In 2010, a small entertainment company in Seoul named Big Hit Entertainment made a gamble that seemed destined to fail. The CEO, Bang Si-hyuk, wanted to create a hip-hop group centered around an underground rapper named Kim Nam-joon, known professionally as RM. At the time, the physical album market was collapsing, and digital revenues were not yet high enough to sustain a new artist. Bang decided to form an idol group instead, because of the potential for live concert performances and passionate support from fans of such groups. Many trainees refused to become part of an idol group, but J-Hope, RM, and Suga remained. Bang 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. The band members lived together, practicing up to 15 hours a day, and first performed before a small crowd of industry insiders in 2013. They called themselves Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates to Bulletproof Boy Scouts, a name that signified their desire to block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that aim on adolescents like bullets. Their debut single album 2 Cool 4 Skool was released on the 12th of June 2013, along with the lead single No More Dream, neither of which sold particularly well at the time. Nevertheless, 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. The album reached the top five on South Korea's Gaon Music Chart, but the real story was just beginning.
The School Trilogy and Youth
BTS's early work was defined by a deep connection to the struggles of South Korean youth, creating a narrative arc known as the school trilogy. The last entry in this trilogy, the Skool Luv Affair EP, was released in February 2014 and topped the Gaon Album Chart, appearing on Billboards World Albums Chart for the first time, peaking at number three. The EP was supported by two singles: Boy in Luv and Just One Day. Following Skool Luv Affairs release, BTS played at their first fan meeting in Seoul, selecting the name A.R.M.Y. for the fan club. In July 2014, BTS hosted a concert in West Hollywood, their first show in the United States, and in August they appeared at KCON in Los Angeles. The group then released the album Dark & Wild in August 2014, which reached number two in South Korea. It was supported by two singles: Danger and War of Hormone. The group embarked on their first concert tour, 2014 BTS Live Trilogy Episode II: The Red Bullet, which lasted from October to December 2014. The band launched their first Japanese studio album, Wake Up, in December 2014, the release peaked at number three on the Oricon Albums Chart. After the album's release, BTS held their 1st Japan Tour 2015 Wake Up: Open Your Eyes in February 2015. The Red Bullet Tour that had begun on the 17th of October 2014, in South Korea was resumed on the 6th of June 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. The group then experimented with other styles of music besides hip-hop in The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1, released in 2015. BTS wanted to express the beauty and anxiousness of youth and settled on the title of Hwayangyeonhwa, loosely interpreted to define youth metaphorically as the most beautiful moment in life. The album served as an introduction to their youth trilogy, a triptych of albums dedicated to the struggles of young people. 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. The second single Dope reached number three on Billboards World Digital Song Sales chart and its music video was viewed over 100 million times on YouTube. 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. For You, in Japanese, was released together with Japanese versions of War of Hormone and Let Me Know on the 17th of June 2015, and immediately topped Oricon's daily chart. In November, BTS commenced their third concert tour, 2015 BTS LIVE The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: On Stage, beginning with three sold-out shows in Seoul. The tour marked the debut of their fourth EP, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2, and was later extended to Japan. 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. The album topped the weekly Gaon Album and Billboard World Albums charts. It also marked their first appearance on the Billboard 200 chart, making it for one week at number 171, and eight of the tracks appeared on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart. Their compilation album and the finale to their youth trilogy, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever was released on the 2nd of May 2016. With 300,000 presold copies, it included three new singles: Epilogue: Young Forever, Fire, and Save Me, which debuted in the top three spots on the Billboard World Digital Charts. The album topped the Gaon Album Chart in South Korea for two consecutive weeks and reached number 107 on the Billboard 200. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever won Album of the Year at the 2016 Melon Music Awards. 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. In September 2016, BTS released their second Japanese studio album Youth. The album sold 44,547 copies on the first day of its release, and charted 1st in the Oricon Daily Album Chart. The album was eventually certified Gold with sales of roughly over 100,000 in Japan. It was followed one month later in October, by their next studio album Wings, which combined the themes of youth presented in their previous youth trilogy with temptation and adversity. 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. Wings opened at number 26 on the Billboard 200, with 16,000 album-equivalent units in the US for the week of its release, the best week ever there for a K-pop album. It became the best-selling album in Gaon Album Chart history.
