Legendary K-Pop Groups BTS and BLACKPINK Return Simultaneously... Weverse Reaches 30 Million Members, World Tour Attracts 100,000 Attendees, Confirming a Golden Age for K-Pop

BTS and BLACKPINK have returned at the same time. These two groups alone are sufficient to define the K-Pop market in the first half of 2025. This marks an important turning point in K-Pop history, signaling the arrival of a period of division into fifth-generation K-Pop acts. BTS recently achieved a historic milestone. After all members completed their military service, the group reached 30 million subscribers on Weverse, the first artist to attain this figure and surpassing the population of some countries. Additionally, the group is planning to release a new album next spring, raising fans’ expectations for their first musical activities since reuniting. BLACKPINK is demonstrating its strength on stage through its “Deadline” world tour. Starting the tour in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on the 5th, the group drew a total of 100,000 attendees at the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, from the 12th to the 13th. The tour will continue to Toronto and New York in Canada, then head to Europe in August (Stade de France in Paris, Wembley Stadium in London), before reaching Southeast Asia by year’s end and concluding at Tokyo Dome in January of the following year. Their musical activities are also progressing simultaneously. The new song “JUMP” topped Spotify’s Weekly Top Song Global chart and reached position 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. These results, along with the group’s previous achievements, reaffirm K-Pop’s international influence. The simultaneous return of these two legendary groups sends a positive signal to the K-Pop ecosystem. The reuniting of BTS and BLACKPINK is expected to provide a solid foundation for the development of the next generation in the entire K-Pop industry, going beyond merely the return of individual artists. Specifically, the international influence and fanbases of these two groups are likely to act as catalysts in creating an environment where fifth-generation K-Pop artists can grow.