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As of December 11, 2023, global sensation BTS, became the first and only Asian act ever to surpass the massive threshold of 37 Billion streams on Spotify across all credits. With this victory, the septet—who is currently serving in the military—is bound to go down in history as the first and only band from the K-pop world that stirred the international music scene with such a massive streaming on a global music streaming platform.
This triumph is extremely significant for the BTS ARMY. The band's frontman, Kim Namjoon and his friend of a decade, Kim Taehyung, joined the South Korean military on December 11, 2023, marking the day when the group passed through the 37 billion Spotify stream milestone.
Consequently, as their beloved group made history by being the first and only Asian act to ever attain such a large number of streams, fans were exuberant and conveyed their happiness on social media.
"Just wait until 2025": Fans elated to witness BTS achieve historic feats even during their brief hiatus
BTS has amassed over 37 Billion (37,119,520,901) streams as of December 18, 2023, with a daily stream of 15 million (15,057,036) streams. The top 10 tracks of the band include No More Dream with 166 million (166,586,300) streams, Left and Right (Feat. Jung Kook of BTS) with over 843 million (843,318,006) streams, My Universe with over 1.1 Billion (1,164,347,869) streams, and Dynamite with over 1.7 Billion (1,771,124,074) streams.
The supergroup's 2023 release song Take Two has over 213 million (213,204,102) streams, Attack on Bangtan with 67 million (67,313,614) streams, Butter with over 1.1 Billion (1,196,869,838) streams, Run BTS with over 385 million (385,593,933) streams, Boy With Luv (Feat. Halsey) with over 1.1 Billion (1,109,523,136) streams, Spring Day with over 456 million (456,478,247) streams, Life Goes On 670 million (670,662,212) streams.
BTS did not make this big with just eleven of its tracks. The global phenomenon has released over 230 songs in a span of 9 years as a group. This count does not include the group members' solo releases and mixtapes. Their tracks such as FAKE LOVE have garnered over 728 million (728,324,035) streams, Black Swan has amassed over 433 million (433,870,518) streams.
Meanwhile, Euphoria with over 544 million (544,576,617) streams, Permission to Dance with over 640 million (640,122,503) streams, Blood Sweat & Tears with over 530 million (530,974,342) streams, DNA with over 603 million (603,080,025) streams, and IDOL with over 431 million (431,340,398) Spotify streams.
However, fans flocked to Twitter (now X) to celebrate the K-pop group's latest accomplishment and to "wait until 2025," when their members return from their military duty, to see additional records be broken and history be made.
Regarding BTS, the group became well-known for creating and composing their own songs. According to the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), the frontman of the band, Kim Namjoon aka RM, has 218 songwriting and composition credits under his name, Min Yoongi aka SUGA, has 167 writing and composition credits, and Jung Hoseok aka J-Hope has 137 songwriting and composition credits.
Furthermore, Demian, a coming-of-age book by Hermann Hesse, served as the inspiration for their 2016 album Wings. The music video for their song Blood Sweat & Tears has visual parallels to Pieter Bruegel's Landscape with the Fall of Icarus, Herbert James Draper's The Lament for Icarus, and Bruegel's The Fall of the Rebel Angels. The song itself cites Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra.
Their works have been influenced by a variety of literary and various other literature, such as works by Nietzsche, Carl Jung, Haruki Murakami, Ursula K. Le Guin, and George Orwell. They drew inspiration for the Love Yourself series from Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving, and from James R. Doty's literary biography Into the Magic Shop for their 2018 song Magic Shop from Love Yourself: Tear.
The seven members of BTS enlisted in the South Korean military as of December 12, 2023, and are reported to resume group activities in 2025. Their fans are awaiting their return as they try to find some solace through streaming their songs and reminiscing about the old days.