The year 2017 marked a turning point where BTS crossed into the global music market and led the Korean Wave into the United States. 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. The lead single was Spring Day and it won Best Song of the Year at the 2017 Melon Music Awards. BTS's second world tour, 2017 BTS Live Trilogy Episode III: The Wings Tour, began in February. On the tour, BTS played arenas in the US, 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. After completing the North American leg, BTS attended the 24th Billboard Music Awards in May and won Top Social Artist, the first K-pop group to win a Billboard award. 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. This caused the international media to focus on the ability of BTS's fandom to propel the group to such a victory. BTS released a remake of Seo Taiji's Come Back Home in July 2017, giving it new lyrics but maintaining the theme of urging societal change. Later that year, BTS embarked on their Love Yourself album series, with theme of the enlightenment of self-love through the Kiseongjeongyeol narrative sequence of beginning, development, turn, and conclusion. BTS released its first part, their fifth EP, Love Yourself: Her, on September 18. RM considered DNA, the lead single from that album, as taking BTS to new ground. We tried to apply new grammar and perspectives. 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. Sonically, the EP served as a dual exploration of the group's electro-pop and hip-hop leanings. Love Yourself: Her debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200. The album had 1,664,041 sales in May 2017 to lead the Gaon Chart, and was the first in 16 years to exceed 1.2 million copies sold since g.o.d's fourth album Chapter 4 in 2001. DNA was released simultaneously with the EP, and its music video accumulated 21 million views in its first 24 hours. 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. The single rose to number 67 the following week and became the highest-charting song on the Hot 100 for any K-pop group. 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. Both singles attained Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America in early 2018. Mic Drop achieved Platinum status in the US later that year. In November 2017, BTS became the first K-pop group to perform at the American Music Awards. BTS won Artist of the Year at the 19th Mnet Asian Music Awards in December, winning for the second consecutive year. They released DNA and Mic Drop together with a new song Crystal Snow as a single album in Japan on the 6th of December 2017, though the songs were made digitally available elsewhere. 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. Later that month, they made their Japanese television prime time music show debut on Music Station Super Live, and ended the year by performing on Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. 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.
The Love Yourself Era
The Love Yourself series represented a massive leap in commercial success and cultural impact for BTS. In March 2018, 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. Their third Japanese studio album, Face Yourself, was released on the 4th of April 2018, 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. BTS promoted Tears the 18th of May 2018, release with an appearance at the 25th Billboard Music Awards two days later, where they made their initial BBMA performance with their single, Fake Love. The group also won Top Social Artist for a second consecutive time. The album coincided with the 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. Love Yourself: Tear debuted at number one its first week on the Billboard 200, becoming BTS's first number-one album in the US and the first K-pop album to top the US albums chart. It also became BTS's first top-10 release in Britain, reaching number eight on the UK Albums Chart. Fake Love became BTS's 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. BTS released their compilation album Love Yourself: Answer in August 2018. The album was supported by the single Idol and its alternative digital release featuring Nicki Minaj. Love Yourself: Answer sold over 1.9 million copies on the Gaon Album Chart in August 2018. The album became BTS's 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. In November 2018, Love Yourself: Answer became the first Korean language album to be certified Gold by the RIAA. Idol and Love Yourself: Answer both received Platinum certifications in the US, with sales of more than 1 million. In conjunction with Love Yourself: Answers 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. In October, BTS released their collaboration with Steve Aoki Waste It on Me, their first all-English language feature. 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. According to StubHub, BTS was the second best-selling concert act outside the US, behind only Ed Sheeran. That October, BTS renewed their contract with Big Hit Entertainment through 2026. In early November 2018, a popular Japanese music show cancelled BTS's performance, citing a T-shirt a member wore the year before, bearing a photograph of a mushroom cloud following the bombing of Nagasaki. In the same month, the Jewish human rights organization Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that BTS owed an apology for that shirt, and for clothing and flags with Nazi symbolism. 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. They also stated that the flags were meant to be a commentary on the Korean school system. The apology was accepted by SWC and the Korean Atomic Bomb Victim Association. 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. 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. 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.
