Intro for March 31, 2026

Dear Gossips,

It’s an understatement to say that BTS’s comeback with their new album, ARIRANG, has been huge. They’ve topped the Billboard 200, selling 641,000 units; the lead single, “Swim”, is #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. And “BTS has also become the first act to take over all of the top 10 spots on the Global Excl. U.S. chart”. Plus “BTS also currently claims the top nine spots on the Global 200 - tying […] with Taylor Swift for both the most top 10s in a single week”. (Source Billboard)

This is rarefied air. It puts RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook in an extremely small cohort. These numbers are massive. And, frankly, defiant. Because there were some people who doubted that BTS could reclaim the space they left vacant when they went off to serve their country. Worth noting too that the sales figures don’t include other markets.

The next question is staying power. Right now they’re continuing to push “Swim”, and not even half a day after “Swim” topped the Hot 100, they’ve just dropped another video for the song. It’s my favourite one yet… because it is so THEM, completely unserious. It’s RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook doing random sh-t during a live performance of the song at a pool. Yoongi barely concealing his laughter after he hands Jimin a dried fish is sending me. And RM is ridiculous throughout the whole thing, particularly the end when he’s playing secret service to j-hope before they all settle down in their pool chairs.

For those who are new to BTS, this is a glimpse into why our fandom is so unhinged – it’s this kind of stupid goofy silliness they’ve done throughout their careers. You’ll see it when their variety show, Run BTS!, comes back in a couple of weeks.

Not that there will be any break in the onslaught over the next week or so. They’ve been promising that so much more is coming. And that, of course, includes the tour. The second concert from Goyang will be played in theatres around the world on April 11. I bought my tickets a few weeks ago and it’s a full house.

ARMY, we must hydrate. We have a whole year ahead of us and, at this relentless BTS pace, if we don’t properly replenish and moisturise, we’ll be burned out while they’re still f-cking going.

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey