BTS in 2019 Clockwise from left: Jin, RM, Jungkook, J-Hope, Suga, V, and Jimin — DISPATCH/EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/

SEOUL — K-pop supergroup BTS launched its global concert tour on Thursday in the South Korean city of Goyang, after the group’s comeback single topped rankings worldwide.

BTS’ World Tour ARIRANG officially started with three nights in Goyang, on April 9, 11, and 12, and will take in 34 cities across the world in a new record for the most tour dates by a K-pop artist.

The opening concerts in Goyang sold out in pre-sale for all three nights, and tickets to concerts in South Korea, North America, and Europe were sold out within a few hours of the pre-sale and general sale, according to BTS’ management agency.

The group went on hiatus in 2022 and all seven members completed mandatory South Korean military service by mid-2025, before getting together to record their fifth studio album ARIRANG.

The album, released in March, topped the Billboard 200 chart for two weeks, a first for a K-pop group or artist. Lead single “Swim” made its debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, before falling to No. 2 in its second week.

Analysts said the concert tour, which will feature a 360-degree in-the-round stage design, is expected to bring in blockbuster revenues, with some estimates pointing to total tour earnings of as much as 2.7 trillion won ($1.81 billion), not including fans’ spending outside the concerts when visiting cities for the show.

PERFORMING IN 34 CITIES
After the kick-off concerts in Goyang, BTS will be visiting 33 more cities around the world for a total of 82 concerts lasting into March 2027.

After the first leg of concerts in South Korea and Japan in April, BTS will travel to the US and Mexico, and then to Europe to visit Belgium, Britain, Germany, and France.

The group will visit North America again in the second half of this year for more concerts in the US and Canada, before visiting Latin American countries, including Colombia, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.

In Southeast Asia, performances are scheduled in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. The tour includes Taiwan and Hong Kong, but no concert is planned in mainland China. The group will also perform in Australia.

BIGGEST K-POP TOUR
The upcoming tour will mark the biggest world tour by a K-pop band with the most tour dates and the broadest regional reach, according to HYBE.

Kim Yu-hyuk of IBK Investment & Securities in Seoul forecasts revenue from the tour of 2.7 trillion won ($1.8 billion), potentially approaching or overtaking past highest-grossing tours such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour of $2.1 billion.

BTS’ last world tour was from August 2018 to April 2019, titled Love Yourself, with 42 concerts in 20 cities, followed by 20 stadium concerts in 10 cities.

K-pop represented 7.7% of the top 100 world concert tours in 2025, up from 4% in 2019 when Love Yourself ranked third by gross, according to Billboard.

FIFTH ALBUM ARIRANG
The new album ARIRANG is the fifth regular album for the seven-member group and has 14 tracks, including the title “SWIM.”

ARIRANG is named after a Korean folk song of the same name, capturing the identity of BTS as a group that began in Korea, according to Big Hit Music, a music label run by HYBE.

“K-pop’s success came from respecting diversity and embracing world cultures, but still holding on to Korea’s unique identity,” the leader of BTS, RM, said in a speech he gave to an Asia-Pacific forum held last year in South Korea. — Reuters

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