BTS

BTS, also known as the Bangtan Boys, is a seven-member South Korean boy group from Seoul, formed in 2013 and active since then. The group is made up of j-hope, Jimin, Jin, Jung Kook, RM, SUGA and V. It is signed to BigHit Entertainment, PONY CANYON, Def Jam Recordings, The Orchard and BIGHIT MUSIC, and is identified with dance, k-pop and pop.

Style and songwriting

BTS begins as a hip hop group, but its music develops into a broader sound that includes a range of genres. The group writes and produces much of its own material. Its songs often deal with personal and social themes, including mental health, school-age pressure, loss, self-acceptance and individualism. The lyrics also draw on literature and psychological ideas, and the group’s work includes an interconnected alternative-universe storyline.

Career

The group forms while its members are teenagers under Big Hit Entertainment. Its debut release is the single album 2 Cool 4 Skool in 2013. Later releases such as The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 in 2015, The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever in 2016 and Wings in 2016 help establish BTS as a socially conscious act. Wings becomes the group’s first album to sell one million copies in South Korea.

By 2017, BTS expands strongly into the international market and helps lead the Korean Wave into the United States. The group becomes the first Korean act to receive an RIAA certification with the single “Mic Drop”. It also becomes the first Korean act to top the US Billboard 200 with Love Yourself: Tear in 2018. That album is followed by other US number ones, Love Yourself: Answer and Map of the Soul: Persona, making BTS the first group since The Beatles to achieve three number one albums in less than a year, and the fastest to do so since The Monkees in 1967.

Love Yourself: Answer breaks the previous monthly record on South Korea’s Gaon Album Chart and becomes the first Korean album certified Gold in the United States. According to Gaon Music Chart, BTS sells fifteen million albums domestically and is the best-selling artist to debut in the 2010s. Map of the Soul: Persona is the best-selling album in Korean history. BTS is also the second best-selling artist worldwide in 2018 according to the IFPI Global Artist Chart, and the only non-English-speaking artist to appear on that chart.

Live work and recognition

The group is known for live performances and has mounted several world tours. During the 2019 Love Yourself World Tour, BTS becomes the first Asian artist to headline and sell out Wembley Stadium and sets the record for the highest-grossing engagement in Rose Bowl Stadium history. It wins Top Social Artist three years in a row and Top Duo/Group at the 26th Billboard Music Awards.

BTS appears on Time’s international cover as “Next Generation Leaders” and features in the magazine’s lists of the 25 most influential people on the internet from 2017 to 2019 and the 100 most influential people in the world in 2019. Time calls the group “Princes of Pop”. Forbes Korea names BTS the most influential celebrities in Korea in 2018, and Forbes lists it at 43rd in the Celebrity 100 in 2019.

The group’s Love Myself anti-violence campaign, run with UNICEF, leads to an address at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly. BTS also becomes the youngest recipients of South Korea’s Order of Cultural Merit for its role in spreading Korean culture and language. It is also credited with major economic impact in South Korea, attracting foreign visitors and contributing to the country’s wider music economy.