Stadiums and Global Dominance
By 2019, BTS had achieved a level of global dominance previously unseen for a non-English speaking act. In February 2019, BTS, for the first time, were presenters at the Grammy Awards. In April, Time named them one of the Time 100, the most influential people of 2019. Their EP, Map of the Soul: Persona, was released on April 12 with the single Boy with Luv, featuring American singer Halsey. The EP's release was followed by a performance on Saturday Night Live, the first K-pop act to appear there. 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 album to top the Billboard 200 in less than a year. 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. Boy with Luv debuted at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 in April 2019, the highest placement ever for a K-pop song. Following their two wins at the 26th Billboard Music Awards in May, including for Top Duo/Group, BTS embarked on their world tour stadium extension, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself. Due to the demand, BTS added more shows after tickets for the first dates sold out within two hours. In the lead up to the release of their mobile game BTS World, in June 2019 BTS released Dream Glow featuring Charli XCX, A Brand New Day with Zara Larsson, and All Night with Juice Wrld. The group released the song Heartbeat with a music video from the game's official soundtrack, titled BTS World: Original Soundtrack. The soundtrack was certified Double Platinum by Gaon. On the 3rd of July 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. Lights debuted at number 81 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 for the chart issue date of the 8th of July 2019, and reached number one the following week. On the 8th of August 2019, Lights received Million certification from the RIAJ, denoting shipments of one million copies. Love Yourself: Her and Love Yourself: Tear both crossed 2 million copies in August. All three albums of the Love Yourself series have sold more than 2 million copies each in South Korea. 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. For the final stop of their record-breaking Love Yourself: Speak Yourself World Tour, the group played Seoul's Olympic Stadium. BTS was the third top-grossing touring musical act of 2019. That same month, they released a remix version of the song Make It Right featuring Lauv. 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. In December, they attended both the 2019 Melon Music Awards and the 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards. In each case, they became the first group to sweep the four major awards. 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. 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 Top10 Albums Total Sales in the US. BTS wrapped 2019 as the fourth-highest-ranked group on Billboards Top Billboard 200 Artists, Duo/Group ranking, behind Queen, Imagine Dragons and the Beatles. Map of the Soul: Persona was named as the third best-selling album of 2019 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, making BTS the first Korean artist to be listed on the Global Top10 Album Chart in consecutive years. 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.
The Pandemic and The Platinum Era
The year 2020 saw BTS achieve unprecedented milestones during a global pandemic. 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. Album distributor Dreamus reported that stock pre-orders of the album reached a record-breaking 4.02 million. Later that month, BTS performed at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards, making BTS the first Korean act to perform at the Grammys. Map of the Soul: 7 was released on February 21 to favorable reviews. The album was supported by the single On and an alternative digital release of it featuring Australian singer Sia. 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. 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. 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. BTS planned to support the Map of the Soul album series with a concert series, Map of the Soul Tour, beginning in April, but this was indefinitely postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, BTS became the first K-pop artist to sell more than 20 million albums cumulatively, making them the best-selling artist in South Korean history. 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. On June 7, BTS headlined YouTube's Dear Class of 2020 online graduation event, performing Boy with Luv, Spring Day, and Mikrokosmos. Their commencement speeches highlighted their own graduations and offered messages of hope and inspiration for the class of 2020 in both Korean and English. On June 14, BTS held an online live concert, Bang Bang Con: The Live, as part of the seventh anniversary of their debut. 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. 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. It surpassed 564,000 copies in its first week, breaking the record for highest first week album sales by male foreign artists in Japan. BTS released their first English-language single, Dynamite, on August 21. 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. The single also topped Billboard new Global 200 for the week ending September 24, as well as Global Excluding US charts, becoming the first single to top both simultaneously. 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. On August 31, BTS made their MTV Video Music Awards debut with the first live performance of Dynamite and won four awards: Best Group, Best Choreography, Best Pop Video, and Best K-pop, the last three for their music video for On. 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. On the 2nd of October 2020, BTS released a remix of Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo's single Savage Love Laxed , Siren Beat. It topped the Hot 100. 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. On November 20, BTS released their fifth Korean studio album Be, led by the single Life Goes On. Life Goes On debuted at number one on the Hot 100, BTS's third consecutive US number-one single in three months and the first song performed primarily in Korean to top the chart. On the 24th of November 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. The group won the Special International Music Award at the 62nd Japan Record Awards. 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.
