150,000 Seats Sold Out at Mexico Concerts
700 Million Streams in First Week of Album Release
BTS performed group choreography at Estadio GNP Seguros in Mexico City on the 7th and from the 9th to the 10th during the ‘BTS World Tour Arirang.’ Provided by BigHit Music
The group BTS recently attracted 150,000 attendees to their Mexico concert as part of their world tour “Arirang,” setting new records for both digital streaming and concert revenue.
According to Luminate, a music and entertainment data aggregation platform, BTS’s fifth studio album “Arirang,” released on March 20, recorded 739.1 million streams worldwide in its first week. This is the highest figure for any album released this year, and the largest since Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl” reached 1.3 billion streams in October of last year.
When looking at streaming numbers by country, Latin America outperformed Korea, the homeland of K-pop. The United States ranked first with 115 million streams, followed by Brazil (78.6 million) in second place and Mexico (75.9 million) in third. Korea ranked fourth with 58.3 million streams, and Japan followed with 48.2 million.
The excitement was just as strong on online video platform YouTube. During the 28-day period from April 6 to May 3, four Latin American countries were among the top 10 countries with the most BTS music views: Brazil ranked third (53.2 million views), Mexico fourth (53.1 million views), Argentina ninth (22.1 million views), and Peru tenth (19.1 million views). Korea ranked sixth with 46.6 million views.
The intensity of the local fan base exploded at the concert venue. All 150,000 seats for the three-day “Arirang” world tour concert in Mexico City were sold out. According to the Los Angeles Times, an estimated 35,000 additional people gathered around the stadium after failing to secure tickets.
When BTS visited Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on May 6, approximately 50,000 people gathered at Zocalo Square. President Sheinbaum opened the balcony of the National Palace, a symbol of Mexico City’s historic district, for BTS. The Indian daily The Indian Express reported, “It is the first time that an international musician has stood at the symbolic space where the president greets citizens during national events.” The Thai daily The Nation commented, “It was reminiscent of the heyday of the Beatles in the 1960s and Michael Jackson in the 1990s.”
BTS met with Claudia Sheinbaum, the President of Mexico, at the Presidential Office in Mexico City on the 6th. Photo by Big Hit Music
The economic impact is at a level that rivals legendary pop stars. Reuters UK projected that the total revenue from BTS’s current tour would reach approximately $1.8 billion (2.6811 trillion won), a figure comparable to the tour records of Taylor Swift and Coldplay.
The Mexico City Chamber of Commerce estimated that BTS’s three concerts generated an economic effect of about $107.5 million (16.01 billion won). This is approximately 83% higher than Taylor Swift’s Mexico concert record in 2023, which was about $58.8 million (8.75 billion won).
Starting in October, BTS will continue their stadium tour in major Latin American cities, including Bogota in Colombia, Lima in Peru, Santiago in Chile, Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Sao Paulo in Brazil. They will become the first Korean artists to perform at Estadio El Campin in Colombia and Estadio Unico de La Plata in Buenos Aires. The group will also be the first Korean act to hold a solo concert at Estadio Nacional in Santiago, Chile.
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HYBE stated, “We are focusing on the growth rate and scalability of the Latin market,” adding, “We plan to strengthen our global business axis connecting Asia, the English-speaking world, and the Spanish-speaking world, with the Hispanic market in the United States as a key hub.”
This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.
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