Рассказ о группе бтс на английском языке

This article is about the musical group. For other uses, see BTS (disambiguation).

BTS
BTS at the White House in 2022 (left to right): V, Jungkook, Jimin, RM, Jin, J-Hope, and Suga
Background information
Also known as	Bangtan Boys Bangtan Sonyeondan Beyond the Scene Bulletproof Boy Scouts
Origin	Seoul, South Korea
Genres	K-pop pop hip hop R&B EDM
Years active	2013–present
Labels	Big Hit Pony Canyon Def Jam Japan[1] Columbia Universal
Members	Jin Suga J-Hope RM Jimin V Jungkook
Website	bts.ibighit.com
Korean name
Hangul	방탄소년단
Hanja	防彈少年團
Transcriptions Revised Romanization Bangtan Sonyeondan McCune–Reischauer Pangt’an Sonyǒndan
Japanese name
Kanji	防弾少年団
Hiragana	ぼうだんしょうねんだん
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Bōdan Shōnendan Kunrei-shiki Bôdan Syônendan

BTS (Korean: 방탄소년단; RR: Bangtan Sonyeondan; lit. Bulletproof Boy Scouts), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, who co-write and co-produce the majority of their material. Originally a hip hop group, their musical style has evolved to incorporate a wide range of genres, while their lyricism has focused on subjects including mental health, the troubles of school-age youth and coming of age, loss, the journey towards self-love, individualism, and the consequences of fame and recognition. Their discography and adjacent work has also referenced literature, philosophy and psychological concepts, and includes an alternate universe storyline.

BTS debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainement with the single album 2 Cool 4 Skool. BTS released their first Korean and Japanese-language studio albums, Dark & Wild and Wake Up respectively, in 2014. The group’s second Korean studio album, Wings (2016), was their first to sell one million copies in South Korea. By 2017, BTS had crossed into the global music market and led the Korean wave into the United States, becoming the first Korean ensemble to receive a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for their single «Mic Drop», as well as the first act from South Korea to top the Billboard 200 with their studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018). In 2020, BTS became one of the few groups since the Beatles (in 1966–1968) to chart four US number-one albums in less than two years, with Love Yourself: Answer (2018) becoming the first Korean album certified Platinum by the RIAA; in the same year, they also became the first all-South Korean act to reach number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200 with their Grammy-nominated single «Dynamite». Follow-up releases «Savage Love», «Life Goes On», «Butter», and «Permission to Dance» made them the fastest act to earn four US number-one singles since Justin Timberlake in 2006.

As of 2022, BTS is the best-selling artist in South Korean history according to the Circle Chart, having sold in excess of 30 million albums. Their studio album Map of the Soul: 7 (2020) is the best-selling album of all time in South Korea, as well as the first in the country to surpass both four and five million registered sales. They are the first non-English-speaking and Asian act to sell out concerts at Wembley Stadium and the Rose Bowl (Love Yourself World Tour, 2019), and were named the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) Global Recording Artist of the Year for both 2020 and 2021. The group’s accolades include multiple American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and nominations for five Grammy Awards. Outside of music, they have addressed three sessions of the United Nations General Assembly and partnered with UNICEF in 2017 to establish the Love Myself anti-violence campaign. Featured on Time‘s international cover as «Next Generation Leaders» and dubbed the «Princes of Pop», BTS has also appeared on Time‘s lists of the 25 most influential people on the internet (2017–2019) and the 100 most influential people in the world (2019), and in 2018 became the youngest recipients of the South Korean Order of Cultural Merit for their contributions in spreading the Korean culture and language.

On June 14, 2022, the group announced a scheduled pause in group activities to enable the members to complete their mandatory South Korean military service, with a reunion planned for 2025. Jin, the oldest member, became the first to enlist, on December 13, 2022.

Name

BTS stands for the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan (Korean: 방탄소년단; Hanja: 防彈少年團), which translates literally to «Bulletproof Boy Scouts». According to member J-Hope, the name signifies the group’s desire «to block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that aim on adolescents like bullets».^[2][3] In Japan, they are known as Bōdan Shōnendan (防弾少年団).^[4] In July 2017, BTS announced that their name would also stand for «Beyond the Scene» as part of their new brand identity.^[5] This extended the meaning of their name to encompass the idea of growth «from a boy to an adult who opens the doors that are facing forward».^[6]

History

2010–2014: Formation and early years

BTS was formed in 2010, after Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk wanted to form a hip hop group around RM (Kim Nam-joon), an underground rapper who was well known on the music scene in Seoul. BTS was originally supposed to be a hip hop group, but, seeing falling album sales, he changed his plans, thinking a different path would be more marketable. He chose to vary from the usual, highly regimented idol groups and create one where the members would be individuals rather than an ensemble, and free to express themselves.^[7][8] Auditions were held in 2010 with plans to launch the following year.^[9][10] The band members lived together, practicing up to 15 hours a day, and first performed before a small crowd of industry insiders in 2013.^[11]

BTS’ representation by Big Hit, rather than one of the three agencies that dominated K-pop at the time, allowed the individual members leeway to express their individuality and allowed them to have input into the music.^[13] On June 12, 2013, BTS released their debut single album 2 Cool 4 Skool, along with the lead single «No More Dream», neither of which sold particularly well at the time.^[14] Nevertheless, according to Kathy Sprinkel in her book on BTS, that single was «spotlighting young people’s anxiety in the face of lofty parental expectations, sent shock waves through the K-pop ranks. Here was a musical act that wasn’t pulling any punches. More specifically, they had a point of view, and they weren’t afraid to take on topics that are considered taboo in South Korean society and elsewhere.»^[15] The album reached the top five on South Korea’s Gaon Music Chart.^[16] In 2 Cool 4 Skool, BTS employed an old-school hip-hop sound from the 1990s.^[17][18] The album’s release was followed by appearances on Korean music shows, which caught the attention of reviewers and viewers.^[19][20]

In September 2013, BTS released the second entry in their «school trilogy»: the EP, O!RUL8,2?. The album was released alongside the single «N.O.»^[21][22] Similarly to 2 Cool 4 Skool, the new release had a theme of students feeling under pressure and needing to sacrifice their dreams and aspirations.^[21] According to scholar Kyung Hyun Kim, many of BTS’ earlier works such as «N.O.» and «No More Dreams» were «expressions of rebellion against the establishment that tapped into Korean teenagers’ frustrations with the country’s educational system» and, he stated, helped them build a fan base among young people in North America and Europe.^[23] That same month, BTS starred in their own variety show, SBS MTV’s Rookie King Channel Bangtan, in which members parodied variety shows such as VJ Special Forces and MasterChef Korea.^[24] At the end of the year, BTS was recognized with several New Artist of the Year awards in South Korea.^[25][26][27]

2014–2017

Skool Luv Affair and first concert tour

The last entry in BTS «school trilogy», the Skool Luv Affair EP, was released in February 2014.^[28][29] The release topped the Gaon Album Chart,^[30] and appeared on Billboard‘s World Albums Chart for the first time, peaking at number three.^[28][31] The EP was supported by two singles: «Boy in Luv» and «Just One Day».^[32] Following Skool Luv Affair‘s release, BTS played at their first fan meeting in Seoul, selecting the name A.R.M.Y. for the fan club.^[33] In July 2014, BTS hosted a concert in West Hollywood, their first show in the United States,^[34] and in August, they appeared at KCON in Los Angeles.^[35]

In August 2014, BTS released the album Dark & Wild, which reached number two in South Korea.^[32][36] It was supported by two singles: «Danger» and «War of Hormone».^[32] The group embarked on their first concert tour, 2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, which lasted from October to December 2014.^[37] The band launched their first Japanese studio album, Wake Up, in December 2014; the release peaked at number three on the Oricon Albums Chart.^[38] After the album’s release, BTS held their 1st Japan Tour 2015 Wake Up: Open Your Eyes in February 2015.^[39] The Red Bullet Tour that had begun on October 17, 2014 in South Korea was resumed on June 6, 2015 in Malaysia and toured Australia, North America and Latin America before ending in Hong Kong that August. In all, the entire tour attracted 80,000 spectators at 18 cities in 13 countries.^[37][40]

Mainstream breakthrough and commercial success

BTS experimented with other styles of music besides hip hop in The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1, released in 2015.^[32][41] BTS wanted to express the beauty and anxiousness of youth and settled on the title of «花樣年華» (Korean: 화양연화; RR: Hwayangyeonhwa), loosely interpreted to define «youth» metaphorically as «the most beautiful moment in life».^[42] The album served as an introduction to their youth trilogy, a triptych of albums dedicated to the struggles of young people.^[43] The single «I Need U» was a top-five hit in South Korea and garnered the group a win on SBS MTV’s The Show.^[44][45] The second single «Dope (Korean: 쩔어; RR: Jjeoreo)» reached number three on Billboard‘s World Digital Songs Sales Chart and its music video was viewed over 100 million times on YouTube.^[46][47] The group began the world tour extension of their Red Bullet Tour in June, titled 2015 Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, visiting cities throughout Asia, Oceania, North America, and Latin America.^[37] «For You», in Japanese, was released together with Japanese versions of «War of Hormone» and «Let Me Know» on June 17, 2015, and immediately topped Oricon’s daily chart.^[32][48]

In November, BTS commenced their third concert tour, 2015 BTS LIVE «The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: On Stage», which began with three sold-out shows in Seoul, and was extended to Japan.^[49] Thematically, the EP focused more on the serious and speculative aspects of youth, touching on the pursuit of success, loneliness, affection for their origins, and the suffering of the younger generation due to unfavorable conditions in current society.^[50] The album topped the weekly Gaon Album and Billboard World Albums charts.^[51][52] It also marked their first appearance on the Billboard 200 chart,^[53] making it for one week at number 171,^[54] and eight of the tracks appeared on Billboard‘s World Digital Songs Sales Chart.^[55]

Their compilation album and the finale to their «youth trilogy», The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever was released on May 2, 2016. With 300,000 presold copies,^[56] it included three new singles: «Epilogue: Young Forever», «Fire», and «Save Me»,^[32][57] which debuted in the top three spots on the Billboard World Digital Charts.^[56] The album topped Gaon Weekly Chart in South Korea for two consecutive weeks and reached number 107 on the Billboard 200.^[58][59][60] The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever won Album of the Year at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.^[61] BTS embarked on their Asia tour extension, 2016 BTS LIVE «The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage: Epilogue» from May to August 2016. Tickets for the 14 shows in 10 Asian cities sold out, some in as little as five seconds.^[62]

In September 2016, BTS released their second Japanese studio album Youth.^[63] The album sold 44,547 on the first day of its release, and charted 1st in the Oricon Daily Album Chart.^[64][65] The album was eventually certified Gold with sales of roughly over 100,000 in Japan.^[66] It was followed one month later in October,^[32] by their next studio album Wings, which combined the themes of youth presented in their previous «youth trilogy» with temptation and adversity.^[67] The album and its tracks, including the single «Blood Sweat & Tears» immediately rose to the top on eight music charts, including the Gaon Music Chart, and led the iTunes album charts in 23 countries.^[68][69] Wings opened at number 26 on the Billboard 200, with 16,000 album-equivalent units in the U.S. for the week of its release, the best week ever there for a K-pop album.^[70] It became the best-selling album in Gaon Album Chart history.^[71]

You Never Walk Alone and Love Yourself: Her

In February 2017, BTS released the repackaged edition of Wings entitled You Never Walk Alone. The 700,000 pre-orders of it (an increase from the 500,000 pre-orders of Wings) helped break the record for most albums sold in a month in South Korea, as it reached 1.49 million copies by the end of its first month.^[72][73] The lead single was «Spring Day»^[32] and it won Best Song of the Year at the 2017 Melon Music Awards.^[74] BTS’ second world tour, 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour, began in February.^[75] On the tour, BTS played arenas in the U.S., such as New Jersey’s Prudential Center and California’s Honda Center. Tickets for the North American leg sold out within hours and two shows were added.^[76][77] After completing the North American leg, BTS attended the 24th Billboard Music Awards in May and won Top Social Artist,^[78] the first K-pop group to win a Billboard award.^[79] BTS fans cast over 300 million votes for the band and broke a six-year winning streak held by Justin Bieber, a performer with 100 million Twitter followers.^[80] This caused the international media to focus on the ability of BTS’ fandom to propel the group to such a victory.^[80]

BTS released a remake of Seo Taiji’s «Come Back Home» (1995) in July 2017, giving it new lyrics but maintaining the theme of urging societal change.^[81] Later that year, BTS embarked on their «Love Yourself» album series, with theme of the enlightenment of self-love through the «起承轉結» (Korean: 기승전결; RR: Giseungjeongyeol) narrative sequence of «beginning, development, turn, and conclusion.»^[82] BTS released its first part, their fifth EP, Love Yourself: Her, on September 18.^[79][83] RM considered «DNA», the lead single from that album,^[84] as «taking BTS to new ground. We tried to apply new grammar and perspectives.»^[32] He said of the album, «I believe it’s going to be the starting point of a second chapter of our career; the beginning of our Chapter Two.»^[85] Sonically, the EP served as «a dual exploration of the group’s electro-pop and hip-hop leanings».^[84]

Love Yourself: Her debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200.^[86] The album had 1,664,041 sales in May 2017 to lead the Gaon Chart,^[87] and was the first in 16 years to exceed 1.2 million copies sold since g.o.d’s fourth album Chapter 4 (2001).^[88][89] «DNA» was released simultaneously with the EP, and its music video accumulated 21 million views in its first 24 hours.^[90] It became BTS’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, charting at number 85, making them the first K-pop boy band to reach that chart.^[91] The single rose to number 67 the following week and became the highest-charting song on the Hot 100 for any K-pop group.^[92] A remix of «Mic Drop» from the album, featuring Desiigner, was released as a single and peaked at number 28, the first time a K-pop group had cracked the top forty.^[93][94] Both singles attained Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in early 2018.^[95] «Mic Drop» achieved Platinum status in the US later that year.^[96]

In November 2017, BTS became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards.^[97][98] BTS won Artist of the Year at the 19th Mnet Asian Music Awards in December, winning for the second consecutive year.^[99] They released «DNA» and «Mic Drop» together with a new song «Crystal Snow» as a single album in Japan on December 6, 2017, though the songs were made digitally available elsewhere.^[32][100] It topped the Oricon Chart for the week of its release. It was the only album by a foreign artist to be certified Double Platinum in Japan in 2017.^[101][102]

Later that month, they made their Japanese television prime time music show debut on Music Station Super Live,^[103] and ended the year performing on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.^[104][105]

In 2017, BTS partnered with UNICEF on the «Love Myself» campaign, intended to help end violence, abuse and bullying, and to promote self-esteem and well-being among young people. Both Big Hit and the group pledged money to promote the campaign, and BTS sold special «Love Myself» merchandise and set up dedicated booths at concert venues. The campaign was renewed in 2021, with UNICEF deeming it to have been successful.^[106]

2018–2020

Love Yourself album series

BTS won major awards at the Golden Disc and Seoul Music Awards in January 2018.^[107][108] In March, the group premiered an eight-episode documentary titled Burn the Stage that offered a behind-the-scenes look at their 2017 Wings Tour, exclusively on YouTube Premium.^[109][110] Their third Japanese studio album, Face Yourself, was released on April 4, 2018,^[111] and quickly reached the top 5 of the U.S iTunes Albums chart. A nine-minute short film, titled Euphoria: Theme of «Love Yourself: Wonder» and featuring the song «Euphoria», followed the next day as a prelude to the group’s third Korean-language studio album, Love Yourself: Tear.^[112] BTS promoted Tear‘s May 18, 2018 release with an appearance at the 25th Billboard Music Awards two days later,^[113] where they made their initial BBMA performance with their single, «Fake Love».^[114][115] The group also won Top Social Artist for a second consecutive time.^[116][117] The album coincided with the «轉» or «turn» of the series, touching on the tortuous enlightenment of loving without being loved, the pains and sorrows of separation, and providing encouragement to those without dreams.^[118]

Love Yourself: Tear debuted at number one its first week on the Billboard 200, becoming BTS’ first number-one album in the US and the first K-pop album to top the US albums chart.^[119] It also became BTS’ first top-10 release in Britain, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Chart.^[120] «Fake Love» became BTS’ top-10 single on the Hot 100, the first time a song sung mostly in a language other than English had debuted in the top 10.^[121] BTS released their compilation album Love Yourself: Answer in August, 2018.^[122] The album was supported by the single «Idol» and its alternative digital release featuring Nicki Minaj.^[123][124]

Love Yourself: Answer sold over 1.9 million copies on the Gaon Album Chart in August 2018.^[125] The album became BTS’ second number-one on the Billboard 200 and led to their highest US sales week in the country to that point with 185,000 album equivalent units.^[126] In November 2018, Love Yourself: Answer became the first Korean language album to be certified Gold by the RIAA.^[96] «Idol» and Love Yourself: Answer both received Platinum certifications in the US, with sales of more than 1 million.^[127]

In conjunction with Love Yourself: Answer’s release in August 2018, BTS commenced their world tour, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself, with two concerts in the Seoul Olympic Stadium, which sold out in a matter of seconds, as did others of the 22 shows in 12 countries.^[129][130] In October, BTS released their collaboration with Steve Aoki «Waste It on Me», their first all-English language feature.^[131][132] For the final stop of the North American leg, the group performed at Citi Field in New York City, marking the first time a Korean act performed at a US stadium.^[133] According to StubHub, BTS was the second best-selling concert act outside the US, behind only Ed Sheeran.^[134] That October, BTS renewed their contract with Big Hit Entertainment through 2026.^[135]

In early November 2018, a popular Japanese music show cancelled BTS’ performance, citing a T-shirt a member wore the year before, bearing a photograph of a mushroom cloud following the bombing of Nagasaki.^[136] In the same month, the Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) stated that BTS owed an apology for that shirt, and for clothing and flags with Nazi symbolism.^[137] Big Hit Entertainment issued an apology, explaining that the images were not intended to be hurtful to the victims of Nazism or atomic bombings and that the group and management would take steps to prevent future mistakes.^[138] They also stated the flags were meant to be a commentary on the Korean school system.^[139] The apology was accepted by SWC and the Korean Atomic Bomb Victim Association.^[140][141] John Lie, in his scholarly article on BTS, opined that the Nazi incident showed that the group is not tightly controlled, as are other K-pop ensembles, whose every move seems scripted, and that the members have opinions and are not afraid to express them.^[142]

At the 20th Mnet Asian Music Awards, BTS won Artist of the Year and ranked number eight on Billboard’s year-end Top Artist Chart and were also the number two act of the year in the Duo/Group ranking, only behind Imagine Dragons.^[143][144] They were also listed as one of the 50 most influential people by Bloomberg for their «willingness to address social issues, mental health, and politics, despite being in a genre often painted as bubble gum pop».^[145]

Map of the Soul: Persona, stadium world tour and BTS World

In February 2019, BTS, for the first time, were presenters at the Grammy Awards.^[146][147] In April, Time named them one of the Time 100, the most influential people of 2019.^[148] Their EP, Map of the Soul: Persona, was released on April 12 with the single «Boy with Luv» (Korean: 작은 것들을 위한 시; RR: Jageun geotdeureul wihan si), featuring American singer Halsey.^[149] The EP’s release was followed by a performance on Saturday Night Live, the first K-pop act to appear there.^[150] Map of the Soul: Persona became the first Korean-language album to reach the number one position in both the UK and Australia,^[151][152] and the group’s third album to top the Billboard 200 in less than a year.^[153] Map of the Soul: Persona became the best-selling album ever in South Korea in terms of physical copies sold, with more than 3.2 million sales in less than a month.^[154][155] «Boy with Luv» debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2019, the highest placement ever for a K-pop song.^[156]

Following their two wins at the 26th Billboard Music Awards in May, including for Top Duo/Group,^[157] BTS embarked on their world tour stadium extension, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself.^[158] Due to the demand, BTS added more shows after tickets for the first dates sold out within two hours.^[159] In the lead up to the release of their mobile game BTS World, in June 2019 BTS released «Dream Glow» featuring Charli XCX,^[160] «A Brand New Day» with Zara Larsson,^[161] and «All Night» with Juice Wrld.^[162] The group released the song «Heartbeat» with a music video from the game’s official soundtrack, titled BTS World: Original Soundtrack.^[163] The soundtrack was certified Double Platinum by Gaon.^[164] On July 3, 2019, pre-orders for the single «Lights» crossed one million copies, marking the first time a foreign artist had accomplished this in Japan since Celine Dion in 1995.^[165][166] «Lights» debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the chart issue date of July 8, 2019 and reached number one the following week.^[167][168] On August 8, 2019, «Lights» received Million certification from the RIAJ, denoting shipments of one million copies.^{[169][170][171]}

Love Yourself: Her and Love Yourself: Tear both crossed 2 million copies in August.^[172] All three albums of the Love Yourself series have sold more than 2 million copies each in South Korea.^[173] Love Yourself: Tear gained silver certification by the BPI for sales in the UK, becoming their third album to do so following Love Yourself: Answer and Map of the Soul: Persona.^[174] For the final stop of their record-breaking Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour, the group played Seoul’s Olympic Stadium.^[175] BTS was the third top-grossing touring musical act of 2019.^[176] That same month, they released a remix version of the song «Make It Right» featuring Lauv.^[177] In November, BTS won three times at the 2019 American Music Awards, for Best Tour, Favorite Duo or Group – Pop/Rock, and Favorite Social Artist (the second consecutive year).^[178]

