Thirteen years in, BigHit is calling today a new starting line — so let’s pause on that for a second, because with 840,000 North American fans and nine weeks in the Billboard Top 10 behind them, that phrase is doing real work. Welcome to BTS Daily Podcast — I’m Joey, Liz is here, and this anniversary rundown feels like a victory lap that somehow kept picking up stops along the way. We’ve got the FESTA timetable, the Busan live-viewing trailer, the North American tour revenue numbers, and Jimin’s ‘Kiss’ video — all of it landing on a Monday morning like BTS said, let’s just give them everything at once. And I need to talk about that Jimin video, because Jungkook better be watching that one. From Ji Seunghun at MK:
This year's FESTA carries the theme "13(B)TS." BTS chose the title to reflect the meaning of standing at a new starting line after 12 years of activity. Expectations are especially high, as this is the first anniversary event since the group resumed full-group activities after completing military service.
Thirteen years in, and BigHit is framing FESTA as a new starting line — not a finish line, not a victory lap. That wording hits a little harder when you put it next to ARIRANG spending nine straight weeks in the Billboard 200 Top 10 and the North American leg closing at 114.8 billion KRW. And the theme is literally ‘13(B)TS’ — they put themselves inside the number. The family photo drops June 4, the Hooligan performance video on the 5th, then Normal Log and 13 Side Film on the 7th and 8th. That is two weeks of content, and I am already overwhelmed. What I keep coming back to is that phrase — ‘after 12 years of activity, standing at a new starting line.’ This is the first FESTA since everyone finished military service and came back together as a full group. BigHit isn’t calling it a reunion era. They’re treating it like year one of something else. Here's Rolling Stone:
The group will return to South Korea’s Busan Asiad Municipal Stadium on June 13, and plan to celebrate the big moment with BTS World Tour ‘Arirang’ in Busan: Live Viewing, a one-night-only live screening in cinemas worldwide. Now, BTS have shared a trailer for the screening, giving fans a taste of what they can expect from the broadcast.
The Busan trailer is out now — it’s set to ‘Fya,’ tickets are on sale today, and the June 13 show at Asiad Municipal Stadium is officially part of the plan. So the thread from earlier this week is fully closed: announcement first, trailer next, and the global cinema screening is real and ticketed. And they used ‘Fya’ for the trailer, which is the correct choice, because that song hits like a freight train live. Those choreo clips alone are going to move tickets. It’s their first time back at that stadium since 2022, post-military, and now you’ve got nine straight weeks in the Billboard 200 Top 10 sitting behind it. So when BigHit calls this a new starting line, Busan feels like the exclamation point on the whole thing. Here's Elias Kollböck at Inspired by Beatz:
BTS have held the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 for nine consecutive weeks, becoming the first Korean act ever to achieve this feat. ARIRANG debuted on 20 March 2026 with 641,000 equivalent units in its first week-the strongest weekly performance by a group since the chart switched to units in 2014.
Nine weeks in the Billboard 200 Top 10. Three weeks at number one. And Inspired by Beatz has the debut number on record: 641,000 equivalent units, the strongest first week by a group since the chart moved to units in 2014. On the 13th anniversary, that’s not just a hype stat — that’s structural. And SWIM just crossed 500 million on Spotify — first 2026 single to do it. JK’s fingerprints are all over that track, and I am absolutely not being normal about it. What I keep coming back to is the producer list — Pdogg, Diplo, Ryan Tedder, Kevin Parker, JPEGMafia, Mike Will Made-It all on the same album. Nobody was forcing one sonic identity onto it. That sounds like a confident record, and nine weeks says the listeners agreed. This one's from The Asia Business Daily:
The world tour ‘ARIRANG’ by the group BTS is generating massive economic effects, creating what is being called the ‘BTSnomics’ phenomenon. It has been tallied that approximately 840,000 fans attended the first leg of the group’s North American tour.
The Asia Business Daily is putting a number on the North American leg today: 114.8 billion KRW across eight shows, 840,000 fans, every single date sold out — and that’s before you count the extra nights they added in Tampa, Stanford, and Las Vegas, which also sold out. Sixty-four percent up from Love Yourself and Permission to Dance on Stage. That’s not a small step up, that’s a different tier. And Jungkook headlining stadiums in Tampa and Las Vegas to those numbers — I’m sorry, the era is doing something. 840,000 people in five cities is not a fluke, that is a movement. 840,000 — and it lands today, the 13th anniversary, right alongside the FESTA timetable dropping with BigHit calling this ‘a new starting line.’ When the revenue data and that phrase show up on the same day, you have to sit with what they’re actually saying: the scale you just heard is apparently the starting point now. Here's Lee Seung Hun at 아이즈(ize):
On May 26, Jimin posted a brief video capturing his recent whereabouts on his personal social media account without any specific caption. In the video, Jimin effortlessly pulled off a striking look with long, blonde hair that naturally cascaded down to his shoulders.
Okay, so this is a May 26 personal social media post from Jimin — long blonde hair, a little ‘ppopo’ to the camera, and then a dog absolutely going to town on his face while he just... calmly accepts it. The dog had zero hesitation, and Jimin just closed his eyes and smiled like that was the best moment of his life. Honestly, same. It’s a cute post. ize covered it, it’s real, Jimin put it up himself — that’s the whole story, and sometimes the whole story is just a man and a fluffy dog on the 13th anniversary week. Got feedback, story ideas, or a correction we should know about? Send it our way at btsdailyfacast at lantern podcasts dot com. We’re always trying to keep it accurate, especially when BTS news moves fast.
If anything in today’s lineup deserves a closer look, we’ve put links to every story in the show notes so you can follow the official sources from there. Thanks for spending part of your Monday with us. That’s BTS Daily Podcast for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.