BTS have hit another colossal milestone, with their fifth studio album ARIRANG officially surpassing five billion streams on Spotify.
The K-pop group’s label confirmed the achievement on Wednesday (14.10.26), marking yet another record-breaking moment in the band’s 2026 comeback.
According to BIGHIT MUSIC, ARIRANG is now the most-streamed album released in 2026 – and not by a small margin. The record sits roughly two billion streams ahead of its nearest competitor, Olivia Rodrigo’s third album You Seem Pretty Sad For A Girl So In Love, which arrived in June.
The label also noted that Bruno Mars’ The Romantic and Harry Styles’ Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally – both released just weeks before ARIRANG – have each pulled in between one billion and two billion streams so far.
Every track on ARIRANG has now crossed 200 million streams, while lead single SWIM is closing in on the billion mark.
Released on March 20, ARIRANG launched with more than 110 million first-day streams, becoming BTS’ first album as a reunited seven-piece following the members’ mandatory military service.
The band could have had a huge year at the 2027 Grammys, but they are boycotting the ceremony, after rejecting the Recording Academy’s new Asian Pop category.
The Butter hitmakers said the award’s language requirement – which demands “meaningful use” of an Asian language – boxed artists in rather than celebrating them. All seven members posted the same statement announcing they would not submit any music, arguing that songs should be judged on impact, not geography or vocabulary. Their decision arrived even as Swim, their US No. 1, was widely tipped as a major contender for Song of the Year – but its English-only lyrics would have made it ineligible for the new category. In fact, ARIRANG – largely sung in English – wouldn’t meet the category’s language requirement.
Recording Academy chief Harvey Mason Jr spent the summer trying to calm the storm, admitting the category hadn’t landed the way the organisation intended.
He said the organsiation had held weeks of talks with artists who felt the prize didn’t reflect the work they were creating, stressing that the Grammys must ensure “no voice or community gets overlooked or misunderstood.” Harvey insisted the category was designed to broaden recognition, not divide musicians, and said the Academy was prepared to act quickly to make sure artists “feel truly seen and heard.”
The 2027 Grammys take place on February 7.