In December, they attended both the 2019 Melon Music Awards and 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards. In each case, they became the first group to sweep the four major awards.^{[179][180][181]} At the 34th Golden Disc Awards, BTS became the first artists in history to win grand prizes in both the physical and digital categories in a single year.^[182] Map of the Soul: Persona was named the second best-selling physical album of 2019 in the US by Nielsen Music behind Taylor Swift’s Lover and was ranked sixth overall on the chart of Top 10 Albums (Total Sales) in the US.^[183] BTS wrapped 2019 as the fourth highest ranked group on Billboard‘s Top Billboard 200 Artists–Duo/Group ranking, behind Queen, Imagine Dragons and the Beatles.^[184] Map of the Soul: Persona was named as the third best-selling album of 2019 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), making BTS the first Korean artist to be listed on the Global Top 10 Album Chart in consecutive years.^{[185][186][187]} The IFPI named BTS as one of the best-selling artists of 2019 for a second consecutive year, making them the first non-English speaking act to achieve this.^[188][189]

Map of the Soul: 7, «Dynamite» and Be

In January 2020, BTS released «Black Swan» along with a choreography art film performed by MN Dance Company of Slovenia as the first single from their album, Map of the Soul: 7.^[190][191] Album distributor Dreamus reported that stock pre-orders of the album reached a record-breaking 4.02 million.^[192] Later that month, BTS performed at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, making BTS the first Korean act to perform at the Grammys.^[193][194] Map of the Soul: 7 was released on February 21 to favorable reviews.^[195][196] The album was supported by the single «On» and an alternative digital release of it featuring Australian singer Sia.^[197] According to Gaon Chart, Map of the Soul: 7 sold over 4.1 million copies in nine days after its release, surpassing Map of the Soul: Persona to become the best-selling album in South Korean history and the first album to be certified quadruple million.^[198] The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, making BTS the fastest group to earn four number one albums since the Beatles in 1966–1968.^[199] «On» debuted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, giving BTS its first top-five hit, and the most Hot 100 top-10 entries of any Korean act, with three.^[200] BTS planned to support the Map of the Soul album series with a concert series, Map of the Soul Tour, beginning in April,^[201] but this was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[202]

In April 2020, BTS became the first K-pop artist to sell more than 20 million albums cumulatively,^[203] making them the best-selling artist in South Korean history.^[173][204] That month, amid the pandemic restrictions, BTS held a two-day online streaming concert event titled Bang Bang Con, where the group shared footage of past concerts on their YouTube channel.^[205] On June 7, BTS headlined YouTube’s Dear Class of 2020 online graduation event, performing «Boy with Luv», «Spring Day», and «Mikrokosmos».^[206] Their commencement speeches highlighted their own graduations and offered «messages of hope and inspiration for the class of 2020 in both Korean and English».^[207] On June 14, BTS held an online live concert, Bang Bang Con: The Live, as part of the seventh anniversary of their debut.^[208] It garnered peak viewership of 756,000 live viewers in 107 countries and territories, setting the record for the largest audience for a paid virtual concert.^[209][210] On June 19, BTS released the Japanese single, «Stay Gold», from their fourth Japanese album, Map of the Soul: 7 – The Journey, which was released worldwide on July 14.^[211][212] It surpassed 564,000 copies in its first week, breaking the record for highest first week album sales by male foreign artists in Japan.^[213]

BTS released their first English-language single, «Dynamite», on August 21.^[214] «Dynamite» debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, earning BTS their first chart topper and making them the first all-South Korean act to earn a number one single in the US.^[215][216] The single also topped Billboard‘s new Global 200 for the week ending September 24, as well as Global Excluding US charts, becoming the first single to top both simultaneously.^[217] «Dynamite» peaked at number five on the US Mainstream Top 40 and on the. Billboard Pop Singles chart, becoming their first Top 10 on each and the former the highest-charting entry by a Korean act.^[218][219] On August 31, BTS made their MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) debut with the first live performance of «Dynamite»^[220] and won four awards: Best Group, Best Choreography, Best Pop Video, and Best K-pop (the last three for their music video for «On»).^[221] On October 14, they performed the single at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards and won the Top Social Artist award for a fourth consecutive year.^[222][223]

On October 2, 2020, BTS released a remix of Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo’s single «Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)».^[224] It topped the Hot 100.^[225] On October 10 and 11, BTS hosted a two-day virtual pay-per-view concert at KSPO Dome in Seoul, called Map of the Soul ON:E, which drew 993,000 viewers from 191 countries and territories.^{[226][227][228]} On November 20, BTS released their fifth Korean studio album Be, led by the single «Life Goes On».^[229] «Life Goes On» debuted at number one on the Hot 100,^[230] BTS’ third consecutive US number-one single in three months and the first song performed primarily in Korean to top the chart.^[231][232]

On November 24, 2020, BTS became the first Korean pop artists recognized by the Recording Academy when «Dynamite» received a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.^[233] The group won the Special International Music Award at the 62nd Japan Record Awards.^[234] Kim, in his book on the influence of Korean popular culture, suggested that 2020, the worst year in many people’s lives, was a noteworthy one for Korean culture, with Parasite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture and BTS posting three number-one hits on the Billboard Global 200.^[235]

2021–present

«Butter», «Permission to Dance» and Proof

On March 4, 2021, the IFPI named BTS its Global Recording Artist of the Year for 2020, the first Asian and first non-English speaking act to top the ranking.^[237] BTS occupied three spots in the Global Album Sales Chart of 2020, with Map of the Soul: 7 at number one, Be (Deluxe Edition) at number two, and Map of the Soul: 7–The Journey at number eight.^[238] On the newly launched Global Album All Format Chart, Map of the Soul: 7 claimed first place and Be (Deluxe Edition) claimed fourth.^[239] On March 14, 2021, BTS performed «Dynamite» at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the first Korean nominee to perform, though they did not win the award.^[240] On April 1, BTS released «Film Out», the first single from their then-upcoming Japanese compilation album, BTS, the Best.^[241] BTS held a two-day online streaming event on their YouTube channel beginning April 17, titled Bang Bang Con 21, and aired three of their previous in-person concerts.^[242]

BTS released their second English-language single, «Butter», on May 21.^[243] It debuted at number one on the Hot 100—their fourth number one in nine months—making them the quickest act to achieve four chart-toppers since Justin Timberlake in 2006, and the fastest group since the Jackson 5 in 1970.^[244] Their next English-language single, «Permission to Dance», was released on July 9.^[245] It became BTS’ eighth number-one on the Digital Songs chart, extending their record as the group with the most number-one entries on the ranking.^[246] The band released the single «My Universe» with Coldplay on September 24, 2021.^[247] The single debuted at number one on the Hot 100, making it the first collaboration between two groups to debut at number one.^[248] The band held an online concert, titled Permission to Dance on Stage, on October 24, 2021, in Seoul.^[249] On November 23, «Butter» earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.^[250][251] Between November 27 and December 2, BTS held their first live performances before an in-person audience since before the pandemic. The band played four sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles as a continuation of their Permission to Dance on Stage concert series.^{[252][253][254]}

On January 15, 2022, a fictional webtoon based on BTS, titled 7Fates: Chakho, was released. The comic surpassed 15 million views globally in its first two days of availability and became the highest-viewed title ever launched by Webtoon.^[255][256] The band held three limited-capacity concerts at Seoul Olympic Stadium on March 10, 12, and 13—the largest music gatherings^[a] approved by the South Korean government since the pandemic restrictions were imposed—with a total audience of 45,000 people.^[257][258] On April 3, BTS performed «Butter» at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards,^[251] though the song did not win the award for which it was nominated.^[259] On April 8, the band earned seven nominations at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards^[260] and won three, making them the most-nominated and the most-awarded group in the show’s history.^[261][262]

BTS released their three-CD anthology album Proof on June 10, 2022.^{[263][264][265]} On June 14, during their ninth anniversary celebrations, the band announced a temporary suspension of group activities to focus on solo projects and other endeavors.^[266][267] Hybe Corporation, which owns Big Hit,^[268] clarified in subsequent statements that BTS was neither disbanding nor going on hiatus, but would be actively furthering their individual careers with the label’s full support while still participating in group activities, including the filming of Run BTS.^[269][270] The incident caused Hybe Corporation’s stock to decline rapidly, resulting in a decrease in market value of US$1.7 billion.^[271] On August 24, Billboard magazine reported that BTS would be performing in Busan on October 15 in a benefit concert in support of the city’s efforts to have a World Exposition in 2030, participating under the banner Yet to Come.^[272][273]

Military service and scheduled separation

In spite of the announcement of the October 2022 benefit concert, Hybe Corporation’s stock prices continued a sharp decline to below its original IPO amid continuing market speculation about the implications of the upcoming mandatory military enlistment of the band’s members and its potential breakup.^[274] Under South Korean laws, all able-bodied males must complete between 18 and 21 months of military service, usually by age 28.^[272] Bloomberg News reported the concert as a success, but also indicated that there were no further concert dates scheduled. It was estimated that if the band members must complete their service, Hybe Corporation would lose nearly US$10 billion dollars over ten years, with the loss to the South Korean economy at nearly US$39 billion.^[275]

In October 2022, Big Hit confirmed that Jin, the band’s oldest member, aged 29, had withdrawn his enlistment deferral request and would enlist by the end of the month, after concluding his solo music promotions for his single «The Astronaut».^[276] The other members are expected to enlist at later times, with the group planning to reunite in 2025 after the conclusion of their service obligations.^[277][278] At the end of that month, BTS earned five nominations for the 2022 MAMA Awards, with the band members receiving eight further nominations as solo artists.^[279] On November 15, BTS earned three nominations at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, including a nomination for Best Music Video for «Yet to Come». «My Universe» was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, making BTS the only act to be nominated three years in a row in this category since its introduction in 2011. The band was also nominated for Album of the Year as featured artists on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres.^[280] Jin enlisted in the military as an active duty soldier on December 13.^[281] On December 20, Variety announced the upcoming theatrical release of the band’s BTS ‘Yet to Come’ in Busan concert film in February 2023.^[282]

Artistry

Influences

BTS have cited Seo Taiji and Boys,^[283] Nas, Eminem, Kanye West, Drake, Post Malone, Charlie Puth, and Danger as musical inspirations.^[284] They have also cited Queen as an influence, saying they «grew up watching videos of Live Aid».^[285] During their concert at Wembley Stadium in London, Jin paid tribute to Queen by leading the crowd in a version of Freddie Mercury’s «ay-oh» chant.^[285] «Hip Hop Phile» which was released when BTS’ hip-hop concept was at its height, pays homage to the artists who influenced them, including the South Korean group Epik High, Jay-Z, Biggie, CL Smooth, and others.^[286]

Their 2016 album Wings was inspired by Hermann Hesse’s coming of age novel, Demian.^[287] Their song «Blood Sweat & Tears» quotes Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and its music video features visual references to Herbert James Draper’s The Lament for Icarus, Pieter Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, and Bruegel’s The Fall of the Rebel Angels.^[288] Among the literary and other sources that have inspired their works are those by Haruki Murakami, Ursula K. Le Guin, Carl Jung, George Orwell and Nietzsche.^[289] The Love Yourself series was influenced by Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving,^[268][290] and their 2018 song «Magic Shop» from Love Yourself: Tear was inspired by James R. Doty’s memoir Into the Magic Shop.^[291]

Musical style

Since their inception, BTS have emphasized hip hop as their musical base, largely due to the influence of RM and Suga’s background as underground rappers;^[292] during early visits to the US, the group received mentoring from American rappers.^[293] Bang Si-hyuk previously acknowledged that K-pop as a whole draws from black music,^[294] and author Crystal S. Anderson stated, «BTS’s rising popularity in the US represents the continuation of the ways that K-pop functions as part of a global R&B tradition.»^[295] T.K. Park and Youngdae Kim of Vulture deemed the track «Outro: Her» from Love Yourself: Her as the best example of the group’s understanding of old-school hip hop, with raps inspired by Chuck D and Tupac and jazzy chords from the 1990s to create a classic hip hop sound.^[296]

The release of «Blood Sweat & Tears» in 2016 accelerated BTS’ transition from a hip hop to a pop group. Park and Kim noted that the song draws from dancehall, reggaeton, and moombahton but opts for a «baroque mysticism» rather than the «partylike atmosphere of its influences».^[296] The group also began incorporating traditional Korean elements into their music. For example, their single «Idol» (2018) features an adlib from Pansori, a Korean form of operatic storytelling, and vocal imitations of the sounds of Korean janggu drums.^[297]

While BTS maintains roots in hip hop, their sound has diversified. They first experimented with R&B, rock and jazz hip hop on Dark & Wild in 2014;^[298][299] EDM in their The Most Beautiful Moment in Life album series;^[50] moombahton and tropical house on Wings and You Never Walk Alone ;^{[300][301][67]} future bass and Latin pop in their Love Yourself album series;^[82] slow-dance ballads,^[302] emo rap, Afro pop,^[303] funk, trap, pop rock, and hip pop in their Map of the Soul album series;^[304] and disco in their single «Dynamite».^[305][306] The band members have explored different genres on solo tracks, such as neo soul on V’s «Stigma» and flowing R&B on Jimin’s «Lie».^[300]

Lyrical themes

Since their formation, BTS have believed that telling their own stories is the best way for the younger generation to relate to their music.^[307] Writing many of their own lyrics,^[308][309] the group discusses universal life experiences such as sadness and loneliness in their work and turn them into something lighter and more manageable. RM stated that BTS tries to avoid a preaching or reprimanding tone in their songs «because that’s not the way that we want to spread our message … We’re born with different lives, but you cannot choose some things. So we thought that love, the real meaning of it, starts with loving ourselves and accepting some ironies and some destinies that we have from the very start.»^[310] When asked if it is difficult to write about things like mental health, Suga responded,

We feel that people who have the platform to talk about those things really should talk more, because they say depression is something where you go to the hospital and you’re diagnosed, but you can’t really know until the doctor talks to you … More and more, I think artists or celebrities who have a voice should talk about these problems and bring it up to the surface.^[310]

Themes explored in BTS’ discography range from exploring «the troubles and anxieties of school-age youth» to «themes like love, friendship, loss, death, and more.»^[311] Early BTS songs, such as «No More Dream» and «N.O» from their school trilogy, were described by Tamar Herman as motivated by personal experiences with South Korea’s rigid approach to education and called for change to the educational system and societal expectations.^[312] The members’ experiences with South Korean youth culture also inspired the songs «Dope» and «Silver Spoon» (Korean: 뱁새; RR: Baepsae) from their youth trilogy. These songs reference generational disparity and millennials giving up romantic relationships, marriage, children, proper employment, homes, and social life in the face of economic difficulties and societal ills while facing condemnation from the media and older generations.^[312] The group’s label dubbed The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever, the conclusion to their youth trilogy, «a special album that marks the conclusion of the epic journey of the series, containing the last stories told by young people who, despite an uncertain and insecure reality (The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 1) continue to surge forward (The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 2).»^[313] Wings focused on mental health, criticisms of the K-pop «idol» scene, and delivering a female empowerment message.^[314] The Love Yourself series introduced new themes regarding youth culture in South Korea, including the excitement of love, pain of farewell, and enlightenment of self-love.^[315] According to Kathy Sprinkel, BTS’ 2020 «quarantine album» Be «chronicles the group’s coming to terms with a suddenly new reality and offers support for their listeners going through the same upheaval and uncertainty».^[316]

BTS’ lyrics have also addressed topics outside youth culture. The song «Am I Wrong» from Wings questioned societal apathy towards changing the status quo; the lyric «We’re all dogs and pigs / we become dogs because we’re angry» appeared to reference South Korean Ministry of Education official Na Hyang-wook, who advocated a caste system for the country and who reportedly described average people as «dogs and pigs». BTS released the song amid the 2016 South Korean political scandal that resulted in the impeachment of president Park Geun-hye.^[312] RM and Suga’s personal struggles with mental health have inspired some of their music.^[310][296] «Not Today» from 2017’s You Never Walk Alone is an anti-establishment anthem, urging «all the underdogs in the world» to keep fighting,^[317] and «Spring Day» honored the victims of the Sewol Ferry tragedy.^[318] Journalist Jeff Benjamin praised BTS in Fuse for «speak[ing] honestly about topics they deem important, even in a conservative society».^[319] Former South Korean president Moon Jae-in said: «Each of the seven members sings in a way that is true to himself and the life he wants to live. Their melody and lyrics transcend regional borders, language, culture, and institutions.»^[320]

Impact

On April 29, 2019, Time magazine named BTS one of the 100 most influential people of the year, labeling them the «Princes of Pop».^[321] Billboard executive Silvio Pietroluongo compared the group’s influence to that of the Beatles.^[322] MRC Data executive Helena Kosinski noted that «although BTS weren’t the first to open the doors to K-Pop worldwide, they were the first to become mainstream. They don’t just appeal to young people but also to the 50s and 60s age demographic.»^[323] The first non-English speaking artist to make the Global Artist Chart in 2018, BTS was the second best-selling artists worldwide across multiple media platforms, second only to Drake.^{[324][325][326]} In 2020, BTS became the first non-western and non-English speaking artist to be named IFPI’s Global Recording Artist of the Year.^[237] In South Korea, BTS accounted for 41.9 percent of album sales in the first half of 2019, up from their market share of 25.3 percent the previous year.^[327]

In 2022, Youna Kim described BTS as having spearheaded the Korean wave, representing the global expansion of Korean culture as effectively as Psy did in the previous decade and with the strength of influence that the Academy Award-winning South Korean film Parasite had in 2020.^[328] South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea, found in 2021 that BTS, including a «ripple effect» that included increased tourism to South Korea; increased interest in Korean culture, movies, and study of the Korean language; and added approximately US$5 billion per year to South Korea’s economy, a growth of about 0.5 percent.^[329] A 2018 study showed that, on average, 800,000 foreigners per year had visited South Korea over the past four years for BTS-related reasons.^[330]

Writers identified BTS as leaders even among other highly influential K-pop groups such as Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, Exo, Twice, and Blackpink^[331] and note that BTS’ success shows the importance of a strong, active fan base in the age of social media, where fan campaigning can be as important as musical quality to a song’s success.^[332] The group has also distinguished themselves at the forefront of the business side of the K-pop industry by pursuing less restrictive contracts with their management company to maximize their artistic originality and creativity.^[333][334] With this newer approach to career management, BTS created closer ties to the South Korean youth and encourage individuality and authenticity among their audience.^[142]

Diplomacy

Political scientist Joseph Nye developed the concept of soft power in his 2004 book Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics,^[335][336] which researchers such as Maud Quessard have applied to BTS and their influence on entertainment diplomacy and international relations.^[337] Nye wrote, «when one country gets other countries to want what it wants might be called co-optive or soft power in contrast with the hard or command power of ordering others to do what it wants».^[338] Youna Kim and Maud Quessard all read the currency of soft power as including culture, political values, and foreign policy, which applies to BTS’ ability to be co-optive in their approach to spreading their message of harmony, acceptance, and addressing life’s setbacks via their broad appeal on the international stage.^[337]

BTS were invited to address the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018^[339][340] and perform before 400 officials, including President Moon Jae-in, at the 2018 Korea-France Friendship Concert in Paris, a summit celebrating the friendly relations between France and South Korea.^[341] That year, BTS became the youngest recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit. Despite cultural medals traditionally being given to recipients with over 15 years of achievement, Moon recognized the group, five years into their career, for their contributions in spreading Korean culture and language worldwide.^[342][343] In September 2019, BTS were mentioned by Moon while announcing strategies for the content industries, for having pioneered innovative business models through direct communication with fans.^[344] In 2020, BTS received the James A. Van Fleet Award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the promotion of US-Korea relations, the youngest honorees to receive the award.^[345][346] In July 2021, they were appointed Special Presidential Envoy for Future Generations and Culture by President Moon. In their role as envoys, they help to «raise awareness on global agendas, such as sustainable development, to our future generations and to strengthen the nation’s diplomatic power across the world»^[347] and appear at international events such as the 76th United Nations General Assembly.^[348] On May 31, 2022, BTS visited US President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss the recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination.^[349]

Fandom

According to Kyung Hyun Kim, BTS’ rise was facilitated by a great increase in music video programming and consumption on YouTube and the coming of an idol empire, including merchandising of nonmusical products, games, and fantasy fiction, as well as an expansion of online music fandom.^[350] The group has a large, highly organized, online community of fans known as ARMY (Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth), which translates the group’s lyrics and social media posts into other languages and matches charitable contributions of BTS’ members. As of 2020, some 40 million ARMY members subscribe to the band’s YouTube channel, with more than 30 million following the official BTS Twitter and Instagram accounts.^[80] The fan community helps generate BTS’ number-one chart rankings via coordinated campaigns on streaming platforms,^[351] as well as pushes to feature BTS’ music on radio stations and television.^[352] Some ARMY members may even surpass the group itself in influence among BTS fans.^[353]

