BTS

The South Korean boy band BTS, recognized also as Bangtan Boys, forged a high-energy fusion of dance-pop and hip-hop laced with profoundly reflective lyrics. This approach cultivated an intensely loyal worldwide audience and positioned the group among Korea’s most impactful cultural exports. They entered the scene in the early 2010s via the Skool trilogy, gradually enlarging their reach before achieving broad recognition through the Love Yourself series. Following the platinum-certified Love Yourself: Tear, which marked their initial chart-topping release beyond Korea, the compilation Love Yourself: Answer secured the summit in both Canada and Japan. By 2020, global excitement culminated in their fourth album, Map of the Soul: 7, which led charts across more than twenty nations. That summer brought another landmark when BTS became the first all-South Korean act to reach the top of the U.S. singles chart with the retro-disco single “Dynamite,” drawn from their fifth chart-topping project, Be. In the ensuing year they secured three additional Billboard number ones, among them “Butter” and the Coldplay collaboration “My Universe.” Their expansive anthology Proof, documenting their first decade, arrived in summer 2022.

Producer Bang Si Hyuk assembled the septet, whose members comprise RM (Kim Namjoon), the leader and rapper; Jin (Kim Seokjin), vocalist; Suga (Min Yoongi), rapper; J-Hope (Jung Hoseok), rapper and choreographer; Jimin (Jimin Park), vocalist and choreographer; V (Kim Taehyung), vocalist; and Jungkook (Jungkook Jeon), vocalist, rapper, and choreographer. Beyond production and composition duties, BTS members craft their own lyrics, which confront themes of mental health, self-acceptance, and empowerment. Their youthful mix of club-oriented dance anthems, emotive love ballads, and forceful rapping forged a deep connection with dedicated supporters known as ARMY, distinguishing the group from the standard K-pop apparatus upon their 2013 debut with the opening chapter of the School Trilogy series, 2 Cool 4 Skool. Several months afterward they issued the saga’s second EP, O!RUL8,2?. The trilogy concluded with Skool Luv Affair, which surfaced near Valentine’s Day in 2014.

Later that year BTS delivered their first full-length album, Dark & Wild, spotlighting the single “Danger.” As their following expanded and international tours sold out, they unveiled The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 in April 2015, followed by Pt. 2 in November. They launched a large-scale world tour while The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2 topped six international charts, including Billboard’s World Albums chart; four weeks later they became the first K-pop act to accomplish this milestone. Their sophomore LP, Wings, extended the record-breaking pattern upon its late-2016 release. Wings became the first BTS project to debut at number one on both Korean album and song charts and made the group only the third K-pop act to enter the Canadian Hot 100, yet its strongest imprint appeared on Billboard tallies. The highest placement yet for any K-pop release, Wings entered the Billboard 200’s Top 30—marking both their biggest U.S. chart debut and highest sales figures—rendering BTS the first K-pop artists to place three albums on the main album chart. Wings also became their sixth Top Three entry and second number one on the World Albums chart, while they became the first K-pop act to remain on the charts for four weeks. The album reflected continued artistic development, containing seven solo tracks that highlighted each member’s individuality. Four months later the group reissued the project as You Never Walk Alone, appending four new songs—including the singles “Spring Day” and “Not Today”—to the original Wings sequence. With their U.S. presence growing, BTS claimed the Top Social Artist Award at the 2017 Billboard Music Awards. Their fifth EP, Love Yourself: Her, followed in September and became the first K-pop album to debut inside the Billboard 200’s Top Ten, arriving at number seven.

Early in 2018 BTS earned their first double-platinum certifications in Japan and became the first Korean act to receive two gold certifications in the U.S. That spring they released their third Japanese LP, Face Yourself, which contained Japanese-language versions of tracks from Wings and Love Yourself: Her along with only two previously unreleased songs; the set debuted just outside the Billboard 200’s Top 40. The next month they issued their third official full-length, Love Yourself: Tear, featuring the single “Fake Love.” Days afterward they returned to the Billboard Music Awards, performing and securing Top Social Artist for the second consecutive year. Billboard success persisted when Love Yourself: Tear ascended to the summit of the Billboard 200, marking the first foreign-language number one on the U.S. chart in more than a decade. BTS duplicated the achievement that summer with the trilogy’s conclusion, Love Yourself: Answer. The compilation introduced several new tracks, among them lead single “Idol,” alongside previously released material from Her and Tear, plus remixes and a Nicki Minaj-assisted rendition of “Idol.” For advancing Korea’s cultural reach globally, each BTS member received cultural merit medals from government officials, becoming the youngest recipients of the honor.

