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 two years, BTS would hit #1 on the Hot 100 six more times. They would perform at the Grammys, speak at the United Nations, sell out stadiums on every continent, and watch one of their members perform to a global audience of billions at the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony.
Then they went into the military — voluntarily, without an exemption — 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
Six 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. Released during COVID lockdown, at a moment when the world needed exactly what “Dynamite” delivered: uncomplicated joy.
The song accumulated more than 1 billion YouTube streams. 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 third Hot 100 #1 in less than a year — matching The Beatles’ pace of chart dominance in the early 1960s.
“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 Korean 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)
- And two additional nominations in 2022 and 2023.
They have not won a Grammy — yet. But the nominations themselves were a structural milestone: the Recording Academy acknowledging a Korean-language act as a legitimate peer in global pop music.
💡 ARMY’s campaign to get BTS a Grammy win remains one of the most organized fan mobilizations in award show history.
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. Records include:
- Most Twitter engagements
- Most viewed music video on YouTube in 24 hours — achieved every year since 2018
- Most streamed album in a single day on Spotify (multiple times)
- Most first-day views for a music video — multiple records
🌍 Beyond Music: The UN Speeches
BTS addressed the United Nations General Assembly three times — an extraordinary record for any music act.
2018 — “Speak Yourself”
RM’s speech at the launch of UNICEF’s “Generation Unlimited” became a global moment. His words about self-love, identity, and speaking your truth went viral within hours. The hashtag #BTSxUnitedNations trended in dozens of countries.
2020 — Hope During COVID
BTS returned to the UN 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, representing the country on the world stage. They addressed the UN again, this time performing “Permission to Dance” live.
💡 The impact: South Korea’s government has calculated that BTS’s cultural influence generates hundreds of millions of dollars in tourism, exports, and brand recognition for the country every year. They are not just musicians. They are 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) that blended K-pop with Khaleeji pop, the traditional music of the Gulf region. It was the first time a Korean artist had ever performed at a FIFA World Cup opening ceremony.
The music video for “Dreamers” has accumulated over 450 million views on FIFA’s official YouTube channel — one of the most-watched World Cup songs in the tournament’s history.
For ARMY watching around the world, it was the clearest possible signal: BTS had moved from the music industry to the global cultural stage. A member was performing for the entire planet at the world’s most-watched sporting event.
| Event | FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Opening Ceremony |
| Date | November 20, 2022 |
| Song | “Dreamers” |
| Co-performer | Fahad Al Kubaisi (Qatar) |
| Producer | RedOne |
| YouTube Views | 450M+ on FIFA’s official channel |
| 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. They would not seek exemptions — even though the Korean government had discussed creating one for cultural figures of their significance.
They chose to go.
Between 2022 and June 2025, each member enlisted one by one and served their time. During this period:
- No new group music was released
- No group tours took place
- The members pursued solo careers — each releasing critically successful individual work
And yet: on Spotify, BTS still maintained over 24 million monthly listeners — more than any other K-pop boy group — with no new group content at all.
ARMY didn’t stop. They never stopped.
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 tour grossed $79.9M — highest-grossing K-pop solo tour ever |
| 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 and their first group release in nearly six years.
The album’s 14 tracks explore identity, separation, reunion, fame, and cultural heritage. Producers include Diplo, Ryan Tedder, Kevin Parker, and the group’s longtime collaborator Pdogg. The sound mixes hip-hop, alternative R&B, synth-pop, EDM, and traditional Korean instrumentation.
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 first-day streams | Most of any 2026 album at release |
| Billboard Global 200 | Top 9 spots simultaneously |
641,000 first-week units. The largest first-week total of any album at that point in 2026. BTS entered above Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande — the two artists who had shaped that year’s market.
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.
Tens of thousands of fans filled the square. 22,000 had secured seats in the designated viewing zone. The concert was streamed live on Netflix. “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 — the biggest world tour by a K-pop band by number of dates and geographic reach, with 82 shows planned in stadiums of around 50,000 seats across 34 cities.
📊 The Full Record Book (As of 2026)
| Category | Record |
|---|---|
| Billboard Hot 100 #1s | 6 (Dynamite, Butter, PTD, Life Goes On, My Universe, Swim) |
| Billboard 200 #1s | 7 albums |
| Grammy nominations | 5 |
| AMA Artist of the Year | 2021 (first Asian act) |
| BBMA wins | 12 (most awarded group in history) |
| MTV VMA Best Group wins | 4 consecutive (2019–2022) |
| Guinness World Records | 23 (Hall of Fame inductee, 2022) |
| UN General Assembly appearances | 3 |
| Grammy stage appearances | 2020 (Lil Nas X), ongoing |
| FIFA World Cup opening ceremony | Jungkook, Qatar 2022 |
| Spotify monthly listeners (2025) | 24.9M (hiatus — no new music) |
| ARIRANG first-week US units | 641,000 |
💜 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 not someone else? Why does the empire keep growing instead of fading?
The answer isn’t the music alone. Plenty of great music doesn’t build empires. The answer is the relationship — the specific, unusual bond between BTS and ARMY, built over years of transparency, vulnerability, and genuine communication that no other act of their size has replicated.
BTS has spoken about mental health when it wasn’t safe to do so in K-pop. They’ve cried in front of cameras. They’ve admitted to wanting to quit. They’ve written songs about being consumed by fame and not knowing who they are outside of it.
ARMY heard all of it. And they stayed — not because BTS was perfect, but because BTS was real.
In 2022, BTS entered the Guinness World Records Hall of Fame after setting 23 records in music and social media. They were later featured in the 2026 ICONs edition, which honors globally influential record-breakers.
That’s not just a commercial achievement. It’s a cultural one.
🔗 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