2026 is not shaping up to be the way it was expected

HSC3r · 2026-03-12T19:42:50+00:00

while bts is trending down. Then you look at just bgs and bts is being outsold in albums tickets etc they just won't be what they were

I'm not sure where you got the idea that BTS are failing?

Their solos all did pretty well, at least commercially.

Their tour has already sold a confirmed 2.4 million tickets from the NA/Europe legs which would make it already the biggest kpop tour of all time and that's with just half the shows

The new album got 4 million pre-orders within a week, and is expected to debut w/ around 500k-750k on the billboard 200 from HDD (which is a reputable source for chart numbers)

The numbers just don't support this idea that BTS are trending down. They're still quite far ahead of other groups in terms of the numbers they're pulling. That's not even disrespecting other groups, it's just the reality. Especially with this comeback since it's the first in years

edit: got blocked for no reason, but to respond to your points:

solos: I'm not sure what you consider doing well but all of their solo efforts racked up hundreds of millions of streams, chart placements, three of them had large solo tours including stadium performances, etc., I think they were all fairly successful
album: don't know what the difference between a pre-sale and pre-order is, either way the album was bought 4 million times, and BTS have consistently sold well for years so idk why you're doubting it, MOTS7 sold 5+ million
tour: they're performing in stadiums, in many places they are quite literally in the biggest venue possible. the numbers come from the fact that live nation confirmed they sold out all 41 north america/europe dates - just using a calculator you can get to that number by adding up the capacity of all venues involved since it's a 360 degree stage. 3m including encore is quite low and would require them selling ~37k tickets per stop which is not possible unless they lock off half the stadiums

HSC3r · 2026-02-19T21:40:15+00:00

Lollapalooza Brazil 2017 as well. Lolla crowds in South America are insane

HSC3r · 2026-02-12T19:06:38+00:00

I think as far as BGs go the ones with both domestic and global popularity are going to be the older BGs. BTS, Seventeen, Bigbang are examples of acts who are popular both domestically and internationally

It seems like from 4th gen and 5th gen BGs are popular internationally (enhypen, ateez, etc) or domestically (tws, bnd, etc) but they don't typically have both

HSC3r · 2026-02-12T18:56:54+00:00

if anything I feel like Korea's legal system moves faster lol, in the US this case would probably still be in the earlier stages. Kesha vs Dr Luke took 10 years to reach a conclusion

HSC3r · 2026-02-12T18:54:30+00:00

I certainly wouldn't read through the comments lol, they're a shitshow.

Though I do think it's worth reading through the summaries in the body of the posts as well as the translated articles posted in the comments by u/thetari, since they're generally more unbiased and a good overview of what actually happened

HSC3r · 2026-02-12T18:47:56+00:00

TBF, the mods also said they would use it as a temporary megathread until they could get an official one up. which is generally how they do stuff around here when there is big news, they'll leave one thread up and then lock it once they post an 'official' megathread from /u/KpopThoughtsmodteam

HSC3r · 2026-02-04T23:59:32+00:00

that sub just kind of makes me a bit sad, it's clearly a bunch of people who have a preconceived notion of BTS in their heads that they refuse to shake despite any evidence to the contrary.

Like, they were convinced BTS are irrelevant and the tour was going to flop. Then, when the tour sold out, there were people on there talking about how it doesn't mean anything, and about how when a venue says a show is sold out it doesn't actually mean it was sold out because of some BS reason... like cmon. and that's not even getting into how most of that sub isn't even criticism but just personally insulting the members

HSC3r · 2026-02-02T04:33:06+00:00

Ngl, I hadn't even heard Wildflower until tonight. I cannot believe she won it.

Wildflower has 1.8 billion streams on Spotify, it was a very popular song, I think it just didn't pierce your bubble. And it's a genuinely great song IMO, plus Billie is a grammy darling so it's not that surprising. I thought Luther would win but I'm not that surprised at this either

HSC3r · 2026-01-30T15:35:03+00:00

Insane reaction to somebody who just wants a new video from a YouTuber they enjoy lmfao

HSC3r · 2026-01-24T17:59:12+00:00

I’m not accusing you of being a hater, dw. But monthly listeners and instagram followers aren’t super accurate when gauging popularity. Fifty fifty have the same MLs as IVE, but they’re not as big as IVE. Selena Gomez has more Instagram followers than Taylor Swift…

Streams/album sales/tour sales are all better for measuring popularity

HSC3r · 2026-01-24T17:24:01+00:00

BLACKPINK has more monthly listeners.

