42,000 instead of 250,000 fans on site, Hybe shares in the basement – and still an almost sold-out world tour: The BTS comeback is surprising on several levels.
After a four-year break, K-pop group BTS performed live again. 100,000 people are said to have gathered at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul, South Korea, for the comeback concert. The group presented their new album “Arirang” there for the first time. The event was also available to stream on Spotify and Netflix. But as well planned as the hype surrounding the reunion with the boy band was, it can’t ultimately be proven to be sustainable in numbers.
First global K-Pop hype – now with significantly less crowd
The music group was among the first to make the Korean genre big internationally. The global hype around K-Pop has been largely driven by BTS. This also helped the country economically, as content industries such as K-pop, K-drama and K-beauty gained international fame, the Seoul office told the “1&1” editorial team. Tourism was also boosted by K-Pop – with BTS as the flagship.
However, in reality, the comeback concert did not go as well as it was presented to the outside world. There was previously talk of 250,000 fans – this number was far from being reached. According to the Korea Times, the Seoul police recorded only about 42,000 people, just a fifth of the planned fans.
BTS’ entertainment group Hybe is said to have given false visitor numbers and said there were supposedly 100,000 people in attendance, as the New York Times reported. The small audience on site was justified by the Netflix live broadcast: many people would have saved the journey to Seoul and watched the event from home.
Netflix broadcast
But even on Netflix the broadcast only went half as well as expected. The live spectacle reached 18.4 million viewers. Sounds like a lot – but it really isn’t. The numbers are weak compared to the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Jake Paul presented by Netflix in 2024. According to the BBC, the fight was watched by 108 million viewers.
Has BTS lost its fan base?
Four years ago, when the band went on hiatus, there was comparatively less competition in the K-pop market. Meanwhile, groups like Blackpink, Stray Kids and Seventeen have taken over. The industry has even expanded to the West with the US-produced K-pop project Demon Hunters.
In addition, the band’s target group has become four years older and has turned to other styles of music during this time. After all, the entire K-pop genre is currently in a phase of weakness: the most recent albums by other K-pop groups – such as Blackpink – often fell out of the foreign charts after a short time.
Hybe shares collapse
The fact that the live show was a bit of a flop is also evident economically. According to the BBC, Hybe’s share price fell by 15 percent on Monday – to its lowest value in four months. BTS is the company’s largest source of income. The comeback was expected to generate more than $1 billion, including through concerts, merchandise, record sales and streams.
World tour sold out, album breaks records
But the comeback wasn’t a complete flop either. The world tour, which now follows the release show, was largely sold out in a very short time. BTS will play almost 80 shows in 34 countries, including two in Munich – on July 11th and July 12th at the Allianz Arena.
The album “Arirang” also broke records in a very short time: with 110 million views, it became the most streamed album in one day in 2026 – and the most listened to K-pop album of all time, as Spotify announced.
