The overwhelming performance of ‘Arirang’ reached its peak when leading music media outlets, including Complex and Rolling Stone in the US and NME and Telegraph in the UK, selected it as the best album of the first half of the year. Critics noted that BTS perfectly reinterpreted the unique cultural roots of Koreans with a modern sense through this album. In particular, Rolling Stone defined their return as the most important event in the music world this year and praised their excellent sense of embodying Korean color through musical grammar. NME also called them ‘the biggest boy band on the planet’, emphasizing that their skill in combining global trends with their own cultural heritage has reached its peak. Such positive reviews from foreign media are strong evidence that BTS has evolved into artists who are creating their own artistic identity rather than a group that follows trends.

The praise poured in for the individual tracks included in the album is also something to pay attention to. ‘Hooligan’ and ‘2.0’ were evaluated as showing off the team’s presence and turning the hearts of those who had been critical of them, while ‘Body to Body’ and ‘SWIM’ drew rave reviews for expanding the scope of their music through sophisticated rap skills over rough beats. The media highly praised each member's mature narrative development ability and three-dimensional sound composition, acknowledging that they had grown beyond simple performers into excellent storytellers. These musical achievements were also reflected in the Billboard 200 chart, laying the foundation for a long run by re-entering the top 10 even 13 weeks after its release.

What happens off stage shows that their music goes beyond chart records and penetrates deeply into people's lives. The recent story of a housekeeper in Singapore was an incident that symbolically revealed the emotional bond with BTS's music. The story of the earnestness of a fan who asked his employer for an advance payment of his salary in order to buy concert tickets, and the story of his employer responding with support for his precious dream rather than a simple financial transaction, was very touching. This proves that BTS's performance has gone beyond simple entertainment and has become a cultural phenomenon that delivers hope and comfort in life to fans around the world. However, the rampant crime of ticket fraud taking advantage of this high popularity can be said to be a shadow of global interest.

BTS is now setting the largest record in K-pop history by performing more than 88 performances in 34 regions around the world through the world tour ‘Arirang’. This tour, which is sweeping across Europe starting in Madrid, Spain, is expected to grow in size even further, with dates scheduled for Japan and the Middle East. Here, the co-headlining stage alongside Madonna and Shakira at the ‘2026 FIFA North and Central America World Cup’ final halftime show on July 19 proves their status in the home of pop. The musical narrative that has been steadily built since their debut is now being sublimated into a global cultural festival, and at the center of it all, BTS is creating value beyond music.