What did Luminate find about BTS awareness and favorability among U.S. fans?

Luminate said BTS awareness among U.S. music consumers reached 42 percent, close to the group’s record 43 percent. Favorability rose to 46 percent, the highest level since the firm began surveying BTS in 2021.

How strong were BTS album sales and vinyl numbers in the U.S.?

BTS’ fifth studio album sold 516,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week. Vinyl accounted for about 208,000 copies, or roughly 40 percent, which Luminate said is more like mainstream pop consumption than typical K-pop CD-driven sales.

Why did Big Hit Music say the Luminate results matter for BTS in the U.S.?

Big Hit Music said the data shows BTS has built a broad mainstream audience beyond its dedicated fan base. It pointed to the vinyl sales share and sustained streaming performance as evidence of the group’s lasting influence in the global music market.

BTS favorability among US fans hits record high: Luminate data

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Summary

BTS has reached record awareness and favorability among American music consumers, according to Luminate data. The group’s fifth studio album posted the strongest vinyl sales of any group since 1991, and its U.S. first-week sales reached 516,000 copies. Big Hit Music said the results show BTS has built a broad mainstream base beyond its fandom.

Key Facts

Luminate’s second-quarter survey put BTS awareness among U.S. music consumers at 42 percent, near its all-time high of 43 percent from the third quarter of last year.
BTS favorability among consumers who knew the group reached 46 percent, the highest level since Luminate began surveying BTS in 2021.
BTS’ fifth studio album sold 516,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week, with about 208,000 vinyl copies making up roughly 40 percent of sales.
The album logged nearly 5.7 billion global on-demand streams in its first 16 weeks, while BTS’ total streaming volume rose to 8.7 billion over the same period.
The album returned to the Billboard 200 top 10 after a halftime show performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

By Jhoo Dong-chan

Published Aug 14, 2026 2:36 pm KST

BTS has reached record levels of awareness and favorability among American music consumers, according to new data from Luminate, a global music data and analytics firm

The group's fifth studio album posted the strongest vinyl sales of any group since Luminate began tracking album sales in 1991.

Luminate's second-quarter survey of U.S. music consumers found BTS' awareness — the share of consumers who recognize the group — at 42 percent, nearing the group's all-time high of 43 percent set in the third quarter of last year.

That figure is 18 percentage points above the 24 percent average awareness across all artists Luminate tracks, and about four times the 11 percent average among the 22 K-pop acts in its survey. Awareness ranged from 43 percent among 13-to-17-year-olds to 59 percent among 18-to-24-year-olds, with more than half of 18-to-34-year-olds recognizing the group.

Favorability, measured among consumers who said they knew about BTS, reached 46 percent — the highest since Luminate began surveying the group in 2021, when the figure stood at 34 percent. Favorability topped 40 percent across every age group surveyed, including 60 percent among 13-to-17-year-olds.

BTS' fifth studio album, "Arirang," sold 516,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week, with vinyl accounting for roughly 208,000 copies, or about 40 percent — a proportion Luminate said mirrors the consumption patterns of top mainstream pop acts more than the CD-driven norm for K-pop releases.

The album has also sustained strong streaming numbers, logging nearly 5.7 billion global on-demand streams in its first 16 weeks, while streams of BTS' back catalog rose alongside it, pushing the group's total streaming volume to 8.7 billion over the same period.

The album also returned to the Billboard 200's top 10 following a halftime show performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup final.

Big Hit Music, the group's label, said the findings show BTS has built a broad mainstream base in the U.S. beyond its dedicated fan base, citing the vinyl sales share and sustained streaming performance as evidence of the group's lasting influence in the global music market.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.

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