Building on the Love Yourself series’ international momentum, the group closed the chapter with a sold-out global stadium tour that prepared the ground for Map of the Soul: Persona. The 2019 album’s first single, “Persona,” presented a solo RM referencing both Carl Jung and BTS’ own 2014 track “Intro: Skool Luv Affair,” while follow-up “Boy with Luv” enlisted American singer Halsey. Although “Boy with Luv” rose into the Hot 100’s Top Ten, the album itself topped the Billboard 200, becoming BTS’ third number one within a year. Before the next official release the band appeared in the mobile game BTS World; its companion soundtrack, BTS World: Original Soundtrack, featured a new group track plus three collaborations with Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, and Juice WRLD. The bulk of the set comprised instrumental compositions by Kang Minkook, who created one theme per BTS member, together with tracks by Korean indie duo Okdal and Big Hit labelmate Lee Hyun. Although not an official BTS album, the soundtrack still reached number 72 on the Billboard 200 while simultaneously leading Korean charts.

Following a short absence from the spotlight, BTS returned fully in 2020. The same week Love Yourself: Answer became the first South Korean album certified platinum in the U.S., they joined Lil Nas X on the Grammy Awards stage to perform RM’s “Seoul Town Road” version of the rapper’s hit single. The following month the group released their fourth Korean-language LP and second U.S. number-one album, Map of the Soul: 7. The project combined highlights from Map of the Soul: Persona with more than a dozen new tracks, including the single “Black Swan” and collaborations with Troye Sivan and Allie X on “Louder Than Bombs” plus Sia on the digital-only “On.” They extended the Map of the Soul era later in 2020 with their fourth Japanese-language effort, Map of the Soul: 7 - The Journey, which reimagined selections from Map of the Soul: 7, Map of the Soul: Persona, and Love Yourself: Answer for Japanese listeners. For English-speaking fans they issued their first track performed entirely in English that summer. The disco-funk single “Dynamite” shattered streaming records within hours of release and debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making BTS the first all-South Korean act to top the U.S. chart. That same week the group made their initial appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards, performing “Dynamite” for a virtual audience. The track previewed their next album era, which began with the November release of Be. Recorded during COVID-19 quarantine, the effort reflected heightened contributions from every member in songwriting, production, and overall design. The same week Be became their fifth album to debut atop the Billboard 200, BTS also scored their second consecutive number-one single with “Life Goes On.” Capping a standout year, South Korea’s National Assembly enacted a revised law raising the age for mandatory military service from 28 to 30, thereby sparing Jin an early hiatus and enabling the group to continue contributing to South Korea’s GDP, nearly $5 billion of which was linked to BTS in 2019.

In February 2021 BTS delivered an MTV Unplugged set featuring acoustic interpretations of Be tracks “Dynamite,” “Telepathy,” “Blue & Grey,” and “Life Goes On,” alongside a faithful rendition of Coldplay’s “Fix You.” Months later they returned with the Jungkook-penned single “Film Out” from their Japanese-language compilation BTS, The Best. By summer the group was prepared with another English-language single, the Grammy-nominated “Butter.” Released in May, the track shattered a streaming premiere record after surpassing 20 million views in an hour and became the group’s fourth Billboard Hot 100 chart-topper. Various remixes appeared in “Hotter,” “Sweeter,” and “Cooler” versions, along with a standalone edition featuring a Megan Thee Stallion verse, keeping the song at number one for weeks. Eventually issued as a multi-format physical single, it was paired with the Ed Sheeran-penned “Permission to Dance,” which reached number one in the U.S. and across Asia. Their third U.S. chart-topper of 2021 arrived in September when they teamed with Coldplay for “My Universe” from the English band’s Music of the Spheres. Rounding out another landmark year, they earned Artist of the Year, Favorite Pop Group, and Favorite Pop Song at the November American Music Awards. That same month BTS launched the U.S. leg of their Permission to Dance on Stage concert series in Los Angeles, concluding months later in April 2022 in Las Vegas. Just days before the Vegas residency they performed “Butter” at the 64th Grammy Awards. That May they collected an additional three Billboard Music Awards, establishing them as the group with the most awards in the show’s history. Weeks afterward BTS visited the White House to discuss the rise in Asian American hate crimes with President Joe Biden. In early June the group marked their first decade together with the three-disc compilation Proof, which introduced several new tracks—including the top-20 Hot 100 single “Yet to Come”—spread across a best-of disc, a disc of personally selected tracks from each member, and a disc of demos and unreleased material. The single “The Planet” appeared in May 2023 as part of the soundtrack to the animated film Bastions.