Making history: BTS on TIME magazine front cover

By Lee Min-young

BTS, who made history by becoming the first South Korean band to top U.S. music charts and sell out a U.S. stadium, has now made it to the front cover of TIME magazine.

The group has joined the magazine's annual picks of "Next Generation Leaders."

A TIME report titled "How BTS Is Taking Over the World" was posted on the magazine's website on Oct 10., along with video footage of an interview with BTS members.

The report called the seven-piece act "the most popular boy band in the world, " saying the group was breaking ground by setting records in the U.S. and all across Asia, "without catering to Western audiences."

On its unprecedented success as a K-pop band, a BTS member told the magazine: “It feels like the music really brings us together ... once the music starts people react pretty much the same wherever we go."

Now fans are eager to get their hands on the Oct. 22 issue of Time.

According to online retailer YES24, after TIME revealed the cover on twitter, 2,000 copies were sold in just five hours. A total of 13,000 copies initially secured by the magazine's distributor have been sold out, and the distributor is taking orders for more copies.

The TIME magazine Asia edition featuring BTS will officially go on sale from Oct. 15.

After performing at New York's Citi Field, BTS is now on a sold-out tour across Europe, from London, the Netherlands to Germany and France. The group is scheduled to move on to Japan in November.