BTS interacted and engaged with their followers from their earliest days via social media,^[354] as well as via BTS Universe, an alternate storyline involving the members told through music videos, mobile games, books, short films, and more that gives fans room to theorize.^[355] Kim suggested that ARMY are drawn to BTS since the members are seen as underdogs, originating from the Korean countryside and a relatively minor Korean entertainment company, which allows young fans to identify with them.^[356] BTS’ lyrics speak to social values, and fans respond by trying to improve the world. As a result, the fandom regularly embraces activism on charitable causes and socio-political issues such as refugee crises, racial discrimination, children’s rights, global warming, and the COVID-19 pandemic.^{[357][358][359]} Feedback from ARMY to BTS affects the group’s actions and lyrics; BTS has eliminated certain Korean words that sound like American racial slurs from their songs and ended collaboration with a Japanese producer when Korean ARMY members deemed his views extreme.^[360]

Per South Korean author Jiyoung Lee, the relationship between BTS and ARMY is «a mutual exchange between artists and their fans» that is about more than merely «ensuring the band’s primacy», but also «extending the band’s message of positivity into the world». Lee opines that BTS and ARMY are «a symbol of change in zeitgeist, not just of generational change».^[361] The band members themselves agree and have long acknowledged their fans’ role in their success.^[362] According to Sarah Keith, «BTS embody a moment of generational transformation. ARMY represents a ‘coming of age’ for the young, in which cultural production and influence are global and meaningful, and where the youth are politically and socially engaged.»^[363]

Endorsements and awards

Among BTS’ endorsement deals, the group has partnered with Puma beginning in 2015, BTS initially promoted its sportswear as Puma Korea’s brand ambassadors before expanding to become global ambassadors in 2018, and promoting the remix of Puma’s «Turin» and «Sportstyle» line worldwide.^{[364][365][366]} In 2019, BTS signed with Fila to endorse its sportswear.^[367] BTS has also served as global brand ambassadors for LG Electronics’ smartphones,^[368] and Hyundai Motors’ 2019 flagship SUV the «Palisade»^[369] and hydrogen fuel cell electric SUV, the «Nexo».^[370] BTS became global ambassadors of the electric street racing series Formula E to promote how electric vehicles can help combat climate change.^[371] In 2020, BTS partnered with Samsung Electronics,^[372] releasing a limited BTS-themed version of the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy Buds+.^[373] As the first male pop group ever to collaborate with Dior, BTS sported ensembles from Kim Jones’ Pre-Fall 2019 collection at their concert at Stade de France.^[374] The band became global brand ambassadors for Louis Vuitton in April 2021.^[375]

Members

• Jin (진) – vocalist^[376]
• Suga (슈가) – rapper^[377]
• J-Hope (제이홉) – rapper^[378]
• RM – leader, rapper^[379]
• Jimin (지민) – vocalist^[380]
• V (뷔) – vocalist^[381]
• Jungkook (정국) – vocalist^[382]

Discography

Filmography

Films

• Burn the Stage: The Movie (2018)
• Love Yourself in Seoul (2019)
• Bring the Soul: The Movie (2019)
• Break the Silence: The Movie (2020)
• BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage – LA (2022)
• BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas (2023)

Online shows

• Run BTS (2015–present)
• BTS In the Soop (2020–2021)

Concert tours

• The Red Bullet Tour (2014–2015)^[383][384]
• Wake Up: Open Your Eyes Japan Tour (2015)^{[385][386][387]}
• The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage Tour (2015–2016)^[388]
• The Wings Tour (2017)^[389]
• Love Yourself World Tour (2018–2019)^[390][391]

See also

• Philanthropy of BTS

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Anderson, Crystal S. (2020). Soul in Seoul: African American Popular Music and K-pop. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-3009-8.
• Hunt, Robert; McKelvey, Fenwick (2019). «Algorithmic Regulation in Media and Cultural Policy: A Framework to Evaluate Barriers to Accountability». Journal of Information Policy. 9: 307–335. doi:10.5325/jinfopoli.9.2019.0307. JSTOR 10.5325/jinfopoli.9.2019.0307. S2CID 213521720.
• Jin, Dal Yong (2022), «Transnational Cultural Power of BTS: Digital Fan Activism in the Social Media Era», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 142–154, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Ju, Hyunshik. «Premediating a Narrative of Growth: BTS, Digital Media, and Fan Culture». Popular Entertainment Studies: 19–33. ISSN 1837-9303.
• Keith, Sarah (2022), «BTS as Cultural Ambassadors», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 152–167, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Kim, Kyung Hyun (2021). Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-first Century. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1-4780-1358-7.
• Kim, Kyung Hyun (2022), «BTS and the World Music Industry», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 107–117, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Kim, Youna (2022), «Introduction: Popular Culture and Soft Power in the Social Media Age», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 1–38, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Kim, Young-dae (2019a). BTS–The Review: A Comprehensive Look at the Music of BTS. Translated by H.J. Chung. RH Korea. ISBN 978-8-925-56582-8.
• Lie, John (2022), «BTS, the Highest Stage of K-Pop», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 118–128, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Nye, Joseph S. (2004). Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. Hachette UK. ISBN 978-0-78673-896-0.
• Quessard, Maud (2020), «Entertainment Diplomacy», in Balzacq, Thierry; Charillon, Frédéric; Ramel, Frédéric (eds.), Global Diplomacy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 279–296, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28786-3_21, ISBN 978-3-03028-785-6, S2CID 211355635
• Shapiro, Marc (2018). Burn the Stage: The Rise of BTS and Korean Boy Bands. Riverdale Avenue Books. ISBN 978-1-62601-490-9.
• Sprinkel, Katy (2021). BTS: One. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-64125-643-8.

External links

• Official website

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Описание презентации по отдельным слайдам:

• 

  1 слайд

  BTS is a group, consisting of seven guys who joined and brought together the fate.

• 

  2 слайд

  Korean group, which became the most popular boy band

• 

  3 слайд

   

  “international music phenomenon”

  “time magazine’s most influential list”

  “1st korean act to become #1 on the billboard charts”

  “they just became the 1st group since the beatles to earn 3 #1 albums in less than a year”

• 

  4 слайд

  they were called dirty spoon kpop

  nobody believed in them.

• 

  5 слайд

  Initially rooted in hip hop, BTS’ musical style has evolved to include a wide range of genres. Their lyrics, often focused on personal and social commentary, touch on the themes of mental health, troubles of school-age youth, loss, the journey towards loving oneself, and individualism. Their work features references to literature and psychological concepts and includes an alternative universe storyline.

• 

  6 слайд

  These guys raced to stand on the stage, perform and create music. But few people think about what is behind each of them.
  They’re from a small company with no money, no influence.

  In 2014, the group wanted to disband, because there was no money.

  Each time they were completely given on the stage. On the streets of America, they handed out leaflets and asked to come to a free concert.

• 

  7 слайд

  The band is the first and only Korean act as of 2019 to top the U.S. Billboard 200 with their studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018) and have since hit the top of the U.S. charts with their albums Love Yourself: Answer (2018) and Map of the Soul: Persona (2019), making BTS the first group since The Beatles to earn three number one albums in less than a year. Love Yourself: Answer also broke South Korea’s Gaon Album Chart’s all-time monthly record previously set by Love Yourself: Tear and became the first Korean album certified Gold in the United States. In 2018, BTS had the second and third best-selling albums worldwide and were the second best-selling artists worldwide, coming second only to Drake. In 2019, Map of the Soul: Persona became the best-selling album in Korean history according to Gaon, and BTS became the best-selling artist in South Korea of all time, having sold over fourteen million albums.

• 

  8 слайд

  They were humiliated and not accepted. There are so many sterotypes in the world that Asian bands are dolls that don’t write songs, don’t sing anything, they do plastic surgery and look like women

• 

  9 слайд

  Daily views:
  ‘No More Dream’: 25 588
  ‘Boy With Luv’: 78 052 562

• 

  10 слайд

  BTS’s Top Group Win At 2019 BBMAs Marks New Era Of Globalized Music
  In 2019, BTS breaking YouTube records and making history on music charts is of little surprise to anyone remotely attuned to the current state of pop culture. The South Korean septet is undeniably At The Top when it comes to interest from audiences, and recently performed in front of 120,000 people during the kick-off weekend of their Love Yourself: Speak Yourselfstadium concert series at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles. But when it comes to recognition at American award shows, the state of existence for BTS has been quite a bit different. But things changed at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) on May 1. As they were named the top group of the night at the Billboard-based award show, the BBMA win signaled a major moment not only for BTS and their career but for the entire state of music in the 21st century.

• 

  11 слайд

  They become the world ambassadors of Youth, delivering powerful speeches and defending the rights of young people around the world to the UN in front of the First Lady of South Korea

• 

  12 слайд

  «I would like to begin by talking about myself.

  «I was born in Ilsan, a city near Seoul, South Korea. It’s a beautiful place, with a lake, hills, and even an annual flower festival. I spent a happy childhood there, and I was just an ordinary boy.

  «I would look up at the night sky in wonder and dream the dreams of a boy. I used to imagine that I was a superhero, saving the world.

  «In an intro to one of our early albums, there is a line that says, “My heart stopped…I was maybe nine or ten.”

  «Looking back, that’s when I began to worry about what other people thought of me and started seeing myself through their eyes. I stopped looking up at the stars at night. I stopped daydreaming. I tried to jam myself into moulds that other people made. Soon, I began to shut out my own voice and started to listen to the voices of others. No one called out my name, and neither did I. My heart stopped and my eyes closed shut. So, like this, I, we, all lost our names. We became like ghosts.

  «I had one sanctuary, and that was music. There was a small voice in me that said, ‘Wake up, man, and listen to yourself!” But it took me a long time to hear music calling my name.

  «Even after making the decision to join BTS, there were hurdles. Most people thought we were hopeless. Sometimes, I just wanted to quit

  «I think I was very lucky that I didn’t give it all up.

• 

  13 слайд

  «I’m sure that I, and we, will keep stumbling and falling. We have become artists performing in huge stadiums and selling millions of albums.

  «But I am still an ordinary, twenty-four-year-old guy. If there’s anything that I’ve achieved, it was only possible because I had my other BTS members by my side, and because of the love and support of our ARMY fans.

  «Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’s me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become. 

  «I would like to say one last thing.

  «After releasing the “Love Yourself” albums and launching the “Love Myself” campaign, we started to hear remarkable stories from our fans all over the world, how our message helped them overcome their hardships in life and start loving themselves. These stories constantly remind us of our responsibility.

• 

  14 слайд

  «So, let’s all take one more step. We have learned to love ourselves, so now I urge you to “speak yourself.”

  «I would like to ask all of you. What is your name? What excites you and makes your heart beat?

  «Tell me your story. I want to hear your voice, and I want to hear your conviction. No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin colour, gender identity: speak yourself.

  «Find your name, find your voice by speaking yourself.

  «I’m Kim Nam Jun, RM of BTS.

  «I’m a hip-hop idol and an artist from a small town in Korea.

  «Like most people, I made many mistakes in my life.

  «I have many faults and I have many fears, but I am going to embrace myself as hard as I can, and I’m starting to love myself, little by little.

  «What is your name? Speak Yourself!»

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

  22 слайд

  Seven guys connecting millions of hearts

  Seven guys who put millions of hearts together

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“	Two, three, Bangtan! Hello, we are BTS!	”
–BTS

BTS (Hangul: 방탄소년단; RR: Bangtan Sonyeondan), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed in Seoul in 2013. The name became a backronym for Beyond the Scene in July 2017. The septet co-writes and produces much of their output. Initially rooted in hip hop, BTS’ musical style has evolved to include a wide range of genres. Their lyrics, often focused on personal and social commentary, touch on the themes of mental health, troubles of school-age youth, loss, the journey towards loving oneself, and individualism. Their work features references to literature and psychological concepts and includes an alternative universe storyline. Popular for their live performances, the group has staged several world tours.

The group initially formed as teenagers under Big Hit Entertainment and released their debut single album, 2 Cool 4 Skool (2013). Subsequent work such as their first U.S. Billboard 200 entries The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 (2015), The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (2016), and Wings (2016) helped establish BTS’ reputation as a socially conscious group. Wings became BTS’ first album to sell one million copies in South Korea. By 2017, BTS crossed into the international music market, leading the Korean Wave into the United States and breaking numerous sales records, becoming the first Korean group to receive a certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) with their single «Mic Drop.» The band is the first and only Korean act as of 2019 to top the U.S. Billboard 200 with their studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018) and have since hit the top of the U.S. charts with their albums Love Yourself: Answer (2018) and Map of the Soul: Persona (2019), making BTS the first group since The Beatles to earn three number one albums in less than a year. Love Yourself: Answer also broke South Korea’s Gaon Album Chart’s all-time monthly record previously set by Love Yourself: Tear and became the first Korean album certified Gold in the United States.

In 2018, BTS had the second and third best-selling albums worldwide and were the second best-selling artists worldwide. In 2019, Map of the Soul: Persona became the best-selling album in Korean history, and BTS became the best-selling artist in South Korea of all time, having sold over fourteen million albums. The group won Top Social Artist three years in a row and Top Duo/Group at the 26th Billboard Music Awards. Time magazine has named the band one of the 25 most influential people on the internet, featured them on their international cover as «Next Generation Leaders,» and named them one of Time 100’s most influential people of 2019. Forbes Korea Power Celebrity has named BTS the most influential celebrities of Korea in 2018. BTS are worth more than $4.65 billion to South Korea’s economy each year, attracting one in every 13 foreign tourists that visit the country, and are cited as one of the key acts boosting global music sales to $19 billion in 2018, a figure not seen since 2006 after digital purchases gained momentum.

Following their philanthropic efforts in their Love Myself anti-violence campaign in partnership with UNICEF, BTS addressed the United Nations 73rd General Assembly and became the youngest ever recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit from the President of South Korea due to their contributions in spreading Korean culture and language.

Members

MEMBERS

RM

Jin (진)

SUGA (슈가)

j-hope (제이홉)

Name

The group’s name, BTS, is an acronym for the Korean expression Bangtan Sonyeondan (Hangul: 방탄소년단; Hanja: 防彈少年團), literally meaning «Bulletproof Boy Scouts». The name was conceptualized with the thought that BTS would block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that aim on adolescents like bullets and protect the values and ideals of today’s adolescents.^[1][2] In Japan, they are known as Bōdan Shōnendan (防弾少年団), which translates similarly.^[3] In July 2017, BTS announced that in addition to being known as Bangtan Sonyeondan or Bulletproof Boy Scouts, the acronym would also stand for «Beyond The Scene» as part of their new brand identity.^[4] This extended their name to mean «growing youth BTS who is going beyond the realities they are facing, and going forward.»^[5]

Logo

History

2010–2012: Pre-debut

BTS’ first members were recruited through Big Hit’s «Hit it» auditions in 2010 and 2011. The original lineup went through several changes before the final group of members was established in 2012. Half a year prior to debut, the members began building their name and creating a relationship with fans through Twitter, video blogs, fancafe posts, and by releasing various song covers via YouTube and SoundCloud.

Before debuting in 2013, RM was already performing as an underground rapper and had released several tracks informally, including a collaboration with Zico. Jin had been a student at Konkuk University, majoring in acting, before being streetcast for auditions, while Suga was an underground rapper in Daegu.
J-Hope, who was part of a street dance team named NEURON, was active in the underground dancing scene, participating in various battles and competitions. Before joining Big Hit, Jimin entered Busan High School of Arts as the top student in modern dance, but later transferred to Korea Arts High School with V, who auditioned in Daegu. Jungkook was cast by multiple agencies after leaving auditions for Superstar K, but eventually chose Big Hit after seeing Rap Monster’s rap.

2013–2014: Debut and moderate success

The group’s debut single album 2 Cool 4 Skool, the first installment in their «school trilogy» series, was released simultaneously with its lead single «No More Dream» on June 12, 2013. While the album peaked at number five on the Gaon Album Chart and sold over 105,000 copies, «No More Dream» and the subsequent single «We Are Bulletproof Pt.2» were not major hits. Expanding their endeavors into Japan, «No More Dream» was later re-recorded in Japanese and released on June 4, 2014.

The second part to the «school trilogy» was the extended play O!RUL8,2?, released on September 11, 2013, which sold over 120,000 copies to date and peaked at number four. Its supporting singles «N.O» and «Attack on Bangtan» (Korean: 진격의 방탄; Revised Romanization: Jingyeogui Bangtan) failed to chart high. That same month, BTS starred in their own variety show, SBS-MTV’s Rookie King Channel Bangtan, based on a fake broadcast station, «Channel Bangtan», through which members parodied variety shows such as VJ Special Forces and MasterChef Korea. At the end of the year, BTS was recognized with several New Artist of the Year awards, including the 2013 Melon Music Awards and Golden Disc Awards and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards.

The last act to their «school trilogy», Skool Luv Affair (2014) topped the Gaon Chart and sold over 200,000 copies. It also peaked at number three on Billboard’s World Albums Chart. The album was supported by the singles «Boy in Luv» (Korean: 상남자; RR: Sang-namja) and «Just One Day» (Korean: 하루만; RR: Haruman). That June, BTS participated as judges for a K-pop cover dance competition in the Bridge to Korea festival in Russia, an event that aimed to promote tourism between the two countries, where they also performed on stage. In August, the group also attended KCON in Los Angeles. That same month, they released their first Korean studio album, Dark & Wild, which peaked at number two on the Gaon Chart and sold over 200,000 copies. It was supported by two singles: «Danger» and «War of Hormone» (Korean: 호르몬 전쟁, RR: Horeumon Jeonjaeng).

Their Japanese studio album, Wake Up (2014), released that December, peaking at number three on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart and selling 25,000 copies. Along with re-recorded Japanese versions of older songs, it also contained the original tracks «Wake Up» and «The Stars». Their first concert tour, 2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, was held from October to December.

2015–2016: Mainstream breakthrough and commercial success

At the beginning of 2015, BTS toured Japan for the first time with their BTS’s First Japan Tour-Wake Up: Open Your Eyes. They also held their second solo concert in Korea, BTS Live Trilogy – Episode 1: BTS Begins. Their third EP, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1 (2015), was released that March and was the only Korean album to be included in Fuse’s list of the «27 Best Albums of 2015 So Far» that year. The lead single «I Need U» was a top five hit on the weekly Gaon Digital Chart in South Korea and garnered BTS their first ever music show win on SBS MTV’s The Show. Although the second single, «Dope (Korean: 쩔어; RR: Jjeoreo)», peaked at number 44 on the weekly Gaon Digital Chart, its music video became BTS’ first to accrue over 100 million views on YouTube in October. «Dope» later peaked at number three on Billboard’s World Digital Songs Chart. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1 have sold over 300,000 copies to date.

On March 17, 2015, the group’s leader RM (then known as Rap Monster) released his first solo mixtape, the eponymous RM, for free on the streaming service SoundCloud. The mixtape was ranked 48th on the «50 Best Hip Hop Albums of 2015» list published by Spin Magazine.^[6]

BTS’ fourth Japanese single, «For You», was released that June to celebrate the first anniversary of their Japanese debut. The single topped Oricon’s daily chart, selling over 42,000 copies within its first day. They also commenced their 2015 Live Trilogy Episode: The Red Bullet world tour, and participated in the Summer Sonic Festival tour in Japan.

On August 16, 2016, Suga released his first solo mixtape titled Agust D for free on SoundCloud. The mixtape was listed among the «Top 20 Mixtapes of the Year» by Fuse TV.^[7]

During their three-day The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: On Stage tour, the group performed the new song «Run», the lead single for the EP The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 later released on November 30, 2015. The album topped the weekly Gaon Album and Billboard World Albums charts and remained atop the latter for multiple weeks, making BTS the first K-pop act to achieve that feat. It also peaked at number 171 on the Billboard 200 Chart with over 5,000 copies. At the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards, they received the Best World Performer in recognition of their international fanbase.

The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1 and Part 2 were later combined into the The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (2016) edition, and was supported by three singles: the top 40 hit «Epilogue: Young Forever», the top 10 hit «Fire» (Korean: 불타오르네; RR: Bultaoreune), and the top 20 hit «Save Me». A two-day concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul was held in May to support the album, followed by their Asia tour. The group also headlined both US KCON shows held that year in New Jersey (June) and Los Angeles (July), to sold out audiences. Young Forever later won Album of the Year at the year-end Melon Music Awards, becoming the group’s first major grand prize (daesang).

On September 7, 2016, BTS released their second Japanese studio album Youth, selling over 44,000 copies on its first day of release and ranking number one in Japan. Japanese editions of «I Need U» and «Run» were released as singles.^[8] Meanwhile, back in their home country, pre-orders for the group’s second Korean studio album, Wings, released that October, accumulated over 500,000 copies within the first week. The lead single «Blood Sweat & Tears» achieved an «all-kill» in South Korea, becoming their first number one hit on the weekly Gaon Digital Chart.^[9] Its music video gained over 6 million views within 24 hours, breaking the previous record held on YouTube for the highest number of views of a K-pop group music video within 24 hours. They later won Artist of the Year at the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards, becoming the first artist not from a «Big Three» entertainment company (SM, YG and JYP) to do so.^[10]

2017: You Never Walk Alone, Love Yourself: Her, and international recognition

In early 2017, BTS embarked on their BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour. That February, pre-orders for the repackaged edition of Wings, entitled You Never Walk Alone, reached over 700,000 copies.^[11] The lead single «Spring Day» (Korean: 봄날; RR: Bomnal) topped eight of the major South Korean online music charts, as well as Gaon, and crashed Melon’s digital chart due to the high influx of user traffic. It also entered the US Billboard’s Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 15 with «zero promotions».

