BTS Returns to AMAs After 5 Years — And Takes Their Concert Global

BTS is taking over May — and June is shaping up to be even bigger. The group confirmed on May 21 that they will perform at the 52nd American Music Awards on May 25, marking their first appearance at the show since 2021. At the same time, HYBE's Big Hit Music announced that BTS's Busan concert on June 13 — the group's 13th debut anniversary — will be broadcast live in over 80 countries across 3,800+ theater screens worldwide.

The dual announcement sent ARMY into a frenzy, and for good reason: both moments carry enormous significance for a group that spent much of the past few years navigating mandatory military service and a highly anticipated full-group comeback.

Back at the AMAs After Five Years

BTS will perform at the 52nd American Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 25, broadcast live on CBS and Paramount+. Queen Latifah is hosting this year's ceremony. The performance marks the group's return to the AMA stage for the first time since 2021, when all seven members appeared together and made history.

This year, BTS is nominated in three categories: Artist of the Year, Best K-Pop Artist, and Song of the Summer for their title track "Swim." The Artist of the Year race is packed with heavy competition — Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift, and Lady Gaga are among the other nominees — but BTS has been here before. In 2021, they became the first Asian act ever to win Artist of the Year at the AMAs, part of a three-award sweep that night.

The AMA has a special place in BTS's story. It was on this very stage in 2017 that the group made their first-ever American television debut, performing "DNA" and becoming the first Korean act to ever perform at the ceremony in its 47-year history. Since then, the group has collected 11 AMA trophies — the second-highest tally for any group in the show's history, trailing only country band Alabama's 23.

A Debut Anniversary Like No Other — Streamed to 80 Countries

While the AMA return is generating buzz on its own, BTS's global reach in 2026 extends well beyond that night. Big Hit Music confirmed that the second day of BTS's "ARIRANG" world tour in Busan — scheduled for June 13 at Busan Asiad Main Stadium — will be streamed live to over 3,800 theaters across 80+ countries in a global live viewing event.

June 13 is not just any date. It marks the exact day BTS debuted in 2013, making this their 13th anniversary concert. The symbolic weight of performing in their home country on their debut anniversary, broadcast simultaneously to fans worldwide, is something that would have felt unimaginable even five years ago.

In South Korea, the live viewing will be available at all three major multiplex chains — CGV, Lotte Cinema, and Megabox. For fans in North America, South America, and Europe, time zone differences mean the broadcast will be offered as a delayed screening within one to two days of the live performance. It will be the third global theater broadcast of the ARIRANG tour, following successful live viewings for their April concerts in Goyang and Tokyo.

BTS last performed at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in October 2022, when the city hosted a large outdoor concert in support of Busan's bid for the 2030 World Expo. Three and a half years later, the group returns with a very different energy — not as advocates for a city's geopolitical bid, but as a fully reunited band at the peak of their artistic career.

The ARIRANG Era: A Year of Historic Records

BTS's fifth studio album, "ARIRANG," released earlier this year, has broken records on both sides of the Pacific. The album spent three consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making it the longest-running chart-topper in that chart since Mumford & Sons held the spot in 2012. The lead single "Swim" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent four straight weeks at the top of the Billboard Global 200 — an extraordinary achievement for any artist, and a milestone that underscores BTS's continued dominance in the global market.

The ARIRANG world tour itself is a record-setter: 34 cities, 85 shows, making it the largest world tour ever undertaken by a Korean artist. For context, their 2019 "Love Yourself: Speak Yourself" stadium tour, which at the time was a landmark achievement, had a fraction of that scale.

What Comes Next: FIFA World Cup and Beyond

For ARMY, 2026 is shaping up to be a year they will talk about for decades. BTS's May-to-July stretch alone is remarkable: the AMA performance in May, the debut anniversary Busan concert in June, and in July, a slot at the FIFA World Cup 2026 Final halftime show — performing alongside Shakira and Madonna at one of the most-watched sporting events on Earth.

The halftime show invitation places BTS in select company. Very few acts have performed at both a major international music awards ceremony and a FIFA World Cup halftime show in the same calendar year. For fans who spent years watching BTS break every ceiling available to a K-pop group, this latest chapter feels like a fitting culmination.

Meanwhile, accommodation prices around the Busan Asiad stadium have already surged — with reports of hotels raising rates tenfold from standard pricing during the concert weekend. Busan city officials have launched inspections to address price gouging, but the demand reflects just how much this concert weekend means. For BTS and ARMY alike, June 13 in Busan is shaping up to be one of the most emotionally charged nights in the group's thirteen-year history.

Tickets for the Busan concerts sold out during the official fan club presale, and live viewing tickets are expected to move quickly given the global demand. ARMYs who cannot secure tickets to Busan can still be part of the June 13 anniversary moment through the cinema broadcast — a format that, in BTS's hands, has already proven its power to turn a single concert night into a shared global experience.