BTS plots comeback with new album and tour in 2026

BTS is back.

Having each completed their country’s mandatory military service, the members of the hugely popular Korean boy band said Tuesday that they were starting work on a new album and would tour next year.

The announcement came in a livestream on the Weverse platform in which the group’s seven members — Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V and Jung Kook — appeared together for the first time since 2022. According to a representative, the livestream was viewed by more than 7.3 million people.

“We’ll be releasing a new BTS album in the spring of next year,” the group said in a statement. “Starting in July, all seven of us will begin working closely together on new music. Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started.” The members added that they were planning a “massive world tour” to accompany the new album.

BTS’s most recent LP, “Proof,” came out in June 2022; the band last performed in October of that year in Busan, South Korea. Each member has released solo material since then, including Jung Kook’s song “Seven,” which topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, and RM’s “Right Place, Wrong Person,” which reached No. 5 on Billboard’s album chart last year.