On July 5, 2017, Big Hit Entertainment and BTS revealed a new logo for the band in a video released on the official YouTube channel. This video was accompanied by the announcement that in addition to being known as Bangtan Sonyeondan or Bulletproof Boy Scouts, their acronym would also stand for «Beyond The Scene» as part of their new brand identity.^[12] Also they gave A.R.M.Y (their fandom) a logo, which looks opposite to theirs.

Their fifth EP, Love Yourself: Her (2017), was released that September and featured music from The Chainsmokers’ Andrew Taggart for the track «Best of Me». The lead single «DNA» peaked at number two on the weekly Gaon Chart,^[13] while its music video reached over 20 million views on YouTube, breaking the record for most viewed K-pop group music video within the first 24 hours. «DNA» also became the group’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 85, making BTS the first K-pop boy band to do so and the second Korean act with a Korean-language song. When «DNA» rose to number 67, it became the highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100 for a K-pop group, beating Wonder Girls’ previous record at number 76. A remix for their song, «MIC Drop», by Steve Aoki and Desiigner was released as the second single, peaking at number 23 in South Korea and number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first top 40 entry for a K-pop group on the chart.^[14] «DNA» and «MIC Drop» were later released as a triple-A side single in Japan with the new song «Crystal Snow” which topped the Oricon Chart, becoming the highest-selling single from a K-pop artist within a week, and making BTS the first foreign artist to achieve this.^[15]

In November 2017, the group became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards.^[16] Following the performance, Guinness World Records announced that BTS will be included their 2018 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world’s most Twitter engagements and specifically for most Twitter engagements by a music group.^[17] BTS was also named by Twitter to be the most tweeted-about artist of 2017, and ranked 1st worldwide in yearly social media engagements with 502 million likes and retweets.^[18][19]

They won their second Artist of the Year at the 2017 Mnet Asian Music Awards, becoming the first act to win the award two years in a row. «Spring Day» later won Best Song of the Year at the Melon Music Awards. That December, they performed on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve to welcome the new year, making them the first K-pop group to be part of the show’s lineup.^[20] They also made their Japanese TV music show debut on TV Asahi’s Japan Music Station Super Live on December 22.^[21]

On December 12, BTS was represented on six of the Billboard «Year End» Charts. The group ranked No. 1 on the «World Albums Artists» chart, No. 2 on the «World Albums» chart, No. 1 on the «Social 50 Artists» chart, No. 2 on the «Top Artists – Duo/Group» chart, and No. 32 on the «Independent Albums» chart. They also ranked as No. 10 on the «Top Artists» chart and are the only K-pop artists to have made the list.^[22]

2018: Hope World, album certification, and international accolades

In January 2018, the Recording Industry Association of Japan announced BTS’ first ever Double Platinum certification for their «MIC Drop/DNA/Crystal Snow» single, the only single album by a foreign artist in 2017 to sell over 500,000 copies and receive certification on the Oricon chart for that year. Later that month, BTS became the first artist outside of the «Big Three» to win both Grand Prize Daesang awards at the Golden Disc Awards and the Seoul Music Awards respectively. In February, both the «MIC Drop» and «DNA» singles were certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, making BTS the first Korean act, and the only K-pop artist ever, to receive this.^[23]

On February 8, Big Hit won the award for its new Brand Identity (BI) with BTS’ logo under the Corporate Identity/Branding category within Communication Design at this year’s award presentation, illustrating BTS’ worldwide influence.^[24]

On February 11, sales for Love Yourself: Her surpassed 1.58 million, the highest sales recorded for an album in Gaon Chart history.

Suga’s mixtape, Agust D, was released unannounced on Spotify and iTunes worldwide for the first time on February 22, over 2 years since its original release. Within 24 hours, the album reached No. 1 on the worldwide iTunes charts and the iTunes Pop Charts.^[25] The following week, the album debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard World Albums chart dated March 3, 2018.^[26]

On March 2, 2018, J-Hope released his first solo mixtape titled Hope World for free download on Google Drive, streaming on Spotify and SoundCloud, and for purchase on iTunes. The accompanying music video for the title track, «Daydream», reached 1 million likes in 1 hour 43 minutes, making it the fastest Korean video to reach the benchmark. With 73 No. 1 spots on the iTunes chart worldwide by the end of its first day, Hope World tied with the previous BTS release, Love Yourself: Her, for the most No. 1 spots held by a Korean album on iTunes within the first 24 hours. As of March 5, the album remained at No. 1 on the iTunes Worldwide Charts, marking 5 days at No. 1 and breaking the record for the longest-charting Korean album at No. 1 on the chart previously held by Love Yourself: Her. The album debuted at No. 63 on the Billboard 200 Chart, making J-Hope the highest-charting solo K-pop act in Billboard 200 history. J-Hope also debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard Emerging Artists chart, where fellow band mates RM and Suga (as Agust D) both previously peaked at No. 46.

The music video for «DNA» reached 300 million views on March 6, 2018, making it only one of 3 K-pop videos to reach the benchmark and the fastest video to do so to date. The video reached 300 million views in 5 months and 16 days, breaking the previous record of 13 months and 28 days by «TT» by TWICE.^[27]

On March 11, BTS won both the «Best Fan Army» and «Best Boy Band» awards at the 2018 iHeartRadio Awards held in California, although the group declined to attend the event due to a busy schedule as they prepare for their upcoming album release later this year.^[28]

An original documentary series, entitled Burn the Stage, that offers a behind-the-scenes look at the group’s 2017 Wings Tour was officially announced on March 13. Consisting of eight episodes, it will premiere exclusively on YouTube Red and run from March 28 to May 9.

On April 4, 2018, their third Japanese studio album Face Yourself was released. Face Yourself topped the Japanese Oricon Weekly Album Chart for the week of April 2, with 282,000 copies. According to Japan’s Oricon Chart on April 12, BTS’ 3rd Japanese album sold 282,000 copies in the first week (April 2-April 8). This breaks the record by KARA, who sold 275,000 copies of their Japanese album ‘Super Girl’ in the first week of November 2011.^[29]

On April 5, 2018 at midnight KST, Big Hit released a video titled “Euphoria: Theme of LOVE YOURSELF 起 Wonder”, on their official YouTube channel. The clip appears to dub the band’s upcoming album, for the ‘Love Yourself’ series, a follow-up to last year’s record-breaking EP Love Yourself: Her, it is believed to mark the beginning of a new era for the group, following the trend of previous BTS comebacks, though Big Hit Entertainment denies such claims.^[30]

The group later announced their third Korean-language LP, Love Yourself: Tear, on April 14, along with its May 18 release date.^[31]

On April 17, BTS was nominated again for Top Social Artist at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards, making them the first and only Korean artist to be nominated two years in a row.^[32] The following week, they were announced as performers at the show where they will premiere their new comeback single.^[33][34]

BTS has set a new record for stock pre-orders for their upcoming album “Love Yourself: Tear.” According to iriver, the company handling the distribution of BTS’s new album, “Love Yourself: Tear” has reached a total of 1,449,287 stock pre-orders as of April 24. This is the total number of stock pre-orders made by wholesale dealers and retailers in Korea, and does not include stock pre-orders made by international retailers.^[35]

Their 2018 world tour, titled «BTS World Tour: Love Yourself», was officially announced on April 26 and is set to begin on August 25 in Seoul.^[36][37]

On May 1, 2018, Variety reported that BTS would be returning to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, performing a new song from Love Yourself: Tear titled «FAKE LOVE».^[38]

BTS released a video titled «LOVE YOURSELF Tear ‘Singularity’ Comeback Trailer» on May 6 at midnight KST in advance of the release Love Yourself: Tear on May 18. The video features V as the solo vocalist for the track, his second solo track for the group and first as an album intro track singer. Within one hour and 29 minutes of its release, the music video reached 1 million likes on YouTube, making it the fastest BTS video to reach this milestone. Having surpassed the record of 8 hours set by «DNA», this also made «Singularity» the fastest music video ever to reach 1 million likes. Following the release of the «Singularity» video, BTS’ choreographer Son Sung Deuk declared V to be a member of the «Dance Line» on his Instagram account, placing V alongside Jungkook and Jimin as the groups’ Main Dancers under J-Hope as the Lead Dancer.

Love Yourself: Tear was released worldwide on Friday, May 18 on all streaming and download services.The music video for the title track, FAKE LOVE, was released simultaneously and broke the world record for the fastest music video to reach 1 million likes by reaching the milestone in just 39 minutes. This broke the previous record of 1 hour and 29 minutes previously set by their song Intro: Singularity.

On May 21 at 12:30 a.m. KST, “Fake Love” achieved a perfect all-kill on iChart, the group’s first. A perfect all-kill (PAK) means that the song is in first place on the six major realtime and daily charts (Melon, Genie, Bugs, Mnet, Naver, and Soribada), as well as first place on the realtime and weekly charts for Instiz’s iChart.^[39]

On May 20, BTS was awarded the Top Social Artist Award at the 2018 Billboard Awards in Las Vegas, having captured 94% of the overall fan vote.^[40]

On May 27, BTS became the first K-pop act in charts history to top the Billboard 200 as the group’s Love Yourself: Tear opened at Number One. The album sold 135,000 album-equivalent units (including 100,000 pure album sales), becoming BTS’ highest-charting and first number one album in the US, the first K-pop album to top the US albums chart, and the highest-charting album by an Asian act. «FAKE LOVE» peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 that same week, becoming the band’s highest reaching song on the chart as well as their first in the top ten. Overall, «Fake Love» is the seventeenth non-English song to reach the top ten and the first for a K-Pop group. The single also debuted at number seven on Billboard’s Streaming Songs chart with 27.4 million streams earned in the week ending May 24, giving BTS its first top ten on the chart and making “Fake Love” the first K-pop song to land on top ten since Psy’s “Hangover” feat. Snoop Dogg in 2014. Love Yourself: Tear also reached number eight on the UK Albums Chart, marking the group’s first top ten album in the country.^[41]

On July 17, the group announced the release of their second compilation album Love Yourself: Answer for August 24, 2018, with seven new tracks added to the release.^[42] Their 2018 world tour, titled BTS World Tour: Love Yourself, began the following day in Seoul. For the final stop of the North American leg, the band will perform at Citi Field, marking the first time a Korean act has performed at a U.S. stadium. All 40,000 tickets for the stadium date were later confirmed by Big Hit Entertainment to have sold out in under 20 minutes.^[43] On August 24, 2018, the album was released, along with the music video for «IDOL» and an alternative version of the track featuring Nicki Minaj.^[44] Debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200, the album became BTS’ second number-one album—their second of 2018—and their highest sales week in the country to date. It earned 185,000 album-equivalent units, which comprises 141,000 in pure album sales, 25,000 SEA units (39.01 million on-demand audio streams of the album’s songs) and 19,000 TEA units.^[45] Making BTS the only K-pop act with two Billboard 200 toppers and the first pop act with two number one albums in less than a year since One Direction topped the chart with Four in 2014, which followed their 2013 album Midnight Memories. In Canada, «Love Yourself: Answer» became the band’s first number-one album on the Canadian Albums Chart, earning over 10,000 consumption units. The single from the album, «IDOL», reached number five on the Canadian Singles Chart, marking BTS’ first top-ten hit in Canada.^[46]

On September 19, BTS was invited to attend the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. According to UN sources, BTS will be attending the launch of UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund)’s “Generation Unlimited” partnership that will take place on September 24 at 12 p.m. local time at the UN Headquarters in New York, a day before the general debate will begin. “Generation Unlimited” is a new global partnership that is “dedicated to increasing opportunities and investments for children and young people aged 10 to 24.” BTS is said to have been noted by the United Nations for their UNICEF campaign called “Love Myself,” which launched in October 2017 and has raised over 1 million dollars as of June 2018. A UN diplomat expressed how exceptional it is for a K-pop artist to be invited to attend one of UN General Assembly’s regular sessions. Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore, South Korean First Lady Kim Jung Sook, and several others are expected to attend. ^[47]

On October 14, 2018 they performed at the Korea-France Friendship Concert in Paris, a summit meant to show the friendly relations between France and South Korea. Around 400 officials attended the meeting, including South Korean pPesident Moon Jae-in.

On October 18, Big Hit Entertainment sent an email to its company employees and stakeholders announcing that BTS had renewed their contract with the agency. According to the email, the renewed contract is 7 years in length.^[48]

On October 20, RM announced via BTS’ twitter to announce the release date for his second mixtape titled mono with the tracklist and a message «RM’s playlist ‘mono.’ 10/23». RM describes mono as a playlist, though some publications have referred to it as a «mixtape». On October 21, 2018, rapper RM released mono on digital and streaming platforms for free alongside a music video for its final track «Forever Rain». The playlist includes lyric videos for its second and third track, «Seoul» and «Moonchild», respectively. Mono debuted at number 1 on the global iTunes Top Albums chart, and later peaked at number 1 in 88 countries.

Crossing over to film, Burn The Stage: The Movie was released in theaters worldwide on November 15, 2018. In the United States it accumulated $1.2 million on opening day for a total of $3.54 million over the three day weekend, breaking the record for fighest grossing event cinema musical production which was previously set in 2014 by the band One Direction. It ranked at number ten in the box office despite selling at only 620 locations compared to the 2,000-4,000 locations for the other top ten sellers.

On November 9, 2018 «Love Yourself: Answer» became the first Korean album to be certified Gold (500,000+ units), and BTS became the first Korean group to get a Platinum (1,000,000+ units) certification with the single «MIC Drop» in the United States.

On November 6, 2018, BTS won eleven awards at the MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards, including Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. On November 29, 2018, BTS won the grand prize («daesang») at the 3rd Asia Artist Awards. On December 1st, 2018, BTS won a total of seven awards at the 2018 Melon Music Awards, including Album of the Year with Love Yourself: Tear, and Artist of the Year. On December 14, 2018, BTS won ten awards at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, including Album of the Year and Artist of the Year. This marked their third year in a row winning the Artist of the Year award.

According to StubHub BTS was one of 2018’s best selling concerts in the world, second to only Ed Sheeran.

In December 2018, Billboard reported that BTS ranked #8 in their year-end Top Artist Chart, alongside the likes of Drake and Taylor Swift. They were also the No. 2 act of the year in the Duo/Group ranking, only behind Imagine Dragons. In the same month they made the Bloomberg 50, citing their willingness to address social issues, mental health, and politics despite being in a genre that can be painted as bubble gum pop.

In December 2018, it was announced that Love Yourself: Tear had been nominated for a Grammy Award for ‘Best Recording Package’.^[49]

2019: Map of the Soul: Persona, stadium world tour, BTS World, and Period of Rest

In February 2019, BTS attended the 61st Grammy Awards as award presenters. It was their first time attending the event following an appearance by the group at the LA Grammy Museum in 2018. In April, BTS became the first Asian act to surpass 5 billion streams on Spotify, and Time named BTS as one of Time 100’s most influential people of 2019.

Their sixth EP, Map of the Soul: Persona, was released on April 12 with the lead single «Boy With Luv» (Korean: 작은 것들을 위한 시; RR: Jageun geotdeureul wihan si), featuring American singer Halsey. The EP’s release was followed by a performance on Saturday Night Live, as the first Korean act to do so. The group’s appearance was anticipated as one of the biggest in the show’s history. Commercially, BTS reached new career heights. Map of the Soul: Persona became the first Korean-language album to reach the number one position in both the UK and Australia and the group’s third consecutive album to top the Billboard 200 and the third within eleven months, joining the likes of The Beatles, who achieved the same in 1995–96. The EP became the best selling physical album in the USA for the year of 2019, with 312,000 physical sales. Map of the Soul: Persona later became the best-selling album ever in South Korea, with more than 3.2 million sales in less than a month. Prior to BTS, the best-selling were dominated by late 90’s albums, making BTS the only act formed after 2000 to be featured in the top 10 best-selling list.

«Boy With Luv» debuted at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest in history for a Korean group, and its music video became the most-viewed online video within the first 24 hours as of 2019, accumulating more than 74.6 million views. «Boy With Luv» was certified in multiple countries, including in Australia where «Boy With Luv» was certified Gold, selling 35,000 units, and certified Platinum in the US by the Recording Industry Association of America, selling over one million units. Map of the Soul: Persona also attained Silver in the UK, selling over 60,000 units.

In May 2019, following their two wins at the 26th Billboard Music Awards, including a win for Top Duo/Group, BTS embarked on their stadium world tour extension, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself, with dates in multiple stadium venues including Wembley Stadium, Stade de France, MetLife Stadium, Rose Bowl, and Soldier Field. All dates sold out within two hours with second dates for all venues added due to the high demand. During the tour, BTS performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and kicked off Good Morning America’s ‘Summer Concert Series’ as headliners at Central Park in Manhattan. They also performed on the finale episode of The Voice and one of the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent.

In the lead up to the release of their new mobile game BTS World set for June 2019, BTS released three collaboration singles, «Dream Glow» featuring English singer Charli XCX, «A Brand New Day» with Swedish singer Zara Larsson, and «All Night» featuring American rapper Juice Wrld. The band also released the song «Heartbeat» with a music video from the game’s official soundtrack, titled BTS World: Original Soundtrack. Developed by South Korean company Netmarble, the game was released on June 26 to iOS and Android systems in over 175 countries. BTS tenth Japanese single, and fourth original Japanese song overall, «Lights», was released on July 3. Pre-orders for the double A-side single surpassed 1 million copies, breaking a 24 year old record for foreign artists previously held only by Celine Dion with her 1995 single «To Love You More». This marked the first time a Korean artist achieved a million shipment for a single in Japan.

In August 2019, Love Yourself: Her and Love Yourself: Tear reached 2 million copies in South Korea, making all three albums of the Love Yourself series to sold more than 2 million copies in South Korea. Not just the sales records, Love Yourself: Tear is awarded the «Double Million» certification by Korea Music Content Association after Love Yourself: Answer awarded in October 2018, Love Yourself: Her surpassing its successor Love Yourself: Tear in just nearly 16,000 copies difference. BTS World: Original Soundtrack has reached 500,000 copies and awarded the «Double Platinum’ certification, making their first soundtrack album to have the certification since Gaon launched the certification last year.

On August 11, Big Hit Entertainment formally announced that for the first time since their debut in 2013, BTS will be having an official period of rest. According to the agency, this will be an opportunity for the group to recharge and “present themselves anew as musicians and creators.”^[50]

In October, BTS performed at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh, becoming the first foreign act to perform a solo concert in Saudi Arabia. For the final stop of their record-breaking Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour, the band held a run of three sold-out nights at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium to close this chapter of their story. According to Billboard’s year-end Boxscore charts, the group grossed over $196 million and played to more than 1.6 million people across 42 shows in the chart period ranging from Nov. 1, 2018 to Oct. 31, 2019 and ranked third overall on the year-end Top 40 Tours chart behind Ed Sheeran and Pink. The group outgrossed legacy rock acts like the Rolling Stones, Metallica and KISS, as well as fellow boy band the Backstreet Boys, making them the top-grossing touring group of 2019. That same month, the group released a remix version of the song «Make It Right» featuring American singer Lauv as the second single from their album Map of the Soul: Persona.

In November, BTS became the first K-pop group to win the Favorite Duo or Group – Pop/Rock at the 2019 American Music Awards and the Favourite Social Artist award consecutively in 2018 and 2019. In December, they attended both the 2019 Melon Music Awards and 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards. The group became the first artist in the history of K-pop to receive all grand prizes from both ceremonies; getting four from each award show. At the end of the year, BTS ranked number fifteen on Billboard’s year-end Top Artist Chart and were also the number two act of the year in the Duo/Group ranking, only behind Jonas Brothers. They were named as 2019 Hitmakers Group of the Year by Variety. They were also the most tweeted-about musicians of 2019. On December 31, 2019, BTS performed in New York City’s Times Square for ABC’s Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. At the 34th Golden Disc Awards, BTS became the first artists in history to win grand prizes in both the physical and digital categories in a single year. BTS wrapped 2019 as the fourth most successful group on Billboard‘s Top Billboard 200 Artists — Duo/Group ranking, only behind Queen, Imagine Dragons and The Beatles.

2020: Map of the Soul: 7, Map of the Soul : ~ The Journey ~, «Dynamite», Be, Suga’s hiatus

On January 7, 2020, Big Hit Entertainment announced that BTS will release their fourth Korean-language studio album, Map of the Soul: 7, on February 21 with two singles. On January 10, BTS released a trailer for the album featuring Suga’s solo track «Interlude: Shadow». On January 17, BTS released the single «Black Swan», along with a choreography art film performed by Slovenian based MN Dance Company. The official music video for the lead single will be released on February 28. On January 15, Big Hit announced that according to distributor Dreamus, the album surpassed 3.42 million stock pre-orders in its first seven days from January 9 through January 15. These pre-release numbers surpassed pre-orders of Map of the Soul: Persona which sold 2.685 million preorders in its first five days. On January 21, BigHit announced the Map of the Soul Tour, BTS’ fourth worldwide concert tour and second stadium tour. The tour would promote their Map of the Soul series, including their Map of the Soul: Persona EP, and Map of the Soul: 7 studio album. On January 23, the Recording Academy announced that BTS would be performing with Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo, and more in a special segment at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, thus making BTS the first Korean act to perform on the Grammy’s stage. «Idol» and Love Yourself: Answer received platinum certifications, both selling more than one million certified units in the United States. «Idol» became the group’s third Platinum single while Answer became the group’s first Platinum album, making BTS the first Korean artist to attain this certification in the US.

