BTS has made 2017 their year. (Picture: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for dcp)

It’s been a great year for all of K-pop, with some incredible debuts and long overdue comebacks, but one group in particular truly made their mark on the worldwide music scene this year; 2017 belonged to BTS.

Long-time fans of the powerhouse boyband have expected their global success from the start; they’ve steadily made a name for themselves in K-pop with hits like Danger, Fire and Blood, Sweat and Tears, and now boast famous fans such as The Chainsmokers and Charlie Puth. So how exactly did BTS manage their breakthrough? We take a look at the highlights of 2017 for Jin, Jimin, RM, Suga, J-Hope, Jungkook and V.



Social media domination and You’ll Never Walk Alone

BTS are masters of social media, enthusiastically interacting with their fans and favourite artists across different platforms. They frequently used Soundcloud to post original music and reach out to their favourite artists as a group and individually, which resulted in Kim Namjoon, known as RM, collaborating with Wale on Change, and Suga, real name Min Yoon-gi, producing tracks for other Korean artists.


The group’s youngest member, Jungkook, caught the attention of Charlie Puth when he posted a link to his version of We Don’t Talk Anymore. A few approving retweets from Puth led to greater exposure for the group’s latest release, You’ll Never Walk Alone, a repackaged version of their 2016 album Wings.

Their fandom, known as ‘ARMY’, grab every opportunity to get the boys trending – in particular, Kim Seokjin, the group’s eldest member, has had at least three trending topics centred around him: #CarDoorGuy, #ThirdOneFromTheLeft and #WorldWideHandsome all drew attention to Jin just for his good looks!

Jin (Kim Seokjin) of BTS (Picture Tibrina Hobson/FilmMagic)

Billboard Music Awards

In April, the Billboard Music Awards announced that BTS were nominated for the Top Social Media Artist Award at their 2017 ceremony. It was the first time that a K-Pop boyband attended an American award show, and the first ever BBMA win for a Korean group.

RM, who is famously fluent in English, led the group in thanking the audience and fans for their continued support, finishing his speech in Korean, a sweet gesture that confirmed for their fans that they haven’t forgotten their roots.

Love Yourself: Her

Following their win at the BBMAs, BTS spent time working on their comeback EP, Love Yourself: Her. Concept images appeared on social media for each member individually before the lead single, DNA was released.

RM (Picture: Publicity)

Jin (Picture: Publicity)

J Hope (Picture: Publicity)

Jimin (Picture: Publicity)

Suga (Picture: Publicity)

Jungkook (Picture: Publicity)

The song charted highly across Asia as well as America and the UK, with an ambitious music video featuring some of their most complicated choreography yet.

Endorsements and charity work

In most K-pop groups, idols participate in endorsement deals to increase their visibility and marketability; everything from skincare to clothing to toys. The BTS boys have previously endorsed a chain of chicken restaurants with hilarious tongue-in-cheek advertisements, and this year they teamed up with LINE Friends to release a range of merchandise.

But the group’s projects outside of music weren’t all for profit; in October, BTS launched Love Myself, a fundraising campaign in conjunction with Unicef to end violence and promote safer living spaces for children and teenagers around the world.



American Music Awards performances and US promotions

In November, the group announced a series of high-profile appearances on American chat shows as well as a performance at the American Music Awards. International fans scrambled for tickets to see the group at any of their appearances, which included Jimmy Kimmel Live, The Ellen Degeneres Show, and The Late Late Show with James Corden.

Their performance at the American Music Awards closed off their US promotions and garnered praise from international artists who were impressed with the group’s choreography and popularity with the audience.

Off the back of these promotions, the boys collaborated with Steve Aoki and Desiigner on a remix of ‘Mic Drop’ which originally appeared as a B-side to ‘DNA’ in September. The song charted highly internationally, and proved that BTS will undoubtedly continue their streak of global domination into 2018 and beyond.

New Year’s Eve

The lads then rounded out the year with a spectacular performance at the Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show in New York. The performance was recorded in November, but the septet still managed to drive fans wild with their high-energy performance, and there they ended an almost perfect year.

BTS had a great year. (Picture: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images for dcp)

2017 was one heck of a year for BTS.

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