BTS‘s fifth studio album, ARIRANG, has passed 5 billion streams on Spotify.
The group’s label, BigHit Music, announced the figure today (October 14).
BigHit Music says that makes ARIRANG the most-streamed album on Spotify among 2026 releases, around 2 billion streams ahead of its nearest rival.
The label named the runner-up as Olivia Rodrigo‘s third studio album, you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, which was released in June.
BigHit Music added that Bruno Mars‘ The Romantic and Harry Styles‘ Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally, both released in the weeks before ARIRANG, have each generated roughly 1 billion to 2 billion Spotify streams.
All 14 tracks on ARIRANG have now surpassed 200 million Spotify streams each, according to the label.
Even No. 29 – built solely from the sound of the Sacred Bell of Great King Seongdeok, which dates back to Korea’s Silla Dynasty – has passed 200 million.
Lead single SWIM is approaching 1 billion streams.
ARIRANG was released on March 20 and generated more than 110 million Spotify streams on its first day, as previously reported by MBW.
It was BTS‘s first album as a seven-piece since the members’ mandatory South Korean military service.
Spotify marked the debut on Instagram at the time, writing: “Four years. One comeback. ARMY made ARIRANG the most streamed K-Pop album in Spotify history and the most streamed album in a single day in 2026.”
According to BigHit Music, the album’s tracks took the top 14 positions on Spotify’s Daily Top Songs Global chart on release day, with SWIM at No. 1 on approximately 14 million streams.
The label says that was the highest single-day total for any song released in 2026.
ARIRANG also spent three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
It was the first album by a group to do so since Mumford & Sons‘ Babel in 2012.
The album has also featured in the financial results of HYBE, BigHit Music’s parent company.
HYBE‘s recorded music revenue grew 43.0% YoY to KRW 326.8 billion (approximately USD $218m) in Q2 2026, led by ARIRANG, as reported by MBW in July.
The company’s total revenue more than doubled YoY in the quarter to KRW 1.45 trillion (approximately USD $967m), which HYBE said was a record.
Concert revenue rose 243.3% YoY to KRW 647.7 billion (approximately USD $432m), after BTS launched their world tour in support of ARIRANG in April.
According to Luminate‘s 2026 Midyear Report, ARIRANG ranked No. 1 in US vinyl and CD album sales in the first half of the year.
HYBE said in July that the album “contributed to South Korea becoming the world’s third-largest music exporter, behind only the United States and the United Kingdom.”
“Our second quarter results demonstrate that HYBE is redefining the global entertainment market while serving as a key export platform for Korea’s cultural industry,” said HYBE CEO Jason Jaesang Lee at the time.
“These results reflect our continued efforts to drive business innovation, and we will continue to pursue our expansion and growth strategies going forward,” Lee added.
The 5 billion milestone comes as ‘frontline’ music loses ground to catalog on Spotify‘s charts.
Streams of frontline music on Spotify’s Global Top 200 weekly charts fell 24.8% YoY in the first nine months of 2026, according to an analysis by MBW.
Catalog music – defined as songs released more than three years before each chart week – took a 45.1% share of global chart streams in the period, up from just under 30% in the equivalent periods of 2024 and 2025.
The same analysis placed BTS among the four biggest artists on Spotify’s Global chart in the first nine months of 2026, alongside Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, and Justin Bieber.
ARIRANG will not be in contention at the 2027 Grammy Awards.
BTS‘s members announced on July 29, in identical Instagram posts, that they would not submit music for consideration, as MBW reported at the time.
“We hope music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language,” they wrote, in a statement translated from Korean.
The members did not name the Recording Academy‘s new Best Asian Pop Music Performance category in their posts.
The Academy confirmed on October 1 that the category will go ahead at the 69th Grammy Awards.
JYP Entertainment has since confirmed that Stray Kids also did not submit music for consideration.
Drake did not submit any of his three 2026 albums either, according to Billboard.
First-round voting for the 69th Grammy Awards runs until October 22, with nominations set to be announced on November 16.
KRW-USD conversions are at the average Q2 2026 exchange rate of approximately 1,500 KRW/USD.Music Business Worldwide
