BTS Part 3 — The Empire That Never Sleeps: Domination
Billboard Hot 100 records, Grammy nominations, a World Cup opening ceremony, military service — and a 2026 comeback that broke everything all over again. This is BTS at full power.
In August 2020, a song called “Dynamite” debuted at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It was performed in English by a Korean group. It was the first time a Korean act had ever topped the chart that defines American pop music.
It was not the last.
Over the next several years, BTS would hit #1 on the Hot 100 five more times, perform at the Grammys, take part in major UN-related events, sell out stadiums on multiple continents, and watch one of their members headline the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony.
Then they completed South Korea’s mandatory military service — after years of public debate over a possible exemption that the government ultimately declined to grant — and came back in 2026 with an album that broke records all over again.
This is what an empire looks like.
📌 This is Part 3 of a 3-part BTS series.
- Part 1 — Seven Strangers, One Stage ← the beginning
- Part 2 — How Seven Boys Moved the World ← the rise
- Part 3 — The Empire That Never Sleeps ← you are here
🏆 The Billboard Era: Record After Record
Seven Hot 100 #1s. Seven Billboard 200 #1s. Most awarded group in BBMA history.
“Dynamite” — August 31, 2020 — Hot 100 #1
The first fully English-language BTS single. The first Korean act to top the Billboard Hot 100. Big Hit described the upbeat track as intended to deliver energy and hope during the pandemic lockdown.
The song’s music video has accumulated more than 1 billion YouTube views. In the US alone, it sold over 2 million copies.
“Butter” — May 21, 2021 — Hot 100 #1 for 10 Weeks
If “Dynamite” opened the door, “Butter” walked straight through it and redecorated.
“Butter” debuted at #1 — and stayed there for 10 non-consecutive weeks, making it one of the longest-running #1 singles of 2021 by any artist. The song broke the record for most streams in a single day for a pop song on Spotify at the time of release.
“Permission to Dance” — July 2021 — Hot 100 #1
Released as a companion single while “Butter” was still charting. Became BTS’s fifth Hot 100 #1 in under eleven months — the fastest accumulation of five leaders since Michael Jackson in 1987–88, and faster than any group since The Beatles in 1964. The sequence: Dynamite → Savage Love (with Jawsh 685 & Jason Derulo) → Life Goes On → Butter → Permission to Dance. Two more #1s would follow: “My Universe” later in 2021, and “Swim” upon the group’s 2026 comeback — bringing BTS’s total to seven Hot 100 leaders, second among groups only to The Beatles in the chart’s history.
“My Universe” with Coldplay — September 2021 — Hot 100 #1
A collaboration with Coldplay that debuted at #1 — making it the first single featuring two groups to debut at #1 on the Hot 100 in chart history.
Billboard 200: Seven #1 Albums
| Album | Year | Billboard 200 |
|---|---|---|
| Love Yourself: Tear | 2018 | 🥇 #1 |
| Love Yourself: Answer | 2018 | 🥇 #1 |
| Map of the Soul: Persona | 2019 | 🥇 #1 |
| Map of the Soul: 7 | 2020 | 🥇 #1 |
| BE | 2020 | 🥇 #1 |
| Proof | 2022 | 🥇 #1 |
| ARIRANG | 2026 | 🥇 #1 |
BBMA History: The Most Awarded Group
At the Billboard Music Awards, BTS became the most awarded group in the show’s history, with 12 total wins as of 2022. They won Top Social Artist every single year from 2017 to 2021 — five consecutive years.
🎵 Award Show Records: A Global Sweep
Grammy Nominations — Five Times
BTS received five Grammy nominations, making them the first K-pop act to receive a Grammy nomination. Their nominations:
- Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — “Dynamite” (2021)
- Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — “Butter” (2022)
- Best Pop Duo/Group Performance — “My Universe” with Coldplay (2023)
- Best Music Video — “Yet to Come” (2023)
- Album of the Year — as featured artists on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres (2023)
They have not won a Grammy — yet. But the nominations themselves were a structural milestone: the Recording Academy acknowledging a K-pop act as a legitimate peer in global pop music.
💡 ARMY has run one of the more visible fan campaigns in award-show history pushing for a BTS Grammy win.
American Music Awards: Artist of the Year (2021)
In 2021, BTS became the first Asian act in American Music Awards history to win Artist of the Year. They also won Favorite Duo or Group – Pop/Rock — the only K-pop group to do so.
MTV VMAs: Four Consecutive Best Group (2019–2022)
BTS won Best Group at the MTV Video Music Awards for four straight years from 2019 to 2022. They are also the only act to win Best K-Pop three years in a row (2019–2021).
