Asian act to headline both venues. Their most recent pre-hiatus shows were the Permission to Dance on Stage concerts in Las Vegas in April 2022, drawing roughly 200,000 fans across four nights at Allegiant Stadium.
The Arirang World Tour, announced in January 2026, is BTS's largest yet: 82 dates across 34 regions from April 2026 through March 2027. Every announced show has sold out.
 BTS
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[ Korean albums ]
[ Japanese albums ]
[ Other albums ]
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