The Butter Effect and The Pause
In 2021, BTS continued their dominance with a string of English-language hits that shattered records. On the 4th of March 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. 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. On the newly launched Global Album All Format Chart, Map of the Soul: 7 claimed first place and Be Deluxe Edition claimed fourth. On the 14th of March 2021, BTS performed Dynamite at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, becoming the first Korean nominee to perform, though they did not win the award. On April 1, BTS released Film Out, the first single from their then-upcoming Japanese compilation album, BTS, the Best. 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. On May 21, BTS released their second English-language single, Butter. 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. Their next English-language single, Permission to Dance, was released on July 9. It became BTS's eighth number-one on the Digital Songs chart, extending their record as the group with the most number-one entries on the ranking. On the 24th of September 2021, the band released the single My Universe with Coldplay. The single debuted at number one on the Hot 100, making it the first collaboration between two groups to debut at number one. On the 4th of October 2021, My Universe became BTS' sixth Hot 100 number one, achieving the fastest accumulation of six chart-toppers since The Beatles in 1964, 1966. The band held an online concert, titled Permission to Dance on Stage, on the 24th of October 2021, in Seoul. On November 23, Butter earned a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. 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. On the 15th of January 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. The band held three limited-capacity concerts at Seoul Olympic Stadium on the 10th of March 12 and 13, the largest music gatherings approved by the South Korean government since the pandemic restrictions were imposed, with a total audience of 45,000 people. On April 3, BTS performed Butter at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, though the song did not win the award for which it was nominated. On April 8, the band earned seven nominations at the 2022 Billboard Music Awards and won three, making them the most-nominated and the most-awarded group in the show's history. On the 10th of June 2022, BTS released their three-CD anthology album Proof. 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. Hybe Corporation, which owns Big Hit, 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. The incident caused Hybe Corporation's stock to decline rapidly, resulting in a decrease in market value of US$1.7 billion. 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. In spite of the announcement of the October 2022 benefit concert, Hybe Corporation's stock prices dropped to below its original IPO amid continuing market speculation about the implications of the upcoming mandatory military enlistment of the band's members. Under South Korean laws, all able-bodied males must complete between 18 and 21 months of military service, usually by age 28. 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 completed their service, Hybe Corporation would lose nearly US$10 billion over ten years, with the loss to the South Korean economy at nearly US$39 billion. In October 2022, Big Hit confirmed that Jin, the band's oldest member, aged 29, had withdrawn his enlistment deferral request. The other members planned to enlist later, with the group planning to reunite in 2025 following discharge. At the end of October 2022, BTS earned five nominations for the 2022 MAMA Awards, with the band members receiving eight further nominations as solo artists. 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. Jin enlisted as an active duty soldier on December 13. On the 26th of February 2023, Big Hit announced that J-Hope had requested cancellation of the postponement of his military service. Following their scheduled separation, the band's BTS Yet to Come in Busan concert film was released on the 1st of February 2023. J-Hope enlisted as an active duty soldier on April 18. On May 12, BTS released a soundtrack The Planet for the South Korean animated series Bastions. To commemorate their tenth anniversary, the group released the song Take Two on June 9. On the 20th of September 2023, Hybe confirmed through a press release that BTS would renew their exclusive contracts. The members will sign these agreements sequentially, considering their military service, after a board resolution with Big Hit Music, solidifying their commitment to future projects starting from 2025 onwards. On the 22nd of September 2023, Suga enlisted as a social worker. RM and V enlisted on the 11th of December 2023, followed by Jimin and Jung Kook on December 12. On the 12th of June 2024, Jin became the first member to complete his mandatory military service when he was officially discharged; he was followed by J-Hope on the 17th of October 2024. RM and V were discharged on the 10th of June 2025, followed by Jimin and Jung Kook on June 11, and on June 18, Suga was the final member to be discharged. The group reunited publicly for the first time on a Weverse live on July 1. In the livestream, they confirmed they were preparing a new album for early 2026, their first since Proof in 2022, alongside a new world tour. On November 1, Jimin confirmed that all of the tracks for the new album were completed and ready for release in the Spring to accompany the group's planned tour. On the 1st of January 2026, it was announced that the new album will be released on March 20. On January 13, the group announced their 2026, 2027 world tour, with concerts around the globe and an expected revenue stream estimated at over one billion dollars USD for the concerts and new album revenue. On January 15, it was revealed that the title of the new album is Arirang.