Group BTS Arirang has once again rewritten the history of the global music market. They proved their global top-tier music power by setting a monumental record of 5 billion streams on Spotify with their 5th full-length album ‘Arirang’.
According to global audio and music streaming platform Spotify on the 14th, the fifth full-length album ‘Arirang’ surpassed a cumulative 5 billion streams as of this day. This marks the highest number of plays among all albums released worldwide in 2026.
In particular, this is an overwhelming performance that is more than 2 billion streams ahead of the runner-up, Olivia Rodrigo’s 3rd full-length album (about 3 billion streams). Compared with the streaming numbers (1 billion to 2 billion streams) of world-renowned pop stars such as Bruno Mars and Harry Styles who released new albums during the same period, it stands out as a dominant solo run.
This album draws attention for its ‘balanced consumption across all tracks’ rather than focusing solely on the title track. All 14 tracks included in the album, including ‘No. 29’ which incorporates the sound of the Emille Bell, surpassed 200 million streams each. The title track ‘SWIM’ is on the verge of breaking 1 billion streams as of the 14th.
Returning after a hiatus of about 3 years and 9 months, the explosive power of BTS was evident from the very first day of release. On March 20, the day of release alone, the total play count for the album exceeded 110 million, and they swept the Spotify ‘Daily Top Songs Global’ chart by lining up all tracks from 1st to 14th place. The first-day streaming of the title track ‘SWIM’ (about 14 million streams) is also the highest daily play count for a single song among 2026 releases.
The achievements on the US Billboard main chart are also dazzling. BTS topped the ‘Billboard 200’ chart for the week of April 4 with ‘Arirang’, which is the highest record for a group album since Billboard introduced unit tallying in December 2014. Furthermore, they wrote the monumental record of spending 3 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the ‘Billboard 200′ as a group album, a feat achieved for the first time in 14 years since Mumford & Sons’ ‘Babel’ in 2012.
Global music fans and industry insiders are focusing their attention on the record-breaking march that BTS, established as the undisputed ’21st-century pop icon’, is writing through their 5th full-length album ‘Arirang’.