On July 27, BTS announced that they would be releasing an English digital single on August 21, ahead of their upcoming album which will be released in the second half of the year.

On August 21, BTS released their first English single, «Dynamite». It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed for a continuous two weeks, becoming the 2nd group ever to do so.

On November 6, it was announced that Suga would be going on a hiatus, halting any promotions with the group to recover from a recent shoulder surgery. Big Hit Entertainment released a statement saying, «Suga underwent surgery to repair his torn shoulder labrum on November 3. The surgery, to address a problem that had constantly been a health and wellness issue for Suga, was completed successfully, and he is currently resting and recovering following his physician’s advice that Suga must undergo a strict and unhindered period of recovery.» On November 20, the group released their seventh Korean mini album, Be. The music video for its title track, «Life Goes On» became their 27th music video to reach 100 million views. Four days later, the group was announced as nominees for the «Best Pop Duo/Group Performance» category at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards for their song «Dynamite», making them the first ever K-pop group to be nominated.

On December 1, South Korea passed the new ‘BTS Law’ affecting all big kpop stars and delaying their mandatory service. This came right before Jin’s 28th birthday, when he would’ve left the group for enlistment around the next month, in January 2021. With the new law, he won’t need to serve until he’s 30.

2021: BTS, The Best, «Butter» and «Permission To Dance»

On March 25, BTS announced through their official Japanese fan club that their newest Japanese best album, BTS, The Best, would be released on June 16. A single titled «Film Out» was released on April 2, two months before the album’s official release date.

On the midnight of April 27, it was announced that BTS would be releasing their second English-language digital single, «Butter», on May 21.

On July 9, BTS released their first English CD single «Butter». On July 23, they released the English remix single «Permission to Dance (R&B Remix)».

2022: Proof and military service

On April 17, 2022, BigHit Music released a statement through Weverse which announced that BTS would be releasing an album on June 10, 2022 with more information will be shared at a later date. A logo trailer was posted on May 5 which announced the name of the album to be, Proof. BigHit later explained that Proof is an anthology album that looks back at the group’s nine-year history and contains three new tracks.

On June 3, it was announced that BTS would be returning to perform on music shows for the first time after over two years. On June 14, the members revealed during their 2022 BTS Festa dinner that the group would be going on indefinite hiatus to focus on solo activities.

In October 2022, it was announced that the group will be on hiatus for their military service, with Jin being the first to enlist. The group is expected to reunite by 2025. On December 12, BigHit revealed that Jin would be enlisting as an active duty soldier on December 13.

On November 1, in a interview with Rolling Stone magazine between RM and Pharrell Williams, Pharrell announced that BTS will be featured in a song on his upcoming album Phfriends.

Artistry

BTS co-writes, produces, and composes much of their output, to which some media outlets have attributed their success. Since their inception, BTS has developed and maintained a style of «fusion music» with an emphasis on hip hop as their musical base largely due to the influence of RM and Suga’s background as underground rappers and their main producer Pdogg. Rather than wanting to stick to a specific genre, BTS has introduced brand new elements into their musical repertoire with each new album. BTS’ sound began with old-school hip hop influences heard on 2 Cool 4 Skool and O!RUL8,2?, but evolved to include R&B and rock with Skool Luv Affair and Dark and Wild, orchestral strings and electronic dance music with their The Most Beautiful Moment in Life album series, moombahton, neo soul, and gospel in Wings and You Never Walk Alone, and future bass, Latin pop, and jazz hip hop in their Love Yourself album series

BTS’ lyrics are known for their social commentary, often incorporating criticism of South Korean society. Songs such as «No More Dream» and «N.O» from their «school trilogy» were deeply motivated by their experiences with South Korea’s emphasis on education and called for change to the education system and societal expectations. Their experiences with youth culture in South Korea inspired songs like «Dope» and «Silver Spoon» (Korean: 뱁새; RR: Baepsae) from their «youth series,» referencing generational disparity and the millennial’s giving up of romantic relationships, marriage, children, proper employment, homes, and social life in the face of economic difficulties and societal ills while facing condemnation from the media and older generations. The song «Am I Wrong» from Wings (2016) questioned societal apathy towards the state of current events—the lyric «We’re all dogs and pigs / we become dogs because we’re angry» referenced the South Korean Ministry of Education official Na Hyang-wook who was a proponent of the caste system and described the average person as «dogs and pigs,» and BTS performed the song on television during the 2016 South Korean political scandal that led to the impeachment of ex-President Park Geun-hye. RM and Suga’s personal struggles with mental health inspired songs like «Tomorrow», «Intro: The Most Beautiful Moment in Life», «So Far Away», «The Last», and «Forever Rain.» «Not Today» from You Never Walk Alone (2017) is an anti-establishment anthem, with messages advocating for minority groups, while «Spring Day» was created to memorialize the victims of the Sewol Ferry tragedy.

Grace Jeong, editor-in-chief of Soompi, praised the group by stating that, “BTS has something to say, and has a great marketing strategy that doesn’t alienate non-Korean-speaking fans.” While they have received praise for their lyrics, in 2016 the group faced criticisms of misogyny regarding the lyrics of «War of Hormone», «Converse High», and RM’s solo song «Joke», as well as a Twitter comment made by Suga. The group’s label later issued an apology.

BTS’ has cited Nas, Eminem, Kanye West, Drake, Post Malone, and Charlie Puth as musical inspirations. BTS has also cited Queen as an influence, saying they «grew up watching videos of Live Aid.” During their concert at Wembley Stadium in London, Jin paid tribute to Queen by leading the crowd in a version of Freddie Mercury’s «ay-oh» chant from the band’s Live Aid concert.

In addition to musical inspirations, BTS also takes many inspirations from literary, psychological, artistic, and philosophical mediums. Their album Wings is inspired by Hermann Hesse’s coming of age novel, Demian. Their song «Blood Sweat & Tears» references Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zurathustra, Herbert James Draper’s The Lament for Icarus, Pieter Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, and Pieter Bruegel’s The Fall of the Rebel Angels by quoting Nietzsche and featuring the three aforementioned paintings in the music video. Their «Spring Day» music video contains lyrical and visual references to Ursula Le Guin’s short story The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. J-Hope’s solo mixtape, Hope World, and its lead single Daydream were inspired by Jules Verne’s novel 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, as well as containing a reference to Douglas Adams’s science fiction series The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The Love Yourself series was primarily influenced by Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving, while their song «Magic Shop» of Love Yourself: Tear was inspired by James R. Doty’s memoir Into the Magic Shop. Their 2019 album Map of the Soul: Persona gains its name from Murray Stein’s Jung’s Map of the Soul: An Introduction.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in, in a congratulatory letter he wrote to BTS, recognized their sincerity and inclusion of diversity as the group’s key to success. Moon stated that «Each of the seven members sings in a way that is true to himself and the life he wants to live. Their melody and lyrics transcend regional borders, language, culture, and institutions.»^[51] The Wire mentioned in their article that «BTS are big because they are “different” because they put creative input to the band’s sound».

Since the beginning of their career they have been delivering social messages through their lyrics. Their lyrics would be open about the cultural pressure placed on Korean teens to excel and do well and to repress their anxieties.“We came together with a common dream to write, dance and produce music that reflects our musical backgrounds as well as our life values of acceptance, vulnerability and being successful,” said BTS’s leader, RM, in a 2017 interview with Time.T heir debut single, “No More Dream,” was an ode to teen apathy. BTS’s success was due to mixing their openness on social media with blunt and honest lyrics — and owning their status as an underdog group battling to succeed against other bands who came from established studios with larger budgets. “Dope” openly celebrated the endless grind of their lives: “Over half of the day, we drown in work / Even if our youth rots in the studio / Thanks to that, we’re closer to success.”^[52]

Impact and influence

BTS has been described as «easily the biggest and most successful name in K-pop in the world» that can «do things no other name in their genre can.» As the first Korean musician to make the Global Artist Chart in 2018, BTS had the second and third best-selling albums worldwide and were the second best-selling artists worldwide in terms of physical, digital, and streaming platforms, coming second only to Drake. In the United States, BTS accounted for 72.7 percent of the album consumption units generated by K-pop acts in 2018 out of a total of 17 acts. The most tweeted-about celebrities in the world in 2017 and 2018, Time magazine has named the band one of the 25 most influential people on the internet, featured them on the cover of their October 2018 global edition as «Next Generation Leaders,» and named them one of Time 100’s most influential people of 2019. BTS also made it to the Bloomberg 50 in 2018, and Forbes Korea Power Celebrity has named them the fifth most influential celebrities of Korea in 2017 and the most influential celebrities of Korea in 2018. CNN has likened the intensity of the fans of BTS to that of «Beatlemania.» Their influence led them to address the United Nations at their 73rd General Assembly and to perform to 400 officials including South Korean President Moon Jae-in at the Korea-France Friendship Concert in Paris, a summit meant to show the friendly relations between France and South Korea. Due to their contributions in spreading Korean culture and language, BTS became the youngest ever recipients to be awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the President of South Korea.

BTS has measurably revitalized the Korean economy and the global music industry. Credited for the surge in popularity of online purchases of K-pop items and the growth of the Korean Wave between 2016 and 2018 by the Korea Customs Service and Korea Foundation, BTS was cited as one of the main driving forces for the recovery of South Korea’s music-related sector to levels seen before China’s 2016 ban on domestic cultural contents over soured diplomatic relations. Yung Duk Kim, vice president and chief operating officer of the Korea Creative Content Agency, stated K-pop has “skyrocketed” since BTS’ popularity surged, creating jobs not only for BTS and their team but other K-pop idols as well. Various news outlets coined the term the «BTS effect» to refer to the commercial effects of BTS’ influence, such as when KB Kookmin Bank savings accounts increased six-fold compared to the prior year following BTS’ endorsement and when stock prices of entertainment companies in South Korea shot up for five days after BTS topped the U.S. Billboard 200. The effect was also observed when companies tied to BTS, such as Netmarble, NetMark, Soribada, Key Shares, GMP, Diffie, and Mattelh ad their stocks rise. Data firm SM2 Networks estimated Hyundai Motor received ₩600 billion ($502 million) in promotional results after commissioning BTS as their promotional models in 2018. Signed on as tourism ambassadors in 2017, the Seoul Metropolitan Government credits BTS for the recovery of Seoul’s shrinking tourism industry following the 2016 THAAD controversy, bringing in an average of 790,000 tourists to Korea annually. In December 2018, the Hyundai Research Institute estimated BTS was worth more than $3.67 billion to the Korean economy each year, attracting one in every thirteen foreigners who visit Korea. As of June 2019, BTS’ economic effect on South Korea is estimated to be over ₩5.5 trillion ($4.65 billion) per year. Along with Ariana Grande and Drake, BTS was credited as a key act boosting global music sales to $19 billion in 2018. Such profit had not been seen since 2006 after digital purchases gained momentum.

BTS’ work has influenced numerous artists, including (G)I-dle, D-Crunch’s Hyunho, The Boyz’ Younghoon, SF9’s Zuho, Euna Kim, Golden Child’s Jaehyun, Wanna One, IN2IT, Park Ji-hoon, Kim Dong-han, Seven O’Clock, Hyeongseop X Euiwoong, Noir,  Victon’s Sejun, and Loona. After BTS released their single «Idol,» the National Gugak Center had to expand the amount of Korean instrument sounds available due to increased demand from Korean and foreign producers alike. K-pop idol groups also began changing the themes of their lyrics from love stories to words such as «looking for myself» following BTS’ «Love Yourself» era and RM’s speech at the United Nations.

Awards and nominations

See also: List of Awards and Nominations

BTS have received many awards and honors, including 15 Melon Music Awards, 15 Mnet Asian Music Awards, 14 Golden Disc Awards 12 Seoul Music Awards, 10 Gaon Chart Music Awards, 4 Billboard Music Awards (first Korean group), 4 Korean Music Awards, and one American Music Award (first Korean group). In Korea, BTS have one Multi-Million album and one Million album. As the first Korean group to receive RIAA certification, BTS hse 2 Platinum single, 3 Gold singles, and 1 Gold album in the United States. In Japan, BTS hse 2 Multi-Platinum singles, one Multi-Platinum album, and 3 Gold albums.

BTS also have a large social influence and currently hold 7 Guinness World Records, including the world record for Most Twitter engagements. To dat,e they have spent 131 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Social 50 chart. In October 2018, BTS was awarded a fifth-class Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit from the President of South Korea for their contributions in spreading Korean culture and language. The members of BTS became members of the Recording Academy in 2019 in honor of their contributions to music and as part of a push to help diversify Grammy Award voters.

On November 7, 2019, it was reported that BTS has become the first K-Pop act to remain on Billboard 200 for a whole year. «Love Yourself: Answer» re-entered Billboard’s main albums chart on Monday ,November 4 (No. 165). The album has remained on the charts for 52, non-consecutive weeks, making the album the first, and currently, only K-pop album to do so.

Records

Main Article: List of Records Set and Broken

Other ventures

Philanthropy

BTS have involved themselves in a variety of charitable events. In 2015, they donated seven tons (7,187 kg) of rice to charity at the K-Star Road opening ceremony held in Apgujeong-dong. The following year they participated in ALLETS’s «Let’s Share the Heart» collaboration charity campaign with Naver to raise donations for LISA, a charity «which carries forward a preparation business to fight blindess including research on degenrative retina disease treatment and an ivity to improve social awareness on the visually impaired. In April 2018, BTS participated in Stevie Wonder’s «Dream Still Lives» tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. with other celebrities, sharing their dreams and hopes for the world. It was revealed that Stevie Wonder himself had asked BTS to participate in the campaign.^[53]

In January 2017, news media reported that BTS and Big Hit Entertainment had donated KR₩100,000,000 (US$85,000) to the 4/16 Sewol Families for Truth and A Safer Society, an organization connected to the families of the 2014 Sewol Ferry Disaster. Each member donated KR₩10,000,000 and Big Hit Entertainment donated an additional KR₩30,000,000. The donation was intended to have been made in secret. Later that year, BTS officially launched their Love Myself campaign, an initiative dedicated to helping «protect and support child and teen victims of domestic and school violence as well as sexual assault around the world…», in partnership with the Korean Committee for UNICEF. BTS donated 500 million won (US$448,000) from the members, and 100% of all sales of official goods for the Love Myself campaign over the next two years, as well as include donation desks installed by UNICEF, towards several social programs benefiting violence prevention against children and teens and support programs for victims of violence. In addition, 3% of the sales from each album in the Love Yourself series (Love Yourself: Her, Love Yourself: Tear, and Love Yourself: Answer) will be donated to the cause. Within two months of its launch the campaign raised an additional KR₩106,000,000, taking the worldwide funds total to KR₩606,000,000.

In April 2018, BTS participated in Stevie Wonder’s «Dream Still Lives» tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. alongside other celebrities, sharing their dreams and hopes for the world. It was revealed that Stevie Wonder himself had asked BTS to participate in the campaign.

Members of the group have also engaged in individual philanthropic endeavours. Since 2016, Jimin has supported graduates of Busan Hoedong Elementary School, his alma mater, by covering uniform expenses. After news of the school’s closing was released, he donated summer and winter middle school uniforms to the final graduates and gifted autographed albums to the entire student body.^[54] For his 25th birthday, Suga donated ten kilograms of prime Korean beef to 39 orphanages in Korea under the name of BTS’ ARMY fan club.^[55]On February 18, 2019, J-Hope donated ₩100,000,000 (US $89,000) to support low-income students attending his alma mater through ChildFund Korea. Earlier, on December 20, 2018, J-Hope donated ₩150,000,000 (US $133,000) to ChildFund Korea in order to support «students in the arts, music, and physical education who need financial support in order to pursue their dreams, and students who need assistance with paying for health care». In addition, fans of J-Hope donated 128 sacks of rice to Gwangju, J-Hope’s hometown, along with partnering with the organization «Korea Food for the Hungry International» to organize the «Hope on the Stop Hunger» project, an effort that «sponsors starving children in 53 countries with emergency relief and food». In total, around 35 different fan philanthropical projects were carried out in honor of J-Hope’s 25th birthday.  On March 9, 2019, Suga donated ₩100,000,000 (US $89,000) to the Korea Pediatric Cancer Foundation and 329 plush toys to the children patients, alongside placing his gifts underneath the fanbase name. On December 4, 2018, Jin personally donated bags of food, bowls, and blankets to animals under the protection of the Korean Animal Welfare Association. In addition, fans donated 344 sets of female hygiene products worth ₩6,000,000 (US $5390) to Gwacheon, Jin’s hometown.

On September 24, 2018, BTS attended the United Nations 73rd General Assembly for the launch of the youth initiative called «Youth 2030: The UN Youth Strategy» and its corresponding UNICEF campaign titled «Generation Unlimited». On behalf of the group, BTS’ leader RM delivered a six-minute speech in English about self-acceptance, as well as their Love Myself campaign. According to UNICEF, the goal of the initiative is «to provide quality education and training for young people». BTS were selected to attend due to their impact on youth culture through their music and social messages, previous philanthropic endeavors, and popularity among the 15-to-25-year-old age demographic.

In January 2020, Starbucks Korea announced that they would be partnering together with BTS to launch the “Be the Brightest Stars” campaign including limited-edition beverages, food and merchandise exclusively in South Korea. A portion of the profit from the campaign will go towards career and educational development programs for disadvantaged youth as part of The Beautiful Foundation’s Opportunity Youth Independence Project.

Endorsements

BTS have maintained numerous global endorsement deals in various industries throughout their career. Partnered with Puma since 2015, BTS initially promoted their sportswear as Puma Korea’s brand ambassadors before expanding to become global ambassadors in 2018 and promoting the remix of Puma’s «Turin» and «Sportstyle» line worldwide. In 2019, BTS became the first male pop group ever to collaborate with Dior, as the group sported Kim Jones’ Pre-Fall 2019 collection at their concert at Stade de France. Business of Fashion called it «the K-Pop industry’s most high profile sponsorship ever». In September 2019, Fila announced that BTS hse signed an exclusive contract with them to be their new models worldwide.

BTS served as global brand ambassadors for LG Electronics to promote their LG G7 ThinQ telephone, and for Hyundai Motors as part of the company’s promotions at the 2018 LA Auto Show for its 2019 flagship SUV the «Palisade». Due to BTS’ endorsement, Hyundai received almost double their anticipated domestic order volume for the car. In the tourism sector, BTS has worked as brand models for Lotte Duty Free Shop since 2017 and as honorary tourism ambassadors for Seoul as part of the ‘I Seoul U’ program. Promotional advertisements produced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, featuring the group, aired in over 100 countries. BTS also partnered with popular Korean communication app Line, to create new Line ‘characters’ called BT21. The collaboration initially produced emojis and electronic stickers, but later expanded to include fashion apparel, footwear, accessories, and other merchandise. Line flagship stores opened throughout Seoul before spreading across the global market into Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the United States.

In the entertainment sector, BTS published the webtoons Hip Hop Monster and We On through the Nate Webtoon portal, and the webtoon Save Me in collaboration with LICO and Line Webtoon. In the toy industry, Mattel created dolls modeled off BTS’ outfits from the music video «Idol», Medicom Toy created the «BE@RBRICK», a block-like toy featuring the BTS logo and accents modeled after BTS’ stage clothes, and Funko released BTS versions of Funko Pops. In the gaming industry, Nexon released character avatars based on BTS for their RPG game Elsword, and BTS worked with DalcomSoft to release the rhythm game Superstar BTS in January 2018, as well as with Netmarble Games for the story-based, mobile simulation game BTS World released in June 2019. In November 2019, BTS announced they are teaming with Casetify to globally launch a new tech accessory collection, which contains accessories compatible with iPhone, Samsung devices, AirPods, Apple Watch, MacBooks, iPads and more.

In Asia, BTS have worked as brand spokespersons for KB Kookmin Bank, one of the four largest banks in South Korea. Their collaboration generated the opening of over 180,000 accounts, and BTS extended their contract with KB Kookmin Bank through 2019. Coca-Cola Korea signed BTS on as their new campaign models for promotions during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. In the beauty and apparel industry, BTS hse maintained a relationship with uniform brand SMART since 2016, having renewed their contract with them through 2019. BTS hse also promoted the face mask brand Mediheal, the cosmetics brand VT Cosmetics, and the contact lens brand Play/Up. In October 2019, Kyungnam Pharmaceutical announced that BTSise going to be the new brand ambassadors for Lemona, a vitamin supplement company. The company announced they are planning to expand to the global market with BTS and release new vitamin drinks.

In October 2019, ceramics company Kwangjuyo stated that they will collaborate with BTS in releasing plates, mugs, and other pieces. The colors of the ceramics were inspired by Map of the Soul: Persona, and the Plum Blossom pattern is used to represent the message of hope and positivity that BTS brings. Also in October 2019, Tokopedia, an Indonesian e-commerce company, announced that BTS will be their new brand ambassadors.

