According to Korean media, in just four days since BTS announced its plan to tour the world, the group has attracted about 900,000 new subscribers on Weverse, and increased by about 1 million new listeners on Spotify. This number is quickly seen as clear evidence of the so-called "BTS phenomenon" - a saying used to describe the group's strong spread on a global scale.
In particular, the upcoming 5th studio album named ARIRANG is also creating a wave of great interest. On Spotify, this album recorded 1.49 million pre-orders in just two days, thereby becoming the release that reached number 1 position fastest on the platform's Countdown chart. Data shared by netizens shows that pre-orders have increased steadily day by day, with more than 236,000 on January 14, 258,000 on January 15, followed by nearly 400,000 and more than 185,000 in the following two days.
The explosion of digital indicators not only reflects the excitement of fans for BTS's comeback, but also leads to more... realistic concerns. Many netizens express familiar fears every time BTS organizes tours: the concert ticket hunt.
On forums, Korean fans compared the upcoming ticket sales to "pih-cketing" - a way of playing Korean words, in which "pih" means "blood", referring to fierce competition to win a seat in BTS's concert. A series of comments that were both humorous and worried appeared: from "praying for at least one seat", to fearing that the ticket sales system would be overloaded or the server would crash due to excessive traffic.
With the current level of interest, the upcoming tour is predicted to continue to set new records, while affirming BTS's rare position in the global music scene.
