You might have spotted on social media some reference to BTS. Either on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you can spot #BTS on almost every newsfeed and you might be wondering just what in the world does BTS stand for. BTS doesn't have a cryptic meaning or "Before Throwback Saturday" doesn't really exist. Instead, it stands for Bangtan Boys or Bulletproof Boy Scouts. - a seven-member South Korean boy band that have taken over the world.
Ever since their debut song "No more dream" from their first album "2 Cool 4 Skool", this K-pop band have conquered the hearts and minds of K-pop fans not only in South Korea but also around the world. Their success goes beyond the charts and they have also taken over the Internet.
Known for their large social media presence (6 million followers, 8 million+ YouTube subscribers and 6 million+ fans on Facebook), BTS featured on Forbes as the most retweeted artist on Twitter back in March 2016. As a result, Twitter launched its first ever K-pop Twitter emoji and it featured BTS.
BTS also went down in History as the first ever Korean group to top the Billboard Social 50, a sub-chart that measures reach across social networks. Their social media reach is particularly relevant in a day and age when charts reflect the most genuine way to measure streaming plays, radio and downloads.
Over the course of 31 weeks, BTS topped the Social 50, beating global pop stars the likes of Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande and Shawn Mendes.
When BTS member Kim Nam-joon took to the stage to collect their award, their fans tweeted #BTSBBMAS more than 300m times. The band's award and their social presence reflect South Korea's increasing cultural influence across the world. Their 2016 album Wings made it to number 26 in sales during its first month, which is the best position ever reached by a K-pop album.
Although the pop industry is a tightly controlled business in South Korea, BTS's success is partly due to its smaller independent record label, which found a market for a sober tone within the commercial and energetic world of K-pop, and allowed the band to include songs about loneliness and gender politics. While K-pop lyrics tend to play it safe, BTS' songs tackle themes of online harassment, suicide as well as critiques of police brutality.
Their label pioneered to movement to embrace the uncontrolled nature of social media and to allow the band to be themselves and share their real personalities with the world.
Just like other famous boy bands, BTS members' looks have helped them gain popularity amongst the female audience.
With a large international fan base - known as the "Army" - across Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America, BTS ranked number 5 on Fobes Korea Power Celebrity list in 2017.
BTS international impact is such that even the official Twitter account for the Times Square in New York City celebrated BTS's fourth anniversary. To congratulate the band Chinese fans rented space on the New York City's famous landmark and displayed a video on the massive screens. Times Square's Twitter account tweeted with footage of the BTS videos and photos being shown on the big screes, and hash tagged the post "4yearsBTSwithARMY."
The post read as follows "We see you, @BTS_twt! Global Kpop icons #BTS are being celebrated on #TimesSquare screens for their 4th anniversary. #4yearsBTSwithARMY."
Another world capital also celebrated BTS's anniversary: U.K. fans showed their love for the band on a billboard in London. Meanwhile, international groups collaborated to congratulated the band on a poster in a Seoul subway station.
These congratulations were accompanied by their respective tweets. For instance BTS UK ARMY UNITE tweeted "Our official photos of the #UKlovesBTS London billboard for @BTS_twt ! Thank you UK ARMY for working so hard to make this happen."
BTS's phenomenon and social media success shows the role Internet plays on a music band's success. Their ARMY fanbase and their dedication to share, tweet and retweet about the band are hugely responsible for the band's global fame. It was their promotion of the band that earned them the Top Social Artist award. Apart from promoting them on social media, the ARMY fanbase collected over 100000 signatures to get them invited to attend the BBMAs, which marked a new height for the group.