Bangtan Sonyeondan (aka BTS):
Bangtan Sonyeondan Aka BTS is a seven-member, South Korean boy band. BTS was formed in 2010 and debuted in 2013 under BigHit Entertainment. The group is composed of Jin, Suga, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkoook. This group originally is a hip hop group but their musical style has evolved to include a wide range of genres.
They debuted in 2013, with their single album, “2 Cool 4 Skool”. The group’s second Korean Studio Album, “Wings”, was their first album to one million copies in South Korea, By 2017, BTS crossed into the Global music market. They became the first Korean group to receive Certification from RIAA, Recording Industry Association of America. BTS also became the first group, after The Beatles, to earn four US number-one albums, in less than a year.
BTS is the best-selling artist in South Korea, having sold over 20 million albums on the Gaon Music Chart. BTS also holds the “Best Selling Album” in South Korea with Map of Soul: 7.
Throughout their career, BTS received numerous accolades for their work, including, 6 American Music Awards, 5 Billboard Music Awards, and 24 Golden Disk Awards and nominations for Grammy and Brit Awards, Following their establishment with UNICEF for their Anti-Violence Campaign.
Name:
The group’s name stands for the Korean expression, Bangtan Sonyeondan, which means, “Bulletproof Boy Scouts”. According to one of the group members, J-Hope, the name signifies the group’s desires “To block out stereotypes, criticisms, and expectations that aim adolescents like bullets”. In Japan, they are known as Bōdan Shōnendan which translates similarly.
Career:
Most of the members were selected through BIG HIT’s audition “Hit it” in 2011 and 2012. The group’s member lineup saw some changes before being finalized in 2012. Even before debuting, RM was already performing as an underground artist, while Suga was also an underground rapper in Daegu. J-hope was a member of a dance group named NEURON and was active in the underground dancing scene. Jimin was attending the Busan high school of arts as a top student in modern dance but had transferred to Korea arts high school with V, who auditioned in Daegu. Jungkook was highly sought after by many companies but he chose BIG HIT after seeing rap monster’s rap.
BTS released 2cool4skool, as their debut album and also as the first part in the “school trilogy”. The album was released alongside their lead single, “no more dream” on June 12, 2013. While the album was at number 5 on gaon album charts and sold over 105,000 copies, the singles “no more dream” and “we are bulletproof Pt.2” did not strike much of a chord with their audience.
In the last act of the “school trilogy”, Skool Luv Affair topped the Gaon chart and sold over 200,000 copies. It also managed to reach number 3 on billboard’s world album chart. The album was released with the singles “Boy in Luv” and “just one day”. In august of the same year, the group had attended the KCON in Los Angeles. Later that month, they released their first Korean studio album, “Dark&wild”, which peaked at number 2 on the Gaon chart and sold over 200,000 copies.
At the beginning of 2015, BTS toured Japan for the first time as a part of BTS’s first Japan tour-wake up: open your eyes. Their third EP, The most beautiful moment in life, part 1(2015) was released and was the only Korean album to be featured in FUSE’s “27 best albums of 2015 so far” the lead single in this album was I Need You, it hit top 5 on the weekly gaon digital charts in South Korea and garnered BTS their first music show on SBS MTV’s the show. The most beautiful moment in life has sold over 300,000 copies to date.
BTS released their 4th Japanese single, For You, was released in the June of 2015 to celebrate their Japanese debut anniversary. The single sold over 42000 copies. They also commenced their 2015 live trilogy episode: the red bullet world tour.
On August 16, 2016, Suga released his first mixtape, “Agust D”. The mixtape was listed in the “top 20 mixtapes of the year” by fuse TV.
The Most Beautiful Moment in Life Part1 and Part 2 were later combined under The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever. A two-day concert was held at the Olympic gymnastic arena to support their album and was followed by their Asia Tour. Young Forever won the “Album of the year” at year-end Melon music awards, the first major award for the group.
On September 7 of 2016, the group released their second Japanese album Youth, and sold 44000 copies on the first day itself and ranked at number 1 in Japan. In this time, the pre-orders for their upcoming album, “WINGS” had already accumulated over 500,000 copies in the first week. The lead single of this album’ “Blood, Sweat, and Tears” gained a whopping 6 million views in just 24 hours. Later that year they won the 2016 “artist of the year” award at the Mnet Asian music awards, the most prestigious award for a South Korean artist.
Early 2017 the group started with their’ “BTS LIVE TRILOGY EPISODE III: THE WINGS TOUR” and by February the orders for the repackaged version of “wings” called “You Never Walk Alone”, crossed the 700,000 marks. “SPRING DAY” topped many South Korean Music charts and also crashed Melon’s digital chart due to the large influx of user traffic. The song reached number 15 on Billboard’s “Bubbling under hot 100 singles chart” without any sort of promotion.
On July 5, 2017, BIG HIT and BTS revealed a new logo for the band along with an official logo for the ARMIES (their fandom), which was the exact opposite of their logo. They also made an announcement that from this point onwards BTS would also stand for beyond the scene while still pertaining to their older name bangtan soneyondan.
Later in the year 2017, they entered their LOVE YOURSELF “Era” with the release of LOVE YOURSELF: HER. The music video of the album’s lead single “DNA” broke the record for the “most viewed video in 24 hours” once again, raking in a whopping 20 million views in just 24 hours.
In November 2017, the group became the first K-POP group to perform at the American Music Awards. They won their second artist of the year at the Mnet Music award, making them the first group to ever achieve such a feat. Later that year, “spring day” won the best song of the year at the Melon music awards.
