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[Herald Economy = Myungsoo Lee] BTS drew 150,000 fans over three days in Mexico on its world tour ARIRANG. Yonhap reported that the fervor of Latin American fans has also driven the group’s streaming performance worldwide.
On the 14th, Yonhap cited Luminate, a music and entertainment data tracker, saying BTS’s fifth studio album ARIRANG, released March 20, logged 739,100,000 streams globally in its first week.
Luminate said the total was not only the highest first-week figure for any album released in 2026, but also the largest weekly tally since Taylor Swift’s Life of a Showgirl recorded 1.3 billion streams last October.
Breaking down first-week streams by country, the U.S. led with 115,000,000 streams, followed by Brazil (78,600,000), Mexico (75,900,000) and South Korea (58,300,000). Japan ranked fifth with 48,200,000.
Even aside from the U.S., Latin American markets such as Brazil and Mexico outpaced South Korea, the birthplace of K-pop.
YouTube’s charts reflect the same trend. Over the 28-day period from the 6th of last month through the 3rd of this month, four Latin American countries — Brazil (3rd, 53,200,000 views), Mexico (4th, 53,100,000), Argentina (9th, 22,100,000) and Peru (10th, 19,100,000) — ranked among the top 10 nations streaming BTS the most. South Korea was sixth with 46,600,000 views.
That regional enthusiasm translated into electric concert scenes.
Tickets for the Mexico City shows sold out immediately, filling all 150,000 seats. Tens of thousands of fans who couldn’t secure tickets gathered around the venue to share in the atmosphere. The Los Angeles Times estimated roughly 35,000 people had congregated outside the arena on the 9th–10th (local time).
On the 6th, the members met President Claudia Sheinbaum at the National Palace, and about 50,000 ARMYs packed the Zócalo in front of the palace. BTS met with President Sheinbaum and received a commemorative plaque from the Mexican government.
In October, BTS will visit major Latin American markets — Bogotá, Lima, Santiago, Buenos Aires and São Paulo — for stadium concerts.
On this tour, they will become the first Korean artists to perform at Estadio El Campín in Bogotá and Estadio Único de La Plata in Buenos Aires. They will also stage the first solo concert by a Korean artist at Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chile.
Responding to strong demand across the region, BTS has already added one extra show each in Lima, Santiago and Buenos Aires.
A Hybe (Big Hit Music) representative said the company is closely watching the Latin market’s rapid growth and potential. Hybe plans to use the Latin market as a strategic hub linking the U.S. Hispanic market — which represents about 19.5% of the U.S. population — with Asia, English-speaking markets and Spanish-speaking markets, strengthening its global business strategy.
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