BTS Join Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny at 10 Billion Streams, and No Group Had Done It Before

BTS have passed 10 billion streams on Spotify in a single year, and Big Hit Music says no group has ever done that. The figure, confirmed on the 16th, is up 122% from the 4.5 billion the members logged last year.

Until now, that mark had belonged to solo pop stars such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande and Bad Bunny. BTS are the first group to join them.

Arirang does the heavy lifting

Most of the growth traces back to Arirang, the fifth full-length album released in March, the group's first as a complete seven-member lineup in roughly three years and nine months. It has been played more than 5 billion times, making it the most-streamed album released in 2026 on the platform. The record is built around identity, longing and deep love, themes that clearly traveled.

The release-day numbers show how sharp the jump was. Daily streams sat around 23 million before the album arrived, then climbed to 130 million on the day it dropped. All 14 tracks, including the instrumental "No. 29," took the top 14 spots on Spotify's Daily Top Songs Global chart, a full sweep that is rare for any act.

The title track "SWIM" pulled in about 14 million plays on its first day, the biggest opening-day total for any song released this year. It is a song about continuing to swim through life's waves, a message of empathy for people simply doing their best, and its day-one pace suggests listeners were ready for that kind of comfort.

Awards and a tour in motion

The milestone arrives alongside trophies. On the 14th, BTS won Artist of the Year at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards Japan, after taking Best Group Video/International for the "SWIM" music video in September. The main ceremony takes place at Tokyo Dome on the 29th.

The group is currently in Santiago, Chile, for three shows through Saturday on the Arirang world tour. After that come three nights each in Buenos Aires and São Paulo before the tour heads back to Asia. The final show in each of those two cities will be screened live in cinemas worldwide: Buenos Aires on Oct. 24 and São Paulo on Oct. 30.