K-pop superstars BTS will hold concerts in October and release a new album in the fourth quarter of the year.
This was revealed by Big Hit Entertainment led by chairman and CEO Bang Si-hyuk during its corporate briefing streamed on YouTube on Aug. 13.
The concerts, titled “BTS Map of the Soul ON:E,” will be held in-person and streamed online on Oct. 10 and 11.
Amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic, Big Hit Entertainment said that for the in-person performance, “only limited seating will be available for purchase” to comply with “government-mandated concert seat distancing measures for COVID-19 prevention.”
Last June 14, BTS held their online concert “Bang Bang Con: The Live,” which drew 756,600 fans from 107 countries and set a Guinness World Records title for the most viewers for a music concert live stream. It earned at least $19.74 million, or P993 million, based on ticket prices.
In addition, Bang Si-hyuk announced for the first time that “after a long preparation by the members, the new BTS album will be unveiled in the fourth quarter.”
Ahead of the concerts and album, BTS will be releasing on Aug. 21 the song “Dynamite,” an English track that BTS liked to “MIC Drop” and “Waste It On Me.”
Bang Si-hyuk said the first half of the year was difficult as BTS’ scheduled world tour was cancelled because of COVID-19.
Despite this, Big Hit Entertainment, whose artists include BTS, Seventeen, NU’EST, TXT and GFriend, earned pre-audit revenues of 294 billion won ($248 million) and 49.7 billion won ($42 million) in operating profit in the first half of the year from album sales, online concert, official merchandise and multimedia content.
In 2019 and first half of 2020, he said that BTS and Seventeen took the first two places. Last year, BTS sold 6.21 million albums while Seventeen recorded 1.45 million.
This year, BTS’ “Map of the Soul: 7” sold 4.26 million copies as of June while Seventeen’s “Hang:gare” sold 1.2 million copies.
“Continuing their journey as artists imparting a genuine and positive influence, BTS continue to cement their status as world artists,” Bang Si-hyuk said.