In the February of 2018 BIG HIT won the award for its new brand identity with BTS’ logo
Love Yourself: This sold over 1.58 million copies on February 11, making it the best-selling album in Gaon Chart history.
Suga’s mixtape, Agust D, was released unannounced on Spotify and iTunes globally for the first time on February 22, more than two years after its initial release.
J-Hope released his debut solo mixtape, Hope World, on March 2, 2018, which is available for free download on Google Drive, streaming on Spotify and SoundCloud, and purchase on iTunes. The music video for the title track, “Daydream,” received 1 million likes in 1 hour 43 minutes, making it the fastest Korean video to do so. Hope World tied with the last BTS release, Love Yourself: Her, for the most No. 1 spot held by a Korean album on iTunes within the first 24 hours, with 73 No. 1 locations globally by the conclusion of its first day. The album stayed at No. 1 on the iTunes Worldwide Charts as of March 5, marking its fifth day at the top and breaking the record for the longest time a Korean album has remained No.1 on the charts.
In the 2018 iHeartRadio Awards held in California on March 11, BTS won both the “Best Fan Army” and “Best Boy Band” awards, despite the fact that the group had declined to attend the event due to a hectic schedule as they had to prepare for their upcoming album release later that year.
“Face yourself”, their third Japanese studio album, was released on April 4, 2018. With 282,000 copies sold, Face Yourself topped the Japanese Oricon Weekly Album Chart for the week of April 2 to April 8.
The group later announced their third Korean-language LP, Love Yourself: Tear, on April 14, along with its May 18 release date.
For their upcoming album “Love Yourself: Tear,” BTS has set a new record for stock pre-orders. As of April 24, iriver, the company in charge of the distribution of BTS’s new album “Love Yourself: Tear,” had received 1,449,287 stock pre-orders. This is the total number of stock pre-orders placed by wholesalers and retailers in Korea, excluding stock pre-orders placed by international retailers.
In advance of the release of Love Yourself: Tear on May 18; BTS released a video titled “LOVE YOURSELF Tear ‘Singularity’ Comeback Trailer” on May 6 at midnight KST. V is featured in the video as the track’s solo vocalist, his second solo track for the band, and his first as an album intro track singer. The music video received one million likes on YouTube in just one hour and 29 minutes after it was released.
On Friday, May 18, Love Yourself: Tear was released worldwide on all streaming and download services. The music video for the title track, FAKE LOVE, was released at the same time and set a new world record for the fastest music video to reach one million views in 39 minutes. This shattered their previous record of 1 hour and 29 minutes, which they had set with their song Singularity.
BTS was invited to the United Nations General Assembly’s 73rd Session on September 19. According to UN sources, BTS will attend the launch of UNICEF’s “Generation Unlimited” partnership on September 24 at 12 p.m. local time at the UN Headquarters in New York, a day before the general debate begins.
Burn the Stage: The Movie, a film adaptation of the play, was released in theatres worldwide on November 15, 2018. It grossed $1.2 million on opening day in the United States, for a total of $3.54 million over the three-day weekend, breaking the record for highest-grossing event cinema musical production previously held by the band One Direction in 2014.
“Love Yourself: Answer” became the first Korean album to be certified Gold (500,000+ units) on November 9, 2018, and BTS became the first Korean group to be certified Platinum (1,000,000+ units) in the United States with the single “MIC Drop.”
Love Yourself: Tear was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of ‘Best Recording Package’ in December 2018.
The lead single “Boy with Luv” featuring American singer Halsey was released on April 12 as part of their sixth EP, Map of the Soul: Persona. Following the release of the EP, the group made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live as the first Korean act to do so.
In May 2019, BTS began their stadium world tour extension, Love Yourself: Speak Yourself, with dates at Wembley Stadium, Stade de France, MetLife Stadium, Rose Bowl, and Soldier Field, following their two wins at the 26th Billboard Music Awards, including a win for Top Duo/Group.
Big Hit Entertainment formally announced on August 11 that BTS will be taking a break for the first time since its debut in 2013. The group will be able to recharge and “present themselves anew as musicians and creators,” according to the agency.
BTS’ fourth Korean-language studio album, Map of the Soul: 7 will be released on February 21, 2020, with two singles, according to Big Hit Entertainment. BTS released a trailer for the album on January 10 that included Suga’s solo track “Interlude: Shadow.” BTS released the single “Black Swan” on January 17, along with a choreography art film performed by MN Dance, a Slovenian dance company.
The Recording Academy announced on January 23 that BTS would perform in a special segment at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards alongside Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, Diplo, and others making BTS the first Korean act to perform on the Grammy stage. Both “Idol” and “Love Yourself: Answer” were certified platinum, with over one million certified units sold in the United States.
AWARDS
BTS has won numerous awards and accolades, including 15 Melon Music Awards, 15 Mnet Asian Music Awards, and 14 Golden Disc Awards, to name a few: Twelve Seoul Music Awards, ten Gaon Chart Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards (the first for a Korean group), four Korean Music Awards, and one American Music Award (first Korean group). BTS has one Multi-Million album and one Million album in Korea. BTS has two Platinum singles, three Gold singles, and one Gold album in the United States, making them the first Korean group to do so. BTS has two Multi-Platinum singles, one Multi-Platinum album, and three Gold albums in Japan.BTS has a sizable social following and currently holds seven Guinness World Records, including the most Twitter engagements. They’ve spent 131 weeks at the top of the Billboard Social 50 chart to date. The President of South Korea awarded BTS a fifth-class Hwagwan Order of Cultural Merit in October 2018 for their contributions to the spread of Korean culture and language.