SEOUL, June 30 — The K-pop supergroup’s fifth studio album achieves record-breaking streaming numbers and physical sales, while expanding its audience beyond traditional K-pop fans.

According to Korea JoongAng Daily, BTS has once again demonstrated its unparalleled global influence, with its latest album Arirang generating billions of streams and record physical sales, according to new data from global music data company Luminate.

The band’s fifth full-length album, released in March, amassed 3.8 billion streams across major platforms including Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Spotify between March 20 and May 14. During the same eight-week period, total global streams across BTS’s entire catalog surpassed 5.3 billion.

The streaming data reveals a remarkably balanced global listenership. Latin America accounted for the largest share at 27 per cent, followed by North-east Asia at 17 per cent, North America at 14 per cent, South-east Asia at 13 per cent, and Europe at 12 per cent. Luminate noted that the figures indicate the band’s music is consumed widely across major markets rather than concentrated in any single region.

The album’s lead track Swim reached over 500 million cumulative streams on Spotify as of May 26, marking the first song released globally this year to surpass that milestone. All 14 tracks from Arirang have also surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify, with Body to Body and Hooligan exceeding 200 million streams.

Physical album sales remained exceptionally strong, with BTS’s entire catalog selling 810,000 physical copies—including CDs and vinyl records—in the United States during the same period, ranking No. 1 overall. The group outsold the No. 2 and No. 3 artists by roughly fourfold.

Luminate’s consumer analysis also pointed to exceptionally strong fan loyalty following the album’s release. Among those aware of BTS, 26 per cent were classified as engaged listeners, 15 per cent in the strong affinity group, and 9 per cent as superfans—all record highs since the survey began in 2021. Engaged listeners are defined as fans who go beyond simply listening to music by consistently consuming and interacting with artist-related content, while those in the strong affinity or superfan categories represent core fans with strong emotional connections who actively purchase albums, attend concerts, and consume related content.

Broader public interest also grew substantially, with 44 per cent of respondents falling into the “Like” category and 32 per cent into the “Listen” category—increases of 10 and 4 per centage points respectively since 2021.

Significantly, the data showed that BTS has expanded its reach beyond traditional K-pop boundaries. Hip-hop listeners who do not consume much K-pop accounted for 7 per cent of people aware of BTS. Additionally, 19 per cent of those aware of BTS do not listen to their music frequently but recognise them as influential artists and trendsetters.

“This analysis shows that BTS is not only maintaining strong loyalty among its core fan base but also continuously attracting new consumers, expanding its appeal to a broader audience,” BigHit Music said in a statement. “Backed by its dedicated fandom, BTS continues to connect with more mainstream listeners and broaden its reach”.

Arirang also made history as the first K-pop album to spend three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the US Billboard 200, while Swim topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band’s seventh chart-topping single. The track recently won the song of the summer award at the 52nd American Music Awards.