BTS Goes Beyond K-POP as U.S. Favorability Reaches Record 46%

BTS' popularity in the United States has reached new heights, with new data showing the group recording its highest favorability rating since tracking began in 2021.

According to a second-quarter survey of U.S. music consumers conducted by global music data company Luminate, BTS recorded 42% awareness and 46% favorability, with the latter marking the group’s highest level since Luminate began surveying them five years ago.

BTS' U.S. awareness has grown six percentage points from 36% in 2021 and now sits just below the group’s record of 43%, reached during the third quarter of 2025. The latest figure also significantly exceeds the 24% average awareness recorded among all artists tracked by Luminate and is nearly four times the 11% average among 22 K-POP acts included in the survey.

The group showed particularly strong recognition among younger U.S. consumers. There, awareness reached 59% among those aged 18–24 and 56% among 25–34-year-olds. However, BTS' reach extended across generations, with awareness also standing at 43% among those aged 13–17, 44% among 35–54-year-olds and 28% among respondents aged 55 and older.

Among respondents familiar with BTS, 46% expressed a favorable opinion of the group, including 19% who said they liked them "a lot" and 27% who liked them "somewhat." The figure represents a 12-percentage-point increase from the 34% recorded when tracking began.

Favorability also remained at 40% or higher across every age group surveyed, reaching 60% among 13–17-year-olds, 47% among 18–24-year-olds, 44% among 25–34-year-olds, 48% among 35–54-year-olds and 40% among those aged 55 and above.

The group's growing U.S. presence has also translated into physical album sales, particularly in the vinyl market. According to Luminate, BTS' fifth studio album "ARIRANG" sold 516,000 physical copies in the United States during its opening week. Of those it was recorded that approximately 208,000, around 40%, were coming from vinyl sales.

The figure marked BTS' biggest vinyl sales week to date and the largest weekly vinyl sales total by a group since Luminate began electronically tracking music sales in 1991. The unusually high share of vinyl purchases also differentiates "ARIRANG" from the CD-heavy sales patterns commonly associated with K-POP releases.

Luminate noted that strong vinyl consumption is frequently seen among albums performing at the highest levels of the Billboard 200, placing BTS' consumption pattern closer to that of established mainstream pop acts in the U.S.

BTS’ momentum has continued well beyond the album's opening week as during the first eight weeks following its release, "ARIRANG" accumulated 3.8 billion global on-demand audio and video streams across major platforms. After 12 weeks that figure surpassed 4.8 billion and approached 5.7 billion by its 16th week.

The album's success has also driven listeners toward BTS' older catalog. Across the same 16-week period, the group's entire discography generated approximately 8.7 billion global streams. With "ARIRANG" accounting for roughly 5.7 billion, around 3 billion streams came from music released prior to the album.

The latest figures come amid another period of heightened global visibility for BTS, with "ARIRANG" returning to the Billboard 200's Top 10 following the group's performance at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final halftime show.