BTS first group to hit 10 billion Spotify streams in a year

BTS passed 10 billion cumulative Spotify streams for this year as of October 16, their agency BIGHIT MUSIC said. Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Bad Bunny have reached the same mark, and BTS are the first group to pass 10 billion in a single year. Their streams this year are up 122% from last year's 4.5 billion. The fifth studio album "ARIRANG", released in March, led the way with more than 5 billion streams. On its release day "ARIRANG" drew 130 million daily streams and its tracks filled No. 1 to No. 14 on the Daily Top Songs Global chart, while the title track "SWIM" was played about 14 million times on its first day, the most release-day streams for any song released this year. "ARIRANG" is currently the most-streamed album on Spotify among albums released in 2026.

Why it matters — On October 14, BTS won Artist of the Year at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards Japan (MTV VMAJ). It is their second award there, after Best Group Video – International for the "SWIM" music video in September. The ceremony takes place at Tokyo Dome on October 29.