“Run BTS” Ranks No. 1 in 61 Countries as BTS Releases Its 5th Studio Album on March 20

BTS’s song “Run BTS,” released in 2022, has dominated global charts ahead of the group’s release of its 5th studio album in March. As of January 2, the track topped the iTunes Top Songs chart in 61 countries, including Brazil and Finland. It also made it onto Billboard’s genre-specific charts, with massive restreaming by fans worldwide being the primary driver of this success.

BTS’s 5th studio album will be released on March 20. HYBE Music stated that this album marks their first studio release in approximately four years. It will be the first full-length album featuring all seven members together in about four years. The album contains a total of 14 tracks, with members expressing their current perspectives through music following their individual activities and military service.

The K-pop market is facing complex challenges. After reaching a peak of 100 million album sales in 2023, sales dropped to 93.28 million in 2024. Album exports have stagnated, and the share of music streaming usage has also declined. Amid this downturn, artists with global fanbases can inject new vitality into the entire industry through various channels such as world tours and merchandise sales, beyond just album sales.

During BTS’s approximately four-year hiatus, K-pop’s global influence became more dispersed. Groups like Stray Kids, BLACKPINK, Twice, and Seventeen filled part of this gap, but there was no single iconic group that represented K-pop as a whole. Grace Kao, a sociology professor at Yale University, commented, “The only K-pop group that the average American can name is still BTS.”

After the album’s release, BTS plans to embark on a world tour.