HYBE Confirms BTS Is Preparing Group and Solo Projects for After the Arirang Tour
HYBE says BTS group and solo projects are being prepared for after the Arirang world tour. CEO Lee Jae-sang said so on the company’s third-quarter earnings call on November 3, and added that HYBE is talking with the members about what comes next.
The tour isn’t over yet. HYBE says it will run through the first half of 2027.
More dates are coming
HYBE plans to announce more Arirang dates. The ones announced so far end in mid-March in the Philippines, so the schedule will run past what fans can book today.
Arirang came out on March 20 and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. The tour started in April. HYBE says BTS will also work on new music and other projects while it continues.
What HYBE left out
Lee gave no titles or release dates for either kind of project. He said he couldn’t offer specifics yet and asked investors to trust the company. Tours, he said, give HYBE visibility six to nine months ahead, and no music company announces specific activities a year or more out.
An analyst asked whether BTS has group or solo activities planned for the second half of 2027, and how long the members’ contracts have left to run. HYBE didn’t answer the contract question.
A record quarter
HYBE reported third-quarter revenue of 1.53 trillion won, up 109.8 percent from a year earlier. Operating profit was 188.5 billion won, against a loss of 42.2 billion won in the same quarter last year. Both are company records. The old records were set in the second quarter, when the tour began, and HYBE beat them within one quarter.
Concerts brought in 726.8 billion won. BTS drew up to 70,000 fans per show in Europe and the United States, and tours by other HYBE acts added to the total.
Why the setlist is all group songs
All seven members released solo music after the 2022 hiatus announcement. Arirang is their first joint project since. The tour setlist is made up of group songs only.
Jungkook told Weverse the goal was to remind everyone what BTS is like as a group. V said the members felt they should focus on the group rather than on solo or subunit songs.
HYBE says it is now preparing both group and solo projects for after the tour. No dates have been announced for either.
