BTS(Korean: 방탄소년단;RR: Bangtan Sonyeondan;lit. Bulletproof Boy Scouts), also known as theBangtan Boys, is a South Koreanboy bandformed in 2010. The band consists ofJin,Suga,J-Hope,RM,Jimin,V, andJungkook, who co-write or co-produce much of their material. Originally ahip hopgroup, they expanded their musical style to incorporate a wide range of genres, while their lyrics have focused on subjects including mental health, the troubles of school-age youth andcoming of age, loss, the journey towards self-love, individualism, and the consequences of fame and recognition. Their discography and adjacent work has also referenced literature, philosophy and psychology, and includes analternate universestoryline.
BTS debuted in 2013 underBig Hit Entertainmentwith the single album2 Cool 4 Skool.BTS released their first Korean and Japanese-language studio albums,Dark & WildandWake Uprespectively, in 2014. The group's second Korean studio album,Wings(2016), was their first to sell one million copies in South Korea. By 2017, BTS had crossed into the global music market and led theKorean Waveinto the United States, becoming the first Korean ensemble to receive aGold certificationfrom theRecording Industry Association of America(RIAA) for their single "Mic Drop", as well as the first act from South Korea to top theBillboard200with their studio albumLove Yourself: Tear(2018). In 2020, BTS became one of the few groups sincethe Beatles(in 1966–1968) to chart four US number-one albums in less than two years, withLove Yourself: Answer(2018) becoming the first Korean album certified Platinum by the RIAA; in the same year, they also became the first all-South Korean act to reach number one on both theBillboardHot 100andBillboardGlobal 200with their Grammy-nominated single "Dynamite". Follow-up releases "Savage Love", "Life Goes On", "Butter", and "Permission to Dance" made them the fastest act to earn four US number-one singles sinceJustin Timberlakein 2006.