In December 2019, BTS were announced as the new global ambassadors of ABB FIA Formula E Championship, the electric street racing series, Formula E. Through the partnership, the South Korean septet and Formula E will team up to promote how electric vehicles can help combat climate change.

Discography

See also: Sales and certifications, See also: Discography, See also: Unofficial songs

Korean Studio albums Dark & Wild (2014) Wings (2016) You Never Walk Alone (repackage) (2017) Love Yourself: Tear (2018) Map of the Soul: 7 (2020) Mini albums O!RUL8,2? (2013) Skool Luv Affair (2014) Skool Luv Affair Special Addition (repackage) (2014) The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt.1 (2015) The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt.2 (2015) Love Yourself: Her (2017) Map of the Soul: Persona (2019) BE (2020) Compilation albums The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (2016) Love Yourself: Answer (2018) Single albums 2 Cool 4 Skool (2013) Soundtrack albums BTS World: Original Soundtrack (2019) Digital singles «Danger (Mo-Blue-Mix) (Feat. Thanh)» (2014) «Come Back Home» (2017) «FAKE LOVE (Rocking Vibe Mix)» (2018) «Dream Glow» (2019) «A Brand New Day» (2019) «All Night» (2019) «Make It Right (feat. Lauv)» (2019) «Make It Right (feat. Lauv) (EDM Remix)» (2019) «Make It Right (feat. Lauv) (Acoustic Remix)» (2019) «Black Swan» (2020) Collaborations Lim Jeong-hee — «Ashes» (Pre-debut, 2010) 2AM — «Love U, Hate U» (Pre-debut, 2010) Lee Hyun — «Bad Girl» (Pre-debut, 2011) Kan Mi-youn — «Because I’m a Foolish Woman» (Pre-debut, 2011) Lee Seung Gi — «A Song Make to You Smile» (Pre-debut, 2011) Chinese Digital singles «Boy In Luv (Chinese Ver.)» (2015)

Japanese Studio albums Wake Up (2014) Youth (2016) Face Yourself (2018) Map of the Soul: 7 ~The Journey~ (2020) Best albums 2 Cool 4 Skool / O!RUL8,2? (2014) The Best of BTS -Japan Edition- (2017) The Best of BTS -Korea Edition- (2017) BTS, THE BEST (2021) Singles «No More Dream» (2014) «Boy In Luv» (2014) «Danger» (2014) «For You» (2015) «I Need U» (2015) «Run» (2016) «Blood Sweat & Tears» (2017) «MIC Drop/DNA/Crystal Snow» (2017) «FAKE LOVE/Airplane Pt.2» (2018) «Lights/Boy With Luv» (2019) Digital singles «Stay Gold» (2020) «Film out» (2021) English Single albums Butter (2021) Digital EPs Dynamite (DayTime) (2020) Dynamite (NightTime) (2020) Butter (Hotter, Sweeter, Cooler) (2021) Digital singles «MIC Drop (Steve Aoki Remix) (Feat. Desiigner)» (2017) «Waste It On Me» (Steve Aoki featuring BTS) (2018) «Waste It On Me (Slushii Remix)» (Steve Aoki featuring BTS) (2018) «Waste It On Me (Cheat Codes Remix)» (Steve Aoki featuring BTS) (2018) «Waste It On Me (W&W Remix)» (Steve Aoki featuring BTS) (2018) «Waste It On Me (Steve Aoki The Bold Tender Sneeze Remix)» (Steve Aoki featuring BTS) (2018) «Dynamite» (2020) «Dynamite (Holiday Remix)» (2020) «Butter» (2021) Collaborations Lauv — «Who» (2020)

Tours and Concerts

See also: List of Live Performances

Tours

• BTS Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet (2014)
• BTS’s First Japan Tour-Wake Up: Open Your Eyes (2015)
• BTS Live The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage (2015)
• BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour (2017)
• BTS World Tour: Love Yourself (2018-2019)
• BTS Map of the Soul Tour (2020)

Videography

See also: Videography

Film

• Burn The Stage: The Movie
• BTS World Tour: Love Yourself in Seoul
• Bring The Soul: The Movie

Television

• Rookie King: Channel Bangtan – BTS-based reality show, Episode 1–8
• BTS American Hustle Life – BTS-based reality show, Episode 1–8
• BTS Comeback Show – Special
• BTS Countdown – Special

Web series

• BTS GO! – BTS-based reality show, Episode 7
• BTS: Lucky Draw – Episode 1–5
• Run BTS! – Episode 1–85
• BTS Gayo – Episode 1–15
• BTS: Bon Voyage – Episode 1-24
• Bring The Soul: Docu-Series – Episode 1-6

Games

• SuperStar BTS (2018)
• PUZZLE STAR BT21 (2018)
• BTS World (2019)

Trivia

• Their fan club name is A.R.M.Y, which means Adorable Representative M.C for Youth.
• Their label for the Japanese albums used to be Pony Canyon. The current one is Def Jam Records, where there are Western singers signed.
• They have 3 sets of emoticons on the app KakaoTalk, 2 sets with emoticons on the V App, and 13 Snow ‘lens’, 9 of them being with the boys during Blood Sweat & Tears promotions.
• They released a Taiwan special edition, of the album Dark & Wild, with a bonus song, Boy in Luv (Chinese version)
• Supreme Boi and Iron are two of the former members who wanted to join BTS.
• They went to a baseball match, on June 2, 2017, representing the team Tigers.
• Every year, in the month June, (the month BTS debuted) there is a festival called the «BTS Festa» when they release hidden images, covers of songs and loads more.
• 4 members have their own Studios, RM ‘RKive’ (formerly called Mon Studio), Suga ‘Genius Lab’, J-Hope ‘Hope World’ and Jungkook ‘Golden Closet’.

Official Links

• Blog: Main / Japanese
• Fancafe
• Facebook
• Instagram
• SoundCloud
• TikTok
• Twitter: Promotional / Personal / Japanese
• YouTube: Main / Japanese
• VLIVE
• Youku
• Website: Main / Japanese
• Weibo: Promotional / Personal
• Weverse

Gallery

To view the BTS gallery, click here.

References

Navigation

BTS

Record-breaking K-pop septet whose tender ballads and dance anthems made them a hit across the globe.

Read Full Biography

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AllMusic Quiz

BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys Hangul: 방탄소년단; RR: Bangtan Sonyeondan; bts is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment.

They debuted on June 13, 2013, with the song «No More Dream» from their first album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, for which they won several «New Artist of the Year» awards including those at the 2013 MelOn Music Awards and Golden Disk Awards, and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards. A year after their debut, they received major bonsang awards for their subsequent albums Dark & Wild and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1.

BTS continued rising to widespread prominence with their Most Beautiful Moment in Life trilogy, with The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 and The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever both debuting inside the Billboard 200.The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 2 also charted at number one on the Billboard World Albums Chart and remained there for multiple weeks, making BTS the first K-Pop act to achieve that feat.Known for their large international fanbase, having performed in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America, and South America, BTS’s outstanding performances won them the Best World Performer award in the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

BTS are known for their large social media presence, and were named by Forbes as the most retweeted artist on Twitter in March 2016.Following that, Twitter launched its first ever K-Pop Twitter emoji featuring BTS.

1-i really enjoy listening to their music.

Bts songs are always catchy in my opinion,like butterfly,fire and run.

I don’t think that there is a song that i don’t like.

[MV] BTS(방탄소년단) _ FIRE (불타오르네)

[MV] BTS (방탄소년단) Butterfly (버터플라이)

And they are really good actors.

[MV] BTS(방탄소년단) _ I NEED U (Original ver.)

[ENG SUB] BTS ACTING CUT — WEEKLY IDOL

2-their choreography is always on point :ok_hand: 🏻.

They are really good dancers,specially jhope,jimin and Jungkook.

Dance practice — 정국이랑 지민이 (‘Own it’ choreography by Brian puspose)

방탄소년단 BTS Dance break Practice

방탄소년단 j-hope Dance Practice for 2015 Begins Concert

BTS ‘FIRE’ mirrored Dance Practice

3-According to Forbes, in March (2016) they were re-tweeted MORE THAN KANYE AND JUSTIN BIEBER.

4-BTS is the second K-pop act to land on the Billboard 200 twice in a row.

5-the way that they treat their fans.

BTS cute moments with fans @ fansigns READ DESCRIPTION PLS ;A;

[ENG|CC]Jin accidentally hit the fan with the photo stand

She is the luckiest person alive….

6-they are really funny :see_no_evil: .

They can change my mood only by watching their videos.

BTS Cute And Funny Moments

Jungkook you killed me.. :joy: :joy:

[BANGTAN BOMB] N.O (Trot ver.) by Jungkook and (Opera ver.) by BTS

I watch this video almost every dayyy :joy:

I just wanna say that iam really thankful to jimin :joy:

[BTS] V abs

7-Every single performance they give is amazing.

BTS — Best Live Performances

8-their relationship :see_no_evil: .

BTS — BEST FRIEND f496

9-……. :joy:

Don’t know what to say but v you don’t need to sayyyyy :joy: .

10-they are the best at the awards shows.

160114 — BTS moments Seoul Music Awards

11-they are cool,funny,handsome.

Omggg :joy:

12-my ultimate bias is in bts :hand: 🏻.

Kim taehyung (v) is my ultimate bias in kpop actually i loved bts at first because of taehyung but i love them all now he is my favorite he is my no.1 but i love them all.

I can’t even really rank them i love them all but v is my bias in bts.

He is perfect for me :heart_eyes: :see_no_evil: .

I love BTS because they are BTS. That’s the reason. I love each and every inch of you all, I just love youall.

And I can’t stop loving you.I just want to say thank you for everything.

A.R.M.Y♡

1


BTS (кор. Пантхан сонёндан, кит. Фандань шаоняньтуань, яп. ; Бо ̄ дан сё ̄ нэндан, также известные как Bangtan Boys или Beyond The Scene) южнокорейский бойз-бенд, сформированный в 2013 году компанией Big Hit Entertainment. Коллектив состоит из семи участников: RM (лидер группы), Чимина, Шуги, Джей-Хоупа,Джина, Ви и Чонгука. В июле 2017 года группа сменила официальный логотип и расшифровку их названия на английском языке, в результате чего они стали Beyond The Scene

2


BTS получили мировое признание после выпуска второго студийного альбома Wings, который считался самым успешным в их карьере до января 2018 года (рекорд по продажам был побит мини-альбомом Love Yourself: Her, выпущенным в сентябре 2017 года)[2]. Он позволил группе выиграть номинацию «Артист Года» на престижной музыкальной премии Mnet Asian Music Awards[3]. В 2017 году BTS стали одной из ведущих корейских групп на мировой музыкальной арене: они одержали победу в номинации «Лучший артист социальных сетей» на Billboard Music Awards, их мини-альбом Love Yourself: Her достиг 7 места в американском альбомном чарте Billboard 200, что стало наивысшим результатом среди всех корейских артистов, когда-либо попадавших в этот чарт[4]. Синглы «DNA» и «MIC Drop» удостоились золотых сертификаций от RIAA, что также сделало BTS первым корейским артистом в истории, имеющим подобную сертификацию. Многочисленные рекорды позволили группе второй год подряд одерживать победу в номинации «Артист Года» на MAMA[5]. С момента дебюта BTS продали более 5 миллионов своих записей по всему миру

3


Группа BTS изначально должна была быть дуэтом, но чуть позже коллектив изменили и образовалась группа. Участник Чимин присоединился к группе самым последним, а Ар Эм – единственный участник, который был в составе со дня её основания. Подсчитано, что за все время, пока ребята были вместе, они сами написали около 100 песен. С момента дебюта BTS продали более 5 миллионов своих записей по всему миру. Группа BTS имеет огромнейшую популярность не только в Корее, но и по всему миру. В 2018 году группа вошла в издание «Книги Рекордов Гиннеса» по количеству просмотров на YouTube с клипом «IDOL». BTS стали первой корейской группой, победившей в номинации «Любимый артист в социальных сетях» в 2018 году. В октябре 2018 года группа получила Орден «За заслуги в культуре» от правительства Южной Кореи за свой вклад в распространение корейской культуры по всему миру.

4

5


KIM TAEHYUNG | V | Ким Тхэхён родился 30 декабря 1995 года в Тэгу, Южная Корея, и вырос в уезде Кочхан.У него в семье, помимо родителей, есть младшие брат и сестра. Впервые Тхэхён заинтересовался карьерой профессионального певца в начальной школе, и даже брал уроки игры на саксофоне в средней школе. После прохождения прослушивания в Тэгу он стал тройни Big Hit Entertainment. В 2014 году окончил Корейскую школу искусств, и после поступил в Сеульский кибер-университет

6


Kim Seok Jin Ким Сокчин родился 4 декабря 1992 года в Квачхоне, провинция Кёнгидо, Южная Корея.[6] У него в семье, помимо родителей, есть старший брат. 22 февраля 2017 года Чин окончил университет Конкук по специальности искусства и актёрства.[7] Поступил в университет Ханянг, чтобы продолжить изучение других областей деятельности помимо музыки

7


Kim Namjoon Ким Нам Джун (кор. ; род. 12 сентября 1994 года, более известный как RM (ранее Rap Monster, сейчас Real Me) южнокорейский рэпер, автор песен и музыкальный продюсер. Является лидером и рэпером южнокорейского бойз-бенда BTS под руководством компании Big Hit Entertainment. В 2015 году выпустил свой первый микстейп RM. Отмечается как автор и продюсер многих песен в дискографии BTS, на его имя зарегистрировано более 160 композиций

8


SUGA | MIN YOONGI | Мин Юнги родился 9 марта 1993 года в Тэгу, Южная Корея. Он был младшим ребёнком в семье, посещал начальную школу в Тэджоне, среднюю школу Кваным и старшую школу Апгуджеонг.В 13 лет начал писать песни и изучать MIDI. Работал неполный рабочий день в студии звукозаписи, когда ему было 17. С того момента времени Юнги начал создавать музыку и делать аранжировку к ней, заниматься рэпом и тренировочными выступлениями. До того, как попал в Big Hit Entertainment, был известен как андеграундный рэпер Gloss.[4] Как часть хип-хоп команды D-Town, в 2010 году он выпустил трек « » в память о восстании в Кванджу

9


JEON JUNGKOOK | JK | Чон Чонгук родился 1 сентября 1997 года в южнокорейском Пусане[4][5]. Он второй ребёнок в семье, у него есть старший брат[6]. Посещал начальную школу Пэкян и среднюю школу в Пусане, позже перевёлся в среднюю школу Сингу в Сеуле. Изначально Джонгук мечтал стать профессиональным игроком в бадминтон, но после просмотра выступления G-Dragon с «Heartbreaker» заинтересовался карьерой профессионального певца

10


Jeon Hoseok Чон Хосок (кор., кит. ; род. 18 февраля 1994 года, более известный как Джей-Хоуп (стилизуется как j-hope)) южнокорейский рэпер, танцор, певец, автор песен и звукозаписывающий продюсер. Является участником бойз-бэнда BTS. 1 марта 2018 года Джей-Хоуп официально дебютировал как сольный артист с микстейпом Hope World, который дебютировал на 63 строчке в американском альбомном чарте Billboard 200 (позднее поднявшись до 38 строчки), что сделало его единственным сольным корейским артистом, достигнувшим подобного результата.

11


PARK JIMIN Пак Чимин (кор., кит. ; род. 13 октября 1995 года, более известный как Чимин[2]) южнокорейский певец, танцор и автор песен. Является вокалистом бойз-бенда BTS. Согласно данным Корейской ассоциации звукозаписывающих компаний (KOMCA), Чимин является автором пяти композиций в дискографии группы

12

This article is about the musical group. For other uses, see BTS (disambiguation).

BTS (Korean: 방탄소년단; RR: Bangtan Sonyeondan; lit. Bulletproof Boy Scouts), also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010. The band consists of Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, who co-write and co-produce the majority of their material. Originally a hip hop group, their musical style has evolved to incorporate a wide range of genres, while their lyricism has focused on subjects including mental health, the troubles of school-age youth and coming of age, loss, the journey towards self-love, individualism, and the consequences of fame and recognition. Their discography and adjacent work has also referenced literature, philosophy and psychological concepts, and includes an alternate universe storyline.

BTS debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainement with the single album 2 Cool 4 Skool. BTS released their first Korean and Japanese-language studio albums, Dark & Wild and Wake Up respectively, in 2014. The group’s second Korean studio album, Wings (2016), was their first to sell one million copies in South Korea. By 2017, BTS had crossed into the global music market and led the Korean wave into the United States, becoming the first Korean ensemble to receive a Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for their single «Mic Drop», as well as the first act from South Korea to top the Billboard 200 with their studio album Love Yourself: Tear (2018). In 2020, BTS became one of the few groups since the Beatles (in 1966–1968) to chart four US number-one albums in less than two years, with Love Yourself: Answer (2018) becoming the first Korean album certified Platinum by the RIAA; in the same year, they also became the first all-South Korean act to reach number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Global 200 with their Grammy-nominated single «Dynamite». Follow-up releases «Savage Love», «Life Goes On», «Butter», and «Permission to Dance» made them the fastest act to earn four US number-one singles since Justin Timberlake in 2006.

As of 2022, BTS is the best-selling artist in South Korean history according to the Circle Chart, having sold in excess of 30 million albums. Their studio album Map of the Soul: 7 (2020) is the best-selling album of all time in South Korea, as well as the first in the country to surpass both four and five million registered sales. They are the first non-English-speaking and Asian act to sell out concerts at Wembley Stadium and the Rose Bowl (Love Yourself World Tour, 2019), and were named the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry’s (IFPI) Global Recording Artist of the Year for both 2020 and 2021. The group’s accolades include multiple American Music Awards, Billboard Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, and nominations for five Grammy Awards. Outside of music, they have addressed three sessions of the United Nations General Assembly and partnered with UNICEF in 2017 to establish the Love Myself anti-violence campaign. Featured on Time‘s international cover as «Next Generation Leaders» and dubbed the «Princes of Pop», BTS has also appeared on Time‘s lists of the 25 most influential people on the internet (2017–2019) and the 100 most influential people in the world (2019), and in 2018 became the youngest recipients of the South Korean Order of Cultural Merit for their contributions in spreading the Korean culture and language.

On June 14, 2022, the group announced a scheduled pause in group activities to enable the members to complete their mandatory South Korean military service, with a reunion planned for 2025. Jin, the oldest member, became the first to enlist, on December 13, 2022.

