BTS announces massive world tour

K-pop phenomenon BTS will begin a world tour in April that will include two concerts at the Stade de France in July, the group’s record label announced, as cited by AFP.

South Korea’s biggest music group had been on hiatus since 2022 while its members completed their mandatory military service, required of all South Korean men under the age of 30, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

All seven members have now completed their military service, and the group announced its return in spring 2026, with a new album set for release on March 20.

With 79 concerts in 34 cities, this will be the largest tour ever undertaken by a K-pop group in terms of total number of shows.

The world tour, BTS’s first in four years, will kick off in Goyang, South Korea, on April 9. The group will then head to neighboring Japan, according to its agency HYBE.

BTS will later travel to the United States and Europe, with two concerts scheduled for July 17 and 18 at the Stade de France near Paris, AFP reports.

The tour is expected to conclude in March 2027 in Manila.

The seven-member group’s label said that additional cities will be added to the tour, including locations in Japan and the Middle East.

Their comeback album will be their first in nearly four years since the anthology Proof, which became South Korea’s best-selling album in 2022.

HYBE shares rose on Wednesday following the announcement of BTS’s world tour, gaining about 3%.

On Wednesday, investment bank IBK Securities estimated that the company’s operating profits this year would be ten times higher compared to 2025.

“Based on the full tour schedule, it is expected that around 4.5 million people will attend the concerts,” said analyst Kim Yu-hyuk.

Before the hiatus, BTS generated more than 5.5 trillion won (approximately 3.25 billion euros) annually in South Korea, according to the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute. This figure is equivalent to about 0.2% of the country’s GDP.

BTS’s success has extended far beyond South Korea, with the group becoming a global music phenomenon in recent years.

As reported by CE Report, BTS holds the record for the most-streamed group on Spotify and was the first K-pop group to top the Billboard 200 and Billboard Artist 100 charts in the United States.