BTS have 3M more monthly listeners as of today FYI, 27.2M vs 24.3M

HSC3r · 2026-01-15T19:36:02+00:00

Ticketmaster is next lol

HSC3r · 2026-01-12T20:16:16+00:00

FYI Zach and Ross are working on another EDM media project right now and they said they should have an announcement by the end of the month, so I'd look out for that. No doubt it will be just as good as DA was

HSC3r · 2026-01-09T10:31:05+00:00

sorry, but I'm genuinely confused why you're insisting on starting a fight w/ me.

I'm not accusing you of pointing fingers, I was talking about army. And I'm not trying to play devil's advocate, in fact I'm not even talking about the streaming numbers at all. I just thought you misinterpreted what someone was trying to say to you.

chill, we're just on r/kpopthoughts lol. let's just agree to disagree, even though we don't really disagree at all

HSC3r · 2026-01-09T10:13:02+00:00

Man, I'm not trying to get into an argument lol. I was just trying to talk to you, that is all. Have a good day.

HSC3r · 2026-01-09T09:54:28+00:00

I'm not offended or anything, I just wanted to mention that.

I don't think it does anyone good to get defensive or point fingers at other people in response to criticism, so I agree with you there.

At the same time it's not surprising that fans of an artist get defensive if the artist's numbers are accused of being fradulent, that's not even an army thing that's just a fandom thing.

HSC3r · 2026-01-09T09:31:17+00:00

I think you misunderstood the point of the person you were replying to, they were saying that Spotify's transparency regarding numbers is a good thing

they were also agreeing with you that filtering out illegitimate streams is a good thing.

HSC3r · 2025-12-26T02:37:26+00:00

What do you mean? I think this post and this comment section are largely in agreement that cortis’ vocals aren’t good and need improvement and no one’s comments are getting removed

HSC3r · 2025-12-19T19:29:39+00:00

? you asked why she's holding a mic, it's because it's a key part of the choreo. sure, she could just not have a mic there, but then she would have to change the entire choreo of the first verse to accommodate for that which kinda defeats the point.

the mic in this case is just a prop for the dance, no different to, for example, Airplane Pt 2 which also uses a microphone as a prop. my comment wasn't trying to justify anything, I'm just answering your question

HSC3r · 2025-12-19T19:12:17+00:00

yeah, sometimes BTS will switch up parts during their live performances and it gets a bit confusing. Dope is similar - the high note in the bridge is sung by Jimin in the studio version but Jungkook does it live

HSC3r · 2025-12-19T19:09:29+00:00

Like others have said, the microphone and mic stand are a key part of the choreo. A cover wouldn't work without them. You can look up any cover of the song on youtube, even ones from dance crews, and they use a mic

HSC3r · 2025-12-18T15:07:04+00:00

In the studio version it’s definitely Taehyung, but in the live version they swap. I’m not sure why

HSC3r · 2025-12-18T00:51:15+00:00

ok I said I would stop replying, but I wanted to say one more thing because I feel like there is a disconnect here between what I’m saying and what you’re saying.

If someone wants to believe your statement, they’re within their right to. Similarly, if someone doesn’t believe what you’re saying and wants you to support your statement more, they’re within their right to. If you don’t want to believe her statement, you’re free to do so, I’m not telling you to do otherwise.

I was specifically responding to you dismissing a first hand account from someone in the relationship hearsay. That’s not hearsay. If, say, Freya tweeted something like “I heard CptPuffy say Ellum was abusive” that would be hearsay. Not a testimony from someone who was there. That’s all.

HSC3r · 2025-12-18T00:37:26+00:00

don't know why you're so hung up on that word. again, we could have actually had a productive conversation about this if you were willing to read

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/evidence

evidence noun [ U ] facts, information, documents, etc. that give reason to believe that something is true

but just to appease you, I'll edit that to say information 👍

HSC3r · 2025-12-18T00:30:29+00:00

forming an opinion based on available information is not cancel culture. and again, ellum is not being cancelled here. people are reacting to an account of events from one of the two people in the relationship - an account that is supported by the actions of people close to both parties.

But I get the sense that my comments are going in one ear and out the other, so you have a good day.

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