Guinness World Records Hall of Fame — 2022
BTS was inducted into the Guinness World Records Hall of Fame after setting 23 world records in music and social media at the time of induction. Records include:
- Most Twitter engagements for a music group
- Repeatedly setting the record for most-viewed music video on YouTube in 24 hours between 2018 and 2021, with videos including “Idol,” “Boy With Luv,” “Dynamite,” and “Butter” (each a record at the time of release)
- Most first-day views for a music video — multiple individual records
🌍 Beyond Music: The UN Appearances
BTS took part in major UN-related events during General Assembly high-level weeks three times — 2018, 2020, and 2021 — an extraordinary record for any music act, though each appearance had a different format.
2018 — “Speak Yourself”
During the 73rd UN General Assembly’s high-level week, RM addressed world leaders at the UN headquarters launch of UNICEF’s “Generation Unlimited” initiative. His words about self-love, identity, and speaking your truth went viral within hours. The hashtag #BTSxUnitedNations trended in dozens of countries.
2020 — A Message During COVID
BTS returned with a recorded message tied to a high-level UN General Assembly event during the pandemic — a message of resilience and connection at a moment when the world felt fractured.
2021 — Presidential Envoys
The South Korean government appointed all seven BTS members as Special Presidential Envoys — official cultural ambassadors for South Korea. In that capacity, they took part in the UN’s SDG Moment event, where they performed “Permission to Dance” live.
💡 The impact: A 2018 Hyundai Research Institute study — a private-sector estimate, not an official government calculation — put BTS’s annual production-inducement effect on the Korean economy at roughly ₩4.14 trillion (about $3.6 billion) through tourism, exports, and brand recognition. Whatever the exact figure, BTS’s cultural influence functions as a form of national soft power.
⚽ Jungkook at the FIFA World Cup — Qatar 2022
On November 20, 2022, the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 began inside Al Bayt Stadium.
The main performer of the ceremony: Jungkook of BTS.
He performed “Dreamers” — a song produced by RedOne (the producer behind Lady Gaga’s early hits) alongside Qatari singer Fahad Al Kubaisi. It was the first time a Korean artist had headlined a FIFA World Cup opening ceremony.
The official FIFA music video had surpassed 465 million YouTube views as of July 2026 — one of the most-viewed World Cup songs on the tournament’s official channel.
For ARMY watching around the world, it was a clear signal: BTS had moved from the music industry to the global sporting stage, with the World Cup opening ceremony reaching a massive global broadcast audience.
| Event | FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Opening Ceremony |
| Date | November 20, 2022 |
| Song | “Dreamers” |
| Co-performer | Fahad Al Kubaisi (Qatar) |
| Producer | RedOne |
| YouTube Views | 465M+ on FIFA’s official channel (as of July 2026) |
| Historic Note | First Korean artist to perform at a World Cup opening ceremony |
▶ Watch Jungkook’s World Cup performance on YouTube
🎖️ Military Service: The Pause That Proved Everything
In 2022, BTS announced that all seven members would complete South Korea’s mandatory military service. After years of public debate over whether the country should grant K-pop stars an exemption similar to those available to some elite athletes, the Ministry of National Defense ultimately declined to create one.
The members proceeded with their service, with several formally withdrawing their enlistment postponements to move the process forward.
Between December 2022 and June 2025, each member enlisted one by one and served their time. During this period:
- BTS did not conduct a full-group promotional cycle or tour
- The members pursued solo careers — each releasing critically successful individual work
- The group still released two group singles recorded before the hiatus: “The Planet” (May 2023, for the animated film BASTIONS) and “Take Two” (June 2023, marking their 10th anniversary)
“Take Two” became the first and only K-pop boy-group song of 2023 to surpass 200 million Spotify streams — a sign that ARMY kept the group’s presence alive even without new group promotion.
On Spotify, BTS maintained tens of millions of monthly listeners throughout the hiatus — more than any other K-pop boy group — despite no active group promotion.
ARMY didn’t stop.
Solo Highlights During the Hiatus
| Member | Solo Achievement |
|---|---|
| Jimin | “Like Crazy” debuted #1 on the Hot 100 — first Korean solo artist to do so |
| J-Hope | Hope on the Stage world tour (2025) grossed $84.7M across 33 shows — highest-grossing tour ever by a Korean solo artist |
| Suga | D-Day tour grossed $57.1M across 26 shows |
| Jungkook | Golden album — multiple Hot 100 entries |
| V | “Slow Dancing” reached Top 5 on the Global 200 |
🚀 The 2026 Return: ARIRANG
Seoul’s Gwanghwamun Square. March 21, 2026. Tens of thousands of people. The whole world watching.
By June 2025, all seven members had completed their military service.
They went straight back to work.
The Album: ARIRANG (March 20, 2026)
Named after the centuries-old Korean folk song — an unofficial national anthem of both Koreas — ARIRANG is BTS’s fifth studio album, their first full-length studio album in nearly six years (since 2020’s Map of the Soul: 7), and their first group album of any kind in about three years and nine months, following 2022’s Proof.
The album’s 14 tracks explore identity, separation, reunion, fame, and cultural heritage. Producers include Diplo, Ryan Tedder, Kevin Parker, JPEGMAFIA, and the group’s longtime collaborator Pdogg. The sound mixes hip-hop, alternative R&B, synth-pop, and EDM, with references to traditional Korean music — most prominently an “Arirang” motif woven into the opening track, “Body to Body.”
Lead single: “Swim.”
The Numbers (First Week)
| Record | Figure |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | 🥇 #1 (7th time) |
| First-week units (US) | 641,000 |
| Pure sales (US) | 532,000 |
| Apple Music charts topped | 115 countries |
| Spotify | Most-streamed album on the platform in a single day in 2026 to that point; most-streamed K-pop album in Spotify history |
| Billboard Global 200 | Top 9 spots simultaneously |
| Billboard Global Excl. U.S. | Top 10 spots simultaneously |
641,000 first-week equivalent album units — the largest opening week for an album in the United States in 2026 up to that point, and the biggest week for a group or duo since Billboard began tracking equivalent album units in 2014.
The Comeback Concert
On March 21, 2026, BTS performed a free concert at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul — with the gates of Gyeongbok Palace lit in purple, red, and blue behind them.
Around 22,000 people secured seats and standing-room spots in the designated viewing zone; Seoul city officials separately prepared for as many as 260,000 visitors expected to gather in the surrounding downtown area. The concert also streamed live on Netflix, which reported a global Live+1 audience of roughly 18.4 million viewers. “Annyeonghaseyo! We’re back,” RM told the crowd as they opened with “Body to Body.”
It was the group’s first live performance together in nearly four years.
The ARIRANG World Tour (2026–2027)
BTS kicked off the ARIRANG World Tour on April 9, 2026, in Goyang. As of July 2026, the schedule had expanded to 85 shows across 34 cities — the most dates ever for a tour by a Korean act, spanning stadiums and arenas of varying sizes across Asia, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania.
📊 The Full Record Book (As of July 2026)
| Category | Record |
|---|---|
| Billboard Hot 100 #1s | 7 (Dynamite, Savage Love remix, Life Goes On, Butter, Permission to Dance, My Universe, Swim) |
| Billboard 200 #1s | 7 albums |
| Grammy nominations | 5 |
| Grammy wins | 0 |
| AMA Artist of the Year | 2021 (first Asian act) |
| BBMA wins | 12 (most awarded group in history, as of 2022) |
| MTV VMA Best Group wins | 4 consecutive (2019–2022) |
| Guinness World Records | 23 at 2022 Hall of Fame induction |
| UN-related appearances | 3 (2018, 2020, 2021 — differing formats) |
| Grammy stage appearance | 2020, joining Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” medley |
| FIFA World Cup opening ceremony | Jungkook, Qatar 2022 |
| ARIRANG first-week US units | 641,000 |
| ARIRANG World Tour | 85 shows across 34 cities (as of July 2026) |
💜 What Makes BTS Different from Everyone Else
After more than a decade, with more records than can fit on a single page, the question worth asking is: why?
Why BTS, and why has the momentum kept building rather than fading?
The answer isn’t the music alone. Plenty of great music doesn’t build this kind of long-term following. Much of it comes down to the relationship — a bond between BTS and ARMY built over years of direct communication, member involvement in songwriting, and public vulnerability that few acts of their scale have matched.
BTS has been widely recognized for discussing themes including mental health, identity, burnout, self-worth, and the pressures of fame — often more openly than was typical in K-pop at the time.
ARMY’s sustained engagement — through the group’s biggest hits and through a nearly three-year military hiatus — has been a defining feature of the fandom.
In 2022, BTS entered the Guinness World Records Hall of Fame after setting 23 records in music and social media. That’s not just a commercial achievement. It’s a cultural one.
🇰🇷 Reading Korean Coverage of This Era
International press covered BTS’s Billboard and Grammy run mostly as a music story. Korean coverage of the same milestones often carried an extra frame: soft power, and what BTS’s success said about Korea on the world stage.
That framing shows up in small but telling details — the Hyundai Research Institute study cited above wasn’t commissioned by BTS’s label, it was a national economic research institute modeling BTS’s effect on tourism and Korea’s broader brand image, the kind of analysis usually reserved for a country’s chaebol conglomerates or major exports, not a pop group. Likewise, the Special Presidential Envoy appointment in 2021 wasn’t a ceremonial gesture — it gave BTS an official government role at the UN, something Korean media covered as diplomacy first, celebrity news second.
That’s also the lens through which the Gwanghwamun Square comeback concert makes sense as a choice of venue. Gwanghwamun sits at the symbolic center of Seoul, in front of Gyeongbok Palace — not a stadium built for concerts, but the square Koreans associate with national moments and civic gatherings. Choosing it for a free, open-to-the-public return concert was itself a statement: this wasn’t just a comeback show, it was staged as a moment for the country to share.
🔗 Complete the Series
- 👉 Part 1 — Seven Strangers, One Stage — How seven boys found their way to the same practice room
- 👉 Part 2 — How Seven Boys Moved the World — The journey from Seoul to the world’s biggest stages