Name

BTS stands for the Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan (Korean: 방탄소년단; Hanja: 防彈少年團), which translates literally to «Bulletproof Boy Scouts». According to member J-Hope, the name signifies the group’s desire «to block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that aim on adolescents like bullets».^[2][3] In Japan, they are known as Bōdan Shōnendan (防弾少年団).^[4] In July 2017, BTS announced that their name would also stand for «Beyond the Scene» as part of their new brand identity.^[5] This extended the meaning of their name to encompass the idea of growth «from a boy to an adult who opens the doors that are facing forward».^[6]

History

2010–2014: Formation and early years

BTS was formed in 2010, after Big Hit Entertainment CEO Bang Si-hyuk wanted to form a hip hop group around RM (Kim Nam-joon), an underground rapper who was well known on the music scene in Seoul. BTS was originally supposed to be a hip hop group, but, seeing falling album sales, he changed his plans, thinking a different path would be more marketable. He chose to vary from the usual, highly regimented idol groups and create one where the members would be individuals rather than an ensemble, and free to express themselves.^[7][8] Auditions were held in 2010 with plans to launch the following year.^[9][10] The band members lived together, practicing up to 15 hours a day, and first performed before a small crowd of industry insiders in 2013.^[11]

BTS’ representation by Big Hit, rather than one of the three agencies that dominated K-pop at the time, allowed the individual members leeway to express their individuality and allowed them to have input into the music.^[13] On June 12, 2013, BTS released their debut single album 2 Cool 4 Skool, along with the lead single «No More Dream», neither of which sold particularly well at the time.^[14] Nevertheless, according to Kathy Sprinkel in her book on BTS, that single was «spotlighting young people’s anxiety in the face of lofty parental expectations, sent shock waves through the K-pop ranks. Here was a musical act that wasn’t pulling any punches. More specifically, they had a point of view, and they weren’t afraid to take on topics that are considered taboo in South Korean society and elsewhere.»^[15] The album reached the top five on South Korea’s Gaon Music Chart.^[16] In 2 Cool 4 Skool, BTS employed an old-school hip-hop sound from the 1990s.^[17][18] The album’s release was followed by appearances on Korean music shows, which caught the attention of reviewers and viewers.^[19][20]

In September 2013, BTS released the second entry in their «school trilogy»: the EP, O!RUL8,2?. The album was released alongside the single «N.O.»^[21][22] Similarly to 2 Cool 4 Skool, the new release had a theme of students feeling under pressure and needing to sacrifice their dreams and aspirations.^[21] According to scholar Kyung Hyun Kim, many of BTS’ earlier works such as «N.O.» and «No More Dreams» were «expressions of rebellion against the establishment that tapped into Korean teenagers’ frustrations with the country’s educational system» and, he stated, helped them build a fan base among young people in North America and Europe.^[23] That same month, BTS starred in their own variety show, SBS MTV’s Rookie King Channel Bangtan, in which members parodied variety shows such as VJ Special Forces and MasterChef Korea.^[24] At the end of the year, BTS was recognized with several New Artist of the Year awards in South Korea.^[25][26][27]

2014–2017

Skool Luv Affair and first concert tour

The last entry in BTS «school trilogy», the Skool Luv Affair EP, was released in February 2014.^[28][29] The release topped the Gaon Album Chart,^[30] and appeared on Billboard‘s World Albums Chart for the first time, peaking at number three.^[28][31] The EP was supported by two singles: «Boy in Luv» and «Just One Day».^[32] Following Skool Luv Affair‘s release, BTS played at their first fan meeting in Seoul, selecting the name A.R.M.Y. for the fan club.^[33] In July 2014, BTS hosted a concert in West Hollywood, their first show in the United States,^[34] and in August, they appeared at KCON in Los Angeles.^[35]

In August 2014, BTS released the album Dark & Wild, which reached number two in South Korea.^[32][36] It was supported by two singles: «Danger» and «War of Hormone».^[32] The group embarked on their first concert tour, 2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, which lasted from October to December 2014.^[37] The band launched their first Japanese studio album, Wake Up, in December 2014; the release peaked at number three on the Oricon Albums Chart.^[38] After the album’s release, BTS held their 1st Japan Tour 2015 Wake Up: Open Your Eyes in February 2015.^[39] The Red Bullet Tour that had begun on October 17, 2014 in South Korea was resumed on June 6, 2015 in Malaysia and toured Australia, North America and Latin America before ending in Hong Kong that August. In all, the entire tour attracted 80,000 spectators at 18 cities in 13 countries.^[37][40]

Mainstream breakthrough and commercial success

BTS experimented with other styles of music besides hip hop in The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1, released in 2015.^[32][41] BTS wanted to express the beauty and anxiousness of youth and settled on the title of «花樣年華» (Korean: 화양연화; RR: Hwayangyeonhwa), loosely interpreted to define «youth» metaphorically as «the most beautiful moment in life».^[42] The album served as an introduction to their youth trilogy, a triptych of albums dedicated to the struggles of young people.^[43] The single «I Need U» was a top-five hit in South Korea and garnered the group a win on SBS MTV’s The Show.^[44][45] The second single «Dope (Korean: 쩔어; RR: Jjeoreo)» reached number three on Billboard‘s World Digital Songs Sales Chart and its music video was viewed over 100 million times on YouTube.^[46][47] The group began the world tour extension of their Red Bullet Tour in June, titled 2015 Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, visiting cities throughout Asia, Oceania, North America, and Latin America.^[37] «For You», in Japanese, was released together with Japanese versions of «War of Hormone» and «Let Me Know» on June 17, 2015, and immediately topped Oricon’s daily chart.^[32][48]

In November, BTS commenced their third concert tour, 2015 BTS LIVE »The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: On Stage», which began with three sold-out shows in Seoul, and was extended to Japan.^[49] Thematically, the EP focused more on the serious and speculative aspects of youth, touching on the pursuit of success, loneliness, affection for their origins, and the suffering of the younger generation due to unfavorable conditions in current society.^[50] The album topped the weekly Gaon Album and Billboard World Albums charts.^[51][52] It also marked their first appearance on the Billboard 200 chart,^[53] making it for one week at number 171,^[54] and eight of the tracks appeared on Billboard‘s World Digital Songs Sales Chart.^[55]

Their compilation album and the finale to their «youth trilogy», The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever was released on May 2, 2016. With 300,000 presold copies,^[56] it included three new singles: «Epilogue: Young Forever», «Fire», and «Save Me»,^[32][57] which debuted in the top three spots on the Billboard World Digital Charts.^[56] The album topped Gaon Weekly Chart in South Korea for two consecutive weeks and reached number 107 on the Billboard 200.^[58][59][60] The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever won Album of the Year at the 2016 Melon Music Awards.^[61] BTS embarked on their Asia tour extension, 2016 BTS LIVE »The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage: Epilogue» from May to August 2016. Tickets for the 14 shows in 10 Asian cities sold out, some in as little as five seconds.^[62]

In September 2016, BTS released their second Japanese studio album Youth.^[63] The album sold 44,547 on the first day of its release, and charted 1st in the Oricon Daily Album Chart.^[64][65] The album was eventually certified Gold with sales of roughly over 100,000 in Japan.^[66] It was followed one month later in October,^[32] by their next studio album Wings, which combined the themes of youth presented in their previous «youth trilogy» with temptation and adversity.^[67] The album and its tracks, including the single «Blood Sweat & Tears» immediately rose to the top on eight music charts, including the Gaon Music Chart, and led the iTunes album charts in 23 countries.^[68][69] Wings opened at number 26 on the Billboard 200, with 16,000 album-equivalent units in the U.S. for the week of its release, the best week ever there for a K-pop album.^[70] It became the best-selling album in Gaon Album Chart history.^[71]

You Never Walk Alone and Love Yourself: Her

In February 2017, BTS released the repackaged edition of Wings entitled You Never Walk Alone. The 700,000 pre-orders of it (an increase from the 500,000 pre-orders of Wings) helped break the record for most albums sold in a month in South Korea, as it reached 1.49 million copies by the end of its first month.^[72][73] The lead single was «Spring Day»^[32] and it won Best Song of the Year at the 2017 Melon Music Awards.^[74] BTS’ second world tour, 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour, began in February.^[75] On the tour, BTS played arenas in the U.S., such as New Jersey’s Prudential Center and California’s Honda Center. Tickets for the North American leg sold out within hours and two shows were added.^[76][77] After completing the North American leg, BTS attended the 24th Billboard Music Awards in May and won Top Social Artist,^[78] the first K-pop group to win a Billboard award.^[79] BTS fans cast over 300 million votes for the band and broke a six-year winning streak held by Justin Bieber, a performer with 100 million Twitter followers.^[80] This caused the international media to focus on the ability of BTS’ fandom to propel the group to such a victory.^[80]

BTS released a remake of Seo Taiji’s «Come Back Home» (1995) in July 2017, giving it new lyrics but maintaining the theme of urging societal change.^[81] Later that year, BTS embarked on their «Love Yourself» album series, with theme of the enlightenment of self-love through the «起承轉結» (Korean: 기승전결; RR: Giseungjeongyeol) narrative sequence of «beginning, development, turn, and conclusion.»^[82] BTS released its first part, their fifth EP, Love Yourself: Her, on September 18.^[79][83] RM considered «DNA», the lead single from that album,^[84] as «taking BTS to new ground. We tried to apply new grammar and perspectives.»^[32] He said of the album, «I believe it’s going to be the starting point of a second chapter of our career; the beginning of our Chapter Two.»^[85] Sonically, the EP served as «a dual exploration of the group’s electro-pop and hip-hop leanings».^[84]

Love Yourself: Her debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200.^[86] The album had 1,664,041 sales in May 2017 to lead the Gaon Chart,^[87] and was the first in 16 years to exceed 1.2 million copies sold since g.o.d’s fourth album Chapter 4 (2001).^[88][89] «DNA» was released simultaneously with the EP, and its music video accumulated 21 million views in its first 24 hours.^[90] It became BTS’s first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, charting at number 85, making them the first K-pop boy band to reach that chart.^[91] The single rose to number 67 the following week and became the highest-charting song on the Hot 100 for any K-pop group.^[92] A remix of «Mic Drop» from the album, featuring Desiigner, was released as a single and peaked at number 28, the first time a K-pop group had cracked the top forty.^[93][94] Both singles attained Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in early 2018.^[95] «Mic Drop» achieved Platinum status in the US later that year.^[96]

In November 2017, BTS became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards.^[97][98] BTS won Artist of the Year at the 19th Mnet Asian Music Awards in December, winning for the second consecutive year.^[99] They released «DNA» and «Mic Drop» together with a new song «Crystal Snow» as a single album in Japan on December 6, 2017, though the songs were made digitally available elsewhere.^[32][100] It topped the Oricon Chart for the week of its release. It was the only album by a foreign artist to be certified Double Platinum in Japan in 2017.^[101][102]

Later that month, they made their Japanese television prime time music show debut on Music Station Super Live,^[103] and ended the year performing on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.^[104][105]

In 2017, BTS partnered with UNICEF on the «Love Myself» campaign, intended to help end violence, abuse and bullying, and to promote self-esteem and well-being among young people. Both Big Hit and the group pledged money to promote the campaign, and BTS sold special «Love Myself» merchandise and set up dedicated booths at concert venues. The campaign was renewed in 2021, with UNICEF deeming it to have been successful.^[106]

2018–2020

Love Yourself album series

BTS won major awards at the Golden Disc and Seoul Music Awards in January 2018.^[107][108] In March, the group premiered an eight-episode documentary titled Burn the Stage that offered a behind-the-scenes look at their 2017 Wings Tour, exclusively on YouTube Premium.^[109][110] Their third Japanese studio album, Face Yourself, was released on April 4, 2018,^[111] and quickly reached the top 5 of the U.S iTunes Albums chart. A nine-minute short film, titled Euphoria: Theme of «Love Yourself: Wonder» and featuring the song «Euphoria», followed the next day as a prelude to the group’s third Korean-language studio album, Love Yourself: Tear.^[112] BTS promoted Tear‘s May 18, 2018 release with an appearance at the 25th Billboard Music Awards two days later,^[113] where they made their initial BBMA performance with their single, «Fake Love».^[114][115] The group also won Top Social Artist for a second consecutive time.^[116][117] The album coincided with the «轉» or «turn» of the series, touching on the tortuous enlightenment of loving without being loved, the pains and sorrows of separation, and providing encouragement to those without dreams.^[118]

Love Yourself: Tear debuted at number one its first week on the Billboard 200, becoming BTS’ first number-one album in the US and the first K-pop album to top the US albums chart.^[119] It also became BTS’ first top-10 release in Britain, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Chart.^[120] «Fake Love» became BTS’ top-10 single on the Hot 100, the first time a song sung mostly in a language other than English had debuted in the top 10.^[121] BTS released their compilation album Love Yourself: Answer in August, 2018.^[122] The album was supported by the single «Idol» and its alternative digital release featuring Nicki Minaj.^[123][124]

Love Yourself: Answer sold over 1.9 million copies on the Gaon Album Chart in August 2018.^[125] The album became BTS’ second number-one on the Billboard 200 and led to their highest US sales week in the country to that point with 185,000 album equivalent units.^[126] In November 2018, Love Yourself: Answer became the first Korean language album to be certified Gold by the RIAA.^[96] «Idol» and Love Yourself: Answer both received Platinum certifications in the US, with sales of more than 1 million.^[127]

In conjunction with Love Yourself: Answer’s release in August 2018, BTS commenced their world tour, BTS World Tour: Love Yourself, with two concerts in the Seoul Olympic Stadium, which sold out in a matter of seconds, as did others of the 22 shows in 12 countries.^[129][130] In October, BTS released their collaboration with Steve Aoki «Waste It on Me», their first all-English language feature.^[131][132] For the final stop of the North American leg, the group performed at Citi Field in New York City, marking the first time a Korean act performed at a US stadium.^[133] According to StubHub, BTS was the second best-selling concert act outside the US, behind only Ed Sheeran.^[134] That October, BTS renewed their contract with Big Hit Entertainment through 2026.^[135]

In early November 2018, a popular Japanese music show cancelled BTS’ performance, citing a T-shirt a member wore the year before, bearing a photograph of a mushroom cloud following the bombing of Nagasaki.^[136] In the same month, the Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) stated that BTS owed an apology for that shirt, and for clothing and flags with Nazi symbolism.^[137] Big Hit Entertainment issued an apology, explaining that the images were not intended to be hurtful to the victims of Nazism or atomic bombings and that the group and management would take steps to prevent future mistakes.^[138] They also stated the flags were meant to be a commentary on the Korean school system.^[139] The apology was accepted by SWC and the Korean Atomic Bomb Victim Association.^[140][141] John Lie, in his scholarly article on BTS, opined that the Nazi incident showed that the group is not tightly controlled, as are other K-pop ensembles, whose every move seems scripted, and that the members have opinions and are not afraid to express them.^[142]

At the 20th Mnet Asian Music Awards, BTS won Artist of the Year and ranked number eight on Billboard’s year-end Top Artist Chart and were also the number two act of the year in the Duo/Group ranking, only behind Imagine Dragons.^[143][144] They were also listed as one of the 50 most influential people by Bloomberg for their «willingness to address social issues, mental health, and politics, despite being in a genre often painted as bubble gum pop».^[145]

Map of the Soul: Persona, stadium world tour and BTS World

In February 2019, BTS, for the first time, were presenters at the Grammy Awards.^[146][147] In April, Time named them one of the Time 100, the most influential people of 2019.^[148] Their EP, Map of the Soul: Persona, was released on April 12 with the single «Boy with Luv» (Korean: 작은 것들을 위한 시; RR: Jageun geotdeureul wihan si), featuring American singer Halsey.^[149] The EP’s release was followed by a performance on Saturday Night Live, the first K-pop act to appear there.^[150] Map of the Soul: Persona became the first Korean-language album to reach the number one position in both the UK and Australia,^[151][152] and the group’s third album to top the Billboard 200 in less than a year.^[153] Map of the Soul: Persona became the best-selling album ever in South Korea in terms of physical copies sold, with more than 3.2 million sales in less than a month.^[154][155] «Boy with Luv» debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2019, the highest placement ever for a K-pop song.^[156]

Following their two wins at the 26th Billboard Music Awards in May, including for Top Duo/Group,^[157] BTS embarked on their world tour stadium extension, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself.^[158] Due to the demand, BTS added more shows after tickets for the first dates sold out within two hours.^[159] In the lead up to the release of their mobile game BTS World, in June 2019 BTS released «Dream Glow» featuring Charli XCX,^[160] «A Brand New Day» with Zara Larsson,^[161] and «All Night» with Juice Wrld.^[162] The group released the song «Heartbeat» with a music video from the game’s official soundtrack, titled BTS World: Original Soundtrack.^[163] The soundtrack was certified Double Platinum by Gaon.^[164] On July 3, 2019, pre-orders for the single «Lights» crossed one million copies, marking the first time a foreign artist had accomplished this in Japan since Celine Dion in 1995.^[165][166] «Lights» debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the chart issue date of July 8, 2019 and reached number one the following week.^[167][168] On August 8, 2019, «Lights» received Million certification from the RIAJ, denoting shipments of one million copies.^{[169][170][171]}

Love Yourself: Her and Love Yourself: Tear both crossed 2 million copies in August.^[172] All three albums of the Love Yourself series have sold more than 2 million copies each in South Korea.^[173] Love Yourself: Tear gained silver certification by the BPI for sales in the UK, becoming their third album to do so following Love Yourself: Answer and Map of the Soul: Persona.^[174] For the final stop of their record-breaking Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour, the group played Seoul’s Olympic Stadium.^[175] BTS was the third top-grossing touring musical act of 2019.^[176] That same month, they released a remix version of the song «Make It Right» featuring Lauv.^[177] In November, BTS won three times at the 2019 American Music Awards, for Best Tour, Favorite Duo or Group – Pop/Rock, and Favorite Social Artist (the second consecutive year).^[178]

In December, they attended both the 2019 Melon Music Awards and 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards. In each case, they became the first group to sweep the four major awards.^{[179][180][181]} At the 34th Golden Disc Awards, BTS became the first artists in history to win grand prizes in both the physical and digital categories in a single year.^[182] Map of the Soul: Persona was named the second best-selling physical album of 2019 in the US by Nielsen Music behind Taylor Swift’s Lover and was ranked sixth overall on the chart of Top 10 Albums (Total Sales) in the US.^[183] BTS wrapped 2019 as the fourth highest ranked group on Billboard‘s Top Billboard 200 Artists–Duo/Group ranking, behind Queen, Imagine Dragons and the Beatles.^[184] Map of the Soul: Persona was named as the third best-selling album of 2019 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), making BTS the first Korean artist to be listed on the Global Top 10 Album Chart in consecutive years.^{[185][186][187]} The IFPI named BTS as one of the best-selling artists of 2019 for a second consecutive year, making them the first non-English speaking act to achieve this.^[188][189]

Map of the Soul: 7, «Dynamite» and Be

In January 2020, BTS released «Black Swan» along with a choreography art film performed by MN Dance Company of Slovenia as the first single from their album, Map of the Soul: 7.^[190][191] Album distributor Dreamus reported that stock pre-orders of the album reached a record-breaking 4.02 million.^[192] Later that month, BTS performed at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, making BTS the first Korean act to perform at the Grammys.^[193][194] Map of the Soul: 7 was released on February 21 to favorable reviews.^[195][196] The album was supported by the single «On» and an alternative digital release of it featuring Australian singer Sia.^[197] According to Gaon Chart, Map of the Soul: 7 sold over 4.1 million copies in nine days after its release, surpassing Map of the Soul: Persona to become the best-selling album in South Korean history and the first album to be certified quadruple million.^[198] The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, making BTS the fastest group to earn four number one albums since the Beatles in 1966–1968.^[199] «On» debuted at number four on the Billboard Hot 100, giving BTS its first top-five hit, and the most Hot 100 top-10 entries of any Korean act, with three.^[200] BTS planned to support the Map of the Soul album series with a concert series, Map of the Soul Tour, beginning in April,^[201] but this was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[202]

In April 2020, BTS became the first K-pop artist to sell more than 20 million albums cumulatively,^[203] making them the best-selling artist in South Korean history.^[173][204] That month, amid the pandemic restrictions, BTS held a two-day online streaming concert event titled Bang Bang Con, where the group shared footage of past concerts on their YouTube channel.^[205] On June 7, BTS headlined YouTube’s Dear Class of 2020 online graduation event, performing «Boy with Luv», «Spring Day», and «Mikrokosmos».^[206] Their commencement speeches highlighted their own graduations and offered «messages of hope and inspiration for the class of 2020 in both Korean and English».^[207] On June 14, BTS held an online live concert, Bang Bang Con: The Live, as part of the seventh anniversary of their debut.^[208] It garnered peak viewership of 756,000 live viewers in 107 countries and territories, setting the record for the largest audience for a paid virtual concert.^[209][210] On June 19, BTS released the Japanese single, «Stay Gold», from their fourth Japanese album, Map of the Soul: 7 – The Journey, which was released worldwide on July 14.^[211][212] It surpassed 564,000 copies in its first week, breaking the record for highest first week album sales by male foreign artists in Japan.^[213]

BTS released their first English-language single, «Dynamite», on August 21.^[214] «Dynamite» debuted at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, earning BTS their first chart topper and making them the first all-South Korean act to earn a number one single in the US.^[215][216] The single also topped Billboard‘s new Global 200 for the week ending September 24, as well as Global Excluding US charts, becoming the first single to top both simultaneously.^[217] «Dynamite» peaked at number five on the US Mainstream Top 40 and on the. Billboard Pop Singles chart, becoming their first Top 10 on each and the former the highest-charting entry by a Korean act.^[218][219] On August 31, BTS made their MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) debut with the first live performance of «Dynamite»^[220] and won four awards: Best Group, Best Choreography, Best Pop Video, and Best K-pop (the last three for their music video for «On»).^[221] On October 14, they performed the single at the 2020 Billboard Music Awards and won the Top Social Artist award for a fourth consecutive year.^[222][223]

On October 2, 2020, BTS released a remix of Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo’s single «Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat)».^[224] It topped the Hot 100.^[225] On October 10 and 11, BTS hosted a two-day virtual pay-per-view concert at KSPO Dome in Seoul, called Map of the Soul ON:E, which drew 993,000 viewers from 191 countries and territories.^{[226][227][228]} On November 20, BTS released their fifth Korean studio album Be, led by the single «Life Goes On».^[229] «Life Goes On» debuted at number one on the Hot 100,^[230] BTS’ third consecutive US number-one single in three months and the first song performed primarily in Korean to top the chart.^[231][232]

On November 24, 2020, BTS became the first Korean pop artists recognized by the Recording Academy when «Dynamite» received a nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.^[233] The group won the Special International Music Award at the 62nd Japan Record Awards.^[234] Kim, in his book on the influence of Korean popular culture, suggested that 2020, the worst year in many people’s lives, was a noteworthy one for Korean culture, with Parasite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture and BTS posting three number-one hits on the Billboard Global 200.^[235]

2021–present

«Butter», «Permission to Dance» and Proof

On March 4, 2021, the IFPI named BTS its Global Recording Artist of the Year for 2020, the first Asian and first non-English speaking act to top the ranking.^[237] BTS occupied three spots in the Global Album Sales Chart of 2020, with Map of the Soul: 7 at number one, Be (Deluxe Edition) at number two, and Map of the Soul: 7–The Journey at number eight.^[238] On the newly launched Global Album All Format Chart, Map of the Soul: 7 claimed first place and Be (Deluxe Edition) claimed fourth.^[239] On March 14, 2021, BTS performed «Dynamite» at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the first Korean nominee to perform, though they did not win the award.^[240] On April 1, BTS released «Film Out», the first single from their then-upcoming Japanese compilation album, BTS, the Best.^[241] BTS held a two-day online streaming event on their YouTube channel beginning April 17, titled Bang Bang Con 21, and aired three of their previous in-person concerts.^[242]

