BTS to Return as a Complete Group After 7 Years, Confirming New Album and World Tour for 2026

BTS will release a group album and hold a world tour for the first time since 2022. The group announced this news via a Weverse livestream on July 1, marking the first official group activities in approximately 3 years. During the livestream, BTS stated, “Since it’s a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas,” adding, “We are approaching this with the same mindset we had when we first started the group.” Recording for the new album began in July of this year and is scheduled for release next spring, followed by a world tour. Over 7.3 million fans watched the livestream. Group activities are now possible as all members have completed their military service. RM (30), Jin (32), SUGA (32), j-hope (31), Jimin (29), V (29), and Jung Kook (27) have all finished their mandatory military service in South Korea and can now focus on musical activities. The members also supported one another’s solo careers during the livestream. They praised Jin’s recent concert in Korea, calling it “a stage only Jin could deliver,” and expressed excitement for j-hope’s headline performance at Rolling Loud Berlin. The members also revealed their individual solo tour and project schedules for the second half of 2025. Meanwhile, BTS ranked first in a July survey on advertising model brand reputation. According to analysis by the Korea Corporate Reputation Institute, BTS’s advertising brand reputation index rose by 89.35% compared to June, reaching 3,371,870. The positive rating was extremely high at 91.49%, and keyword analysis identified “finish military service,” “celebrate,” and “congratulate” as the main terms. At the end of June this year, BTS’s first live album, “Permission to Dance On Stage — Live,” was released. This album consists of live recordings from the “Permission to Dance On Stage” tour in 2021–2022 and features live performances of hit songs such as “Dynamite,” “Butter,” “Life Goes On,” and “Boy With Luv.” The project, which includes a tracklist of 22 songs, also comes with a digital package featuring footage from the Olympic Stadium Seoul concert in March 2022 and a 92-page interview photo book. Since their formation in 2013, BTS has established itself as a global superstar representing K-pop. Starting in 2017, they entered the mainstream pop scene with songs like “MIC DROP” and “DNA,” producing six No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 2020s. With a new release coming about 5 years after their “Be” album in 2020, fan expectations are extremely high.