BTS set for comeback world tour after hiatus

K-pop supergroup BTS will begin a comeback world tour in April 2026, their label announced on Wednesday, marking the group’s return to the global stage after a four-year hiatus.

BTS, South Korea’s biggest musical act, has been on a self-described hiatus since 2022 as its members fulfilled the country’s mandatory military service for men under 30. All seven members were discharged last year, paving the way for the group’s planned return.

The upcoming world tour will span 34 cities with a total of 79 performances, making it the largest single tour by a K-pop group in terms of number of shows. It will also be BTS’s first world tour in four years.

The tour will open in Goyang, South Korea, on April 9, followed by two more concerts in the band’s home country.

From there, BTS will perform in neighboring Japan before heading to the United States and Europe. The tour is scheduled to conclude in Manila in March 2027.

The group’s label said additional cities will be announced in the coming months, including more stops in Japan and the Middle East.

The tour announcement came after BTS’s agency, HYBE, revealed on New Year’s Day that the group will release a new album on March 20, ahead of the tour.

The upcoming release will be BTS’s first album since the anthology “Proof,” which became South Korea’s best-selling record of 2022.

Following the announcement, shares of HYBE rose by about three percent at the opening of Wednesday’s trading.

Before their military service, BTS generated more than 5.5 trillion won (approximately $3.7 billion) annually for South Korea, according to the government-backed Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.

This contribution was estimated to be around 0.2 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.

Over the past decade, BTS has grown beyond South Korea to become a global music phenomenon.

The group holds the record as the most-streamed group on Spotify and was the first K-pop act to top both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Artist 100 charts in the United States.