BTS released their second English-language single, «Butter», on May 21.^[243] It debuted at number one on the Hot 100—their fourth number one in nine months—making them the quickest act to achieve four chart-toppers since Justin Timberlake in 2006, and the fastest group since the Jackson 5 in 1970.^[244] Their next English-language single, «Permission to Dance», was released on July 9.^[245] It became BTS’ eighth number-one on the Digital Songs chart, extending their record as the group with the most number-one entries on the ranking.^[246] The band released the single «My Universe» with Coldplay on September 24, 2021.^[247] The single debuted at number one on the Hot 100, making it the first collaboration between two groups to debut at number one.^[248] The band held an online concert, titled Permission to Dance on Stage, on October 24, 2021, in Seoul.^[249] On November 23, «Butter» earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.^[250][251] Between November 27 and December 2, BTS held their first live performances before an in-person audience since before the pandemic. The band played four sold-out shows at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles as a continuation of their Permission to Dance on Stage concert series.^{[252][253][254]}

On January 15, 2022, a fictional webtoon based on BTS, titled 7Fates: Chakho, was released. The comic surpassed 15 million views globally in its first two days of availability and became the highest-viewed title ever launched by Webtoon.^[255][256] The band held three limited-capacity concerts at Seoul Olympic Stadium on March 10, 12, and 13—the largest music gatherings^[a] approved by the South Korean government since the pandemic restrictions were imposed—with a total audience of 45,000 people.^[257][258] On April 3, BTS performed «Butter» at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards,^[251] though the song did not win the award for which it was nominated.^[259] On April 8, the band earned seven nominations at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards^[260] and won three, making them the most-nominated and the most-awarded group in the show’s history.^[261][262]

BTS released their three-CD anthology album Proof on June 10, 2022.^{[263][264][265]} On June 14, during their ninth anniversary celebrations, the band announced a temporary suspension of group activities to focus on solo projects and other endeavors.^[266][267] Hybe Corporation, which owns Big Hit,^[268] clarified in subsequent statements that BTS was neither disbanding nor going on hiatus, but would be actively furthering their individual careers with the label’s full support while still participating in group activities, including the filming of Run BTS.^[269][270] The incident caused Hybe Corporation’s stock to decline rapidly, resulting in a decrease in market value of US$1.7 billion.^[271] On August 24, Billboard magazine reported that BTS would be performing in Busan on October 15 in a benefit concert in support of the city’s efforts to have a World Exposition in 2030, participating under the banner Yet to Come.^[272][273]

Military service and scheduled separation

In spite of the announcement of the October 2022 benefit concert, Hybe Corporation’s stock prices continued a sharp decline to below its original IPO amid continuing market speculation about the implications of the upcoming mandatory military enlistment of the band’s members and its potential breakup.^[274] Under South Korean laws, all able-bodied males must complete between 18 and 21 months of military service, usually by age 28.^[272] Bloomberg News reported the concert as a success, but also indicated that there were no further concert dates scheduled. It was estimated that if the band members must complete their service, Hybe Corporation would lose nearly US$10 billion dollars over ten years, with the loss to the South Korean economy at nearly US$39 billion.^[275]

In October 2022, Big Hit confirmed that Jin, the band’s oldest member, aged 29, had withdrawn his enlistment deferral request and would enlist by the end of the month, after concluding his solo music promotions for his single «The Astronaut».^[276] The other members are expected to enlist at later times, with the group planning to reunite in 2025 after the conclusion of their service obligations.^[277][278] At the end of that month, BTS earned five nominations for the 2022 MAMA Awards, with the band members receiving eight further nominations as solo artists.^[279] On November 15, BTS earned three nominations at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards, including a nomination for Best Music Video for «Yet to Come». «My Universe» was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, making BTS the only act to be nominated three years in a row in this category since its introduction in 2011. The band was also nominated for Album of the Year as featured artists on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres.^[280] Jin enlisted in the military as an active duty soldier on December 13.^[281] On December 20, Variety announced the upcoming theatrical release of the band’s BTS ‘Yet to Come’ in Busan concert film in February 2023.^[282]

Artistry

Influences

BTS have cited Seo Taiji and Boys,^[283] Nas, Eminem, Kanye West, Drake, Post Malone, Charlie Puth, and Danger as musical inspirations.^[284] They have also cited Queen as an influence, saying they «grew up watching videos of Live Aid».^[285] During their concert at Wembley Stadium in London, Jin paid tribute to Queen by leading the crowd in a version of Freddie Mercury’s «ay-oh» chant.^[285] «Hip Hop Phile» which was released when BTS’ hip-hop concept was at its height, pays homage to the artists who influenced them, including the South Korean group Epik High, Jay-Z, Biggie, CL Smooth, and others.^[286]

Their 2016 album Wings was inspired by Hermann Hesse’s coming of age novel, Demian.^[287] Their song «Blood Sweat & Tears» quotes Friedrich Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, and its music video features visual references to Herbert James Draper’s The Lament for Icarus, Pieter Bruegel’s Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, and Bruegel’s The Fall of the Rebel Angels.^[288] Among the literary and other sources that have inspired their works are those by Haruki Murakami, Ursula K. Le Guin, Carl Jung, George Orwell and Nietzsche.^[289] The Love Yourself series was influenced by Erich Fromm’s The Art of Loving,^[268][290] and their 2018 song «Magic Shop» from Love Yourself: Tear was inspired by James R. Doty’s memoir Into the Magic Shop.^[291]

Musical style

Since their inception, BTS have emphasized hip hop as their musical base, largely due to the influence of RM and Suga’s background as underground rappers;^[292] during early visits to the US, the group received mentoring from American rappers.^[293] Bang Si-hyuk previously acknowledged that K-pop as a whole draws from black music,^[294] and author Crystal S. Anderson stated, «BTS’s rising popularity in the US represents the continuation of the ways that K-pop functions as part of a global R&B tradition.»^[295] T.K. Park and Youngdae Kim of Vulture deemed the track «Outro: Her» from Love Yourself: Her as the best example of the group’s understanding of old-school hip hop, with raps inspired by Chuck D and Tupac and jazzy chords from the 1990s to create a classic hip hop sound.^[296]

The release of «Blood Sweat & Tears» in 2016 accelerated BTS’ transition from a hip hop to a pop group. Park and Kim noted that the song draws from dancehall, reggaeton, and moombahton but opts for a «baroque mysticism» rather than the «partylike atmosphere of its influences».^[296] The group also began incorporating traditional Korean elements into their music. For example, their single «Idol» (2018) features an adlib from Pansori, a Korean form of operatic storytelling, and vocal imitations of the sounds of Korean janggu drums.^[297]

While BTS maintains roots in hip hop, their sound has diversified. They first experimented with R&B, rock and jazz hip hop on Dark & Wild in 2014;^[298][299] EDM in their The Most Beautiful Moment in Life album series;^[50] moombahton and tropical house on Wings and You Never Walk Alone ;^{[300][301][67]} future bass and Latin pop in their Love Yourself album series;^[82] slow-dance ballads,^[302] emo rap, Afro pop,^[303] funk, trap, pop rock, and hip pop in their Map of the Soul album series;^[304] and disco in their single «Dynamite».^[305][306] The band members have explored different genres on solo tracks, such as neo soul on V’s «Stigma» and flowing R&B on Jimin’s «Lie».^[300]

Lyrical themes

Since their formation, BTS have believed that telling their own stories is the best way for the younger generation to relate to their music.^[307] Writing many of their own lyrics,^[308][309] the group discusses universal life experiences such as sadness and loneliness in their work and turn them into something lighter and more manageable. RM stated that BTS tries to avoid a preaching or reprimanding tone in their songs «because that’s not the way that we want to spread our message … We’re born with different lives, but you cannot choose some things. So we thought that love, the real meaning of it, starts with loving ourselves and accepting some ironies and some destinies that we have from the very start.»^[310] When asked if it is difficult to write about things like mental health, Suga responded,

We feel that people who have the platform to talk about those things really should talk more, because they say depression is something where you go to the hospital and you’re diagnosed, but you can’t really know until the doctor talks to you … More and more, I think artists or celebrities who have a voice should talk about these problems and bring it up to the surface.^[310]

Themes explored in BTS’ discography range from exploring «the troubles and anxieties of school-age youth» to «themes like love, friendship, loss, death, and more.»^[311] Early BTS songs, such as «No More Dream» and «N.O» from their school trilogy, were described by Tamar Herman as motivated by personal experiences with South Korea’s rigid approach to education and called for change to the educational system and societal expectations.^[312] The members’ experiences with South Korean youth culture also inspired the songs «Dope» and «Silver Spoon» (Korean: 뱁새; RR: Baepsae) from their youth trilogy. These songs reference generational disparity and millennials giving up romantic relationships, marriage, children, proper employment, homes, and social life in the face of economic difficulties and societal ills while facing condemnation from the media and older generations.^[312] The group’s label dubbed The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever, the conclusion to their youth trilogy, «a special album that marks the conclusion of the epic journey of the series, containing the last stories told by young people who, despite an uncertain and insecure reality (The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 1) continue to surge forward (The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Pt. 2).»^[313] Wings focused on mental health, criticisms of the K-pop «idol» scene, and delivering a female empowerment message.^[314] The Love Yourself series introduced new themes regarding youth culture in South Korea, including the excitement of love, pain of farewell, and enlightenment of self-love.^[315] According to Kathy Sprinkel, BTS’ 2020 «quarantine album» Be «chronicles the group’s coming to terms with a suddenly new reality and offers support for their listeners going through the same upheaval and uncertainty».^[316]

BTS’ lyrics have also addressed topics outside youth culture. The song «Am I Wrong» from Wings questioned societal apathy towards changing the status quo; the lyric «We’re all dogs and pigs / we become dogs because we’re angry» appeared to reference South Korean Ministry of Education official Na Hyang-wook, who advocated a caste system for the country and who reportedly described average people as «dogs and pigs». BTS released the song amid the 2016 South Korean political scandal that resulted in the impeachment of president Park Geun-hye.^[312] RM and Suga’s personal struggles with mental health have inspired some of their music.^[310][296] «Not Today» from 2017’s You Never Walk Alone is an anti-establishment anthem, urging «all the underdogs in the world» to keep fighting,^[317] and «Spring Day» honored the victims of the Sewol Ferry tragedy.^[318] Journalist Jeff Benjamin praised BTS in Fuse for «speak[ing] honestly about topics they deem important, even in a conservative society».^[319] Former South Korean president Moon Jae-in said: «Each of the seven members sings in a way that is true to himself and the life he wants to live. Their melody and lyrics transcend regional borders, language, culture, and institutions.»^[320]

Impact

On April 29, 2019, Time magazine named BTS one of the 100 most influential people of the year, labeling them the «Princes of Pop».^[321] Billboard executive Silvio Pietroluongo compared the group’s influence to that of the Beatles.^[322] MRC Data executive Helena Kosinski noted that «although BTS weren’t the first to open the doors to K-Pop worldwide, they were the first to become mainstream. They don’t just appeal to young people but also to the 50s and 60s age demographic.»^[323] The first non-English speaking artist to make the Global Artist Chart in 2018, BTS was the second best-selling artists worldwide across multiple media platforms, second only to Drake.^{[324][325][326]} In 2020, BTS became the first non-western and non-English speaking artist to be named IFPI’s Global Recording Artist of the Year.^[237] In South Korea, BTS accounted for 41.9 percent of album sales in the first half of 2019, up from their market share of 25.3 percent the previous year.^[327]

In 2022, Youna Kim described BTS as having spearheaded the Korean wave, representing the global expansion of Korean culture as effectively as Psy did in the previous decade and with the strength of influence that the Academy Award-winning South Korean film Parasite had in 2020.^[328] South Korea’s central bank, the Bank of Korea, found in 2021 that BTS, including a «ripple effect» that included increased tourism to South Korea; increased interest in Korean culture, movies, and study of the Korean language; and added approximately US$5 billion per year to South Korea’s economy, a growth of about 0.5 percent.^[329] A 2018 study showed that, on average, 800,000 foreigners per year had visited South Korea over the past four years for BTS-related reasons.^[330]

Writers identified BTS as leaders even among other highly influential K-pop groups such as Girls’ Generation, Super Junior, Exo, Twice, and Blackpink^[331] and note that BTS’ success shows the importance of a strong, active fan base in the age of social media, where fan campaigning can be as important as musical quality to a song’s success.^[332] The group has also distinguished themselves at the forefront of the business side of the K-pop industry by pursuing less restrictive contracts with their management company to maximize their artistic originality and creativity.^[333][334] With this newer approach to career management, BTS created closer ties to the South Korean youth and encourage individuality and authenticity among their audience.^[142]

Diplomacy

Political scientist Joseph Nye developed the concept of soft power in his 2004 book Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics,^[335][336] which researchers such as Maud Quessard have applied to BTS and their influence on entertainment diplomacy and international relations.^[337] Nye wrote, «when one country gets other countries to want what it wants might be called co-optive or soft power in contrast with the hard or command power of ordering others to do what it wants».^[338] Youna Kim and Maud Quessard all read the currency of soft power as including culture, political values, and foreign policy, which applies to BTS’ ability to be co-optive in their approach to spreading their message of harmony, acceptance, and addressing life’s setbacks via their broad appeal on the international stage.^[337]

BTS were invited to address the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018^[339][340] and perform before 400 officials, including President Moon Jae-in, at the 2018 Korea-France Friendship Concert in Paris, a summit celebrating the friendly relations between France and South Korea.^[341] That year, BTS became the youngest recipients of the Order of Cultural Merit. Despite cultural medals traditionally being given to recipients with over 15 years of achievement, Moon recognized the group, five years into their career, for their contributions in spreading Korean culture and language worldwide.^[342][343] In September 2019, BTS were mentioned by Moon while announcing strategies for the content industries, for having pioneered innovative business models through direct communication with fans.^[344] In 2020, BTS received the James A. Van Fleet Award in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the promotion of US-Korea relations, the youngest honorees to receive the award.^[345][346] In July 2021, they were appointed Special Presidential Envoy for Future Generations and Culture by President Moon. In their role as envoys, they help to «raise awareness on global agendas, such as sustainable development, to our future generations and to strengthen the nation’s diplomatic power across the world»^[347] and appear at international events such as the 76th United Nations General Assembly.^[348] On May 31, 2022, BTS visited US President Joe Biden at the White House to discuss the recent rise in anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination.^[349]

Fandom

According to Kyung Hyun Kim, BTS’ rise was facilitated by a great increase in music video programming and consumption on YouTube and the coming of an idol empire, including merchandising of nonmusical products, games, and fantasy fiction, as well as an expansion of online music fandom.^[350] The group has a large, highly organized, online community of fans known as ARMY (Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth), which translates the group’s lyrics and social media posts into other languages and matches charitable contributions of BTS’ members. As of 2020, some 40 million ARMY members subscribe to the band’s YouTube channel, with more than 30 million following the official BTS Twitter and Instagram accounts.^[80] The fan community helps generate BTS’ number-one chart rankings via coordinated campaigns on streaming platforms,^[351] as well as pushes to feature BTS’ music on radio stations and television.^[352] Some ARMY members may even surpass the group itself in influence among BTS fans.^[353]

BTS interacted and engaged with their followers from their earliest days via social media,^[354] as well as via BTS Universe, an alternate storyline involving the members told through music videos, mobile games, books, short films, and more that gives fans room to theorize.^[355] Kim suggested that ARMY are drawn to BTS since the members are seen as underdogs, originating from the Korean countryside and a relatively minor Korean entertainment company, which allows young fans to identify with them.^[356] BTS’ lyrics speak to social values, and fans respond by trying to improve the world. As a result, the fandom regularly embraces activism on charitable causes and socio-political issues such as refugee crises, racial discrimination, children’s rights, global warming, and the COVID-19 pandemic.^{[357][358][359]} Feedback from ARMY to BTS affects the group’s actions and lyrics; BTS has eliminated certain Korean words that sound like American racial slurs from their songs and ended collaboration with a Japanese producer when Korean ARMY members deemed his views extreme.^[360]

Per South Korean author Jiyoung Lee, the relationship between BTS and ARMY is «a mutual exchange between artists and their fans» that is about more than merely «ensuring the band’s primacy», but also «extending the band’s message of positivity into the world». Lee opines that BTS and ARMY are «a symbol of change in zeitgeist, not just of generational change».^[361] The band members themselves agree and have long acknowledged their fans’ role in their success.^[362] According to Sarah Keith, «BTS embody a moment of generational transformation. ARMY represents a ‘coming of age’ for the young, in which cultural production and influence are global and meaningful, and where the youth are politically and socially engaged.»^[363]

Endorsements and awards

Among BTS’ endorsement deals, the group has partnered with Puma beginning in 2015, BTS initially promoted its sportswear as Puma Korea’s brand ambassadors before expanding to become global ambassadors in 2018, and promoting the remix of Puma’s «Turin» and «Sportstyle» line worldwide.^{[364][365][366]} In 2019, BTS signed with Fila to endorse its sportswear.^[367] BTS has also served as global brand ambassadors for LG Electronics’ smartphones,^[368] and Hyundai Motors’ 2019 flagship SUV the «Palisade»^[369] and hydrogen fuel cell electric SUV, the «Nexo».^[370] BTS became global ambassadors of the electric street racing series Formula E to promote how electric vehicles can help combat climate change.^[371] In 2020, BTS partnered with Samsung Electronics,^[372] releasing a limited BTS-themed version of the Galaxy S20+ and Galaxy Buds+.^[373] As the first male pop group ever to collaborate with Dior, BTS sported ensembles from Kim Jones’ Pre-Fall 2019 collection at their concert at Stade de France.^[374] The band became global brand ambassadors for Louis Vuitton in April 2021.^[375]

Members

• Jin (진) – vocalist^[376]
• Suga (슈가) – rapper^[377]
• J-Hope (제이홉) – rapper^[378]
• RM – leader, rapper^[379]
• Jimin (지민) – vocalist^[380]
• V (뷔) – vocalist^[381]
• Jungkook (정국) – vocalist^[382]

Discography

Filmography

Films

• Burn the Stage: The Movie (2018)
• Love Yourself in Seoul (2019)
• Bring the Soul: The Movie (2019)
• Break the Silence: The Movie (2020)
• BTS: Permission to Dance on Stage – LA (2022)
• BTS: Yet to Come in Cinemas (2023)

Online shows

• Run BTS (2015–present)
• BTS In the Soop (2020–2021)

Concert tours

• The Red Bullet Tour (2014–2015)^[383][384]
• Wake Up: Open Your Eyes Japan Tour (2015)^{[385][386][387]}
• The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage Tour (2015–2016)^[388]
• The Wings Tour (2017)^[389]
• Love Yourself World Tour (2018–2019)^[390][391]

See also

• Philanthropy of BTS

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Anderson, Crystal S. (2020). Soul in Seoul: African American Popular Music and K-pop. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-3009-8.
• Hunt, Robert; McKelvey, Fenwick (2019). «Algorithmic Regulation in Media and Cultural Policy: A Framework to Evaluate Barriers to Accountability». Journal of Information Policy. 9: 307–335. doi:10.5325/jinfopoli.9.2019.0307. JSTOR 10.5325/jinfopoli.9.2019.0307. S2CID 213521720.
• Jin, Dal Yong (2022), «Transnational Cultural Power of BTS: Digital Fan Activism in the Social Media Era», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 142–154, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Ju, Hyunshik. «Premediating a Narrative of Growth: BTS, Digital Media, and Fan Culture». Popular Entertainment Studies: 19–33. ISSN 1837-9303.
• Keith, Sarah (2022), «BTS as Cultural Ambassadors», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 152–167, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Kim, Kyung Hyun (2021). Hegemonic Mimicry: Korean Popular Culture of the Twenty-first Century. Duke University Press. ISBN 978-1-4780-1358-7.
• Kim, Kyung Hyun (2022), «BTS and the World Music Industry», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 107–117, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Kim, Youna (2022), «Introduction: Popular Culture and Soft Power in the Social Media Age», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 1–38, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Kim, Young-dae (2019a). BTS–The Review: A Comprehensive Look at the Music of BTS. Translated by H.J. Chung. RH Korea. ISBN 978-8-925-56582-8.
• Lie, John (2022), «BTS, the Highest Stage of K-Pop», in Kim, Youna (ed.), The Soft Power of the Korean Wave: Parasite, BTS and Drama, Routledge, pp. 118–128, ISBN 978-1-00310-248-9
• Nye, Joseph S. (2004). Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. Hachette UK. ISBN 978-0-78673-896-0.
• Quessard, Maud (2020), «Entertainment Diplomacy», in Balzacq, Thierry; Charillon, Frédéric; Ramel, Frédéric (eds.), Global Diplomacy: An Introduction to the Theory and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 279–296, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-28786-3_21, ISBN 978-3-03028-785-6, S2CID 211355635
• Shapiro, Marc (2018). Burn the Stage: The Rise of BTS and Korean Boy Bands. Riverdale Avenue Books. ISBN 978-1-62601-490-9.
• Sprinkel, Katy (2021). BTS: One. Triumph Books. ISBN 978-1-64125-643-8.

External links

• Official website

This page was last edited on 5 January 2023, at 07:23