8 Years of BTS; 8 of Their Career-Defining Moments
Words: Zhara Baz
With BTS and ARMY alike coming together on 13th June for BTS’ 8th anniversary, it is clear that they have achieved monumental success. The last year alone has been filled with Grammy nominations, their first Number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and the recent announcement that the group’s most recent release, ‘Butter’, is officially the biggest number 1 in the history of Billboard’s Global Chart.
Recognised as the Best New Artist at the Melon Music Awards back in 2013, 8 years of accomplishments and numerous broken records later; it’s been no easy task narrowing down 8 moments that have contributed to the definition of BTS’ collective career.
FIRST MUSIC SHOW WIN
An important moment for all K-Pop groups, BTS achieved their first South Korean music show win on 5th May 2015. Accounting for album sales, digital sales and pre-voting via text, the winning title track – ‘I Need U’ -, from their third mini album ‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1’, scored an impressive 8078 points.
Winning on a music show, especially for the first time, signifying that BTS’ efforts and hard work had not gone in vain. At the time, it suggested that they were on the right path; it was proof to the members themselves that they were doing well; and that they had a strong and dedicated fanbase. Little did they know that this was only the beginning for themselves and ARMY.
FIRST DAESANG
Three years into their career, BTS were awarded their very first daesang on 19th November 2016 at the Melon Music Awards for Best Album of the Year, ‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever’.
Meaning ‘grand prize’, a daesang is the highest award given at Korean Award Ceremonies. In BTS’ case, Best Album of the Year is awarded based on the number of copies sold both physically and digitally. For ARMY, this was also one of the first times we saw BTS achieve one of their mentioned career goals. At the time, social media was flooded with stills, videos and GIFs of the members in shock, disbelief, pure elation and, also, tears as the news was announced.
6 years after its initial release, ‘The Most Beautiful Moment in Life’ era remains beloved beyond words by both BTS and ARMY due to its important messages and significance.
BBMA TOP SOCIAL ARTIST
Breaking Justin Bieber’s 6 year winning streak, BTS won the Billboard Music Award for Top Social Artist on 21st May 2017 – and have continued to win ever since.
As Top Social Artist is awarded based on streaming, social engagement and global online voting results, this was one of the first times western media began to take notice of both BTS and of the size, diversity and dedication of ARMY.
When you consider the way in which BTS has fully embraced social media as a way of communicating to fans from all over the globe, it’s not at all surprising to know that the hashtag #BTSBBMAS was tweeted over 300 million times in the run up to the event – numbers that had not been seen in previous years, resulting in extreme western press coverage.
Despite being the very first K-Pop group to be nominated and win a BBMA, not all reactions were positive, driving home the importance of disregarding Asian stereotypes, and the continued need for representation, recognition and respect.
2018 UNITED NATIONS SPEECH
For the launch of Generation Unlimited, leader RM spoke on behalf of BTS at the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly on 24th September 2018.
Generation Unlimited is a global campaign working “to ensure every young person is in education, training or employment by 2030”, thus enabling young people to become active and engaged members of society.
ARMY raised $1 million for this campaign, showing western media that they are more than screaming fans; that they are a socially conscious and diverse group of people willing and capable of making long-term change, inspired by a 7 member group aspiring to do the same through music.
“No matter where you’re from, skin colour, gender identity, just speak yourself. Find your name, find your voice”.
ORDER OF THE CULTURAL MERIT
On 24th October 2018, BTS became the youngest recipients in history of the South Korean Order of Culture Merit.
The Order of Cultural Merit is a national recognition for “outstanding meritorious services in the fields of culture and art in the interest of promoting the national culture and national development”, and is awarded by the President of South Korea.
As a result of BTS’ popularity overseas, an influx of people from around the world have been learning the Korean language, becoming increasingly interested in Korean culture, and visiting South Korea. It was recorded at the start of 2021 that BTS has contributed $4.9 billion towards the South Korean Economy.
MAMA 2018 SPEECH
Compared to the rest of these career-defining moments, BTS’ MAMA 2018 speech was shocking in a different way but important nonetheless.
After winning Artist of the Year at the Mnet Asian Music Awards, the members gave an emotional acceptance speech wherein Jin confessed that they had talked about disbanding at the beginning of 2018 due to hardships and poor mental health.
Break The Silence brought about further explanations: self-doubt, international attention, stress, and achieving goals they had previously only dreamed about.
However, BTS’ ability to push through and continue on is what makes this a career-defining moment. They didn’t give up and have inspired millions to do the same; to recognise that the difficult moments offer reflection.
WEMBLEY STADIUM
At the beginning of June 2019, BTS became the first ever K-Pop group to headline at Wembley Stadium.
BTS’ performances at Wembley Stadium during their ‘Love Yourself, Speak Yourself World Tour’ have been especially highlighted among the members as a major part of their career.
A special moment for BTS and ARMY happened on Day 2, as there was a staff-organised secret project wherein fans would sing a part of ‘Young Forever’ to the 7 members onstage. Needless to say, a lot of tears were shed due to the meaning behind the song and the 60,000 voices singing it.
Considering this was only BTS’ second trip and third performance in the U.K, it’s safe to say that two sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium has been a pretty pivotal moment in their career.
BILLBOARD CHART HISTORY
With the release of BTS’ latest single ‘Butter’, there was no doubt that it would achieve charting success. Despite only being released on 21st May 2021, it was revealed that BTS’ ‘Butter” took over the charts with staggering numbers previously unseen by any other artist in Billboard chart history.
Breaking and setting new records, ‘Butter’ rose to Number 1 on the Billboard Global 200 Chart with 289.2 million streams and just under a quarter of a million copies sold in its first week.
Adding to their own previous charting history, ‘Butter’ became BTS’ fourth Number 1 Billboard Hot 100 release with Billboard announcing that they are the fastest group to do so since the Jackson 5 in 51 years.
Like all of their musical releases, these recent achievements have shown the music industry and the press just how much popularity and influence they retain, with their hard work and dedication, reflected in BTS’ loyal ARMY.
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