BTS become the first K-pop band to make it onto the Forbes Celebrity 100 List

Taylor Swift tops the usual suspects on the Forbes Celebrity 100 List released on Wednesday with US$185 million in pre-tax income. Kylie Jenner and Kanye West follow not far behind.  

But a name that will delight K-pop fans is that of BTS, who appear at number 43 with US$57 million. This marks the first K-pop act and the highest paid boy band on the list.

The South Korean boy band, formed in 2013, has enjoyed international acclaim in the past two years with bestselling albums.

Guinness World Records has certified their latest studio album, “Map of the Soul: Persona”, released this year, as the bestselling album in South Korean history. It peaked at number one on the US Billboard 200, as did their previous Korean-language studio albums, “Love Yourself: Answer” and “Love Yourself: Tear”.

“BTS World”, the original soundtrack album for the boy band’s new mobile game BTS World, took the 17-year veteran “Winter Sonata” off #1 spot as bestselling original soundtrack of all time in South Korea.

Forbes notes that a considerable percentage of their earnings came from the Love Yourself World Tour as well as the extended Love Yourself: Speak Yourself Stadium Tour which sold-out in stadiums across North America, Europe and Asia.

Billboard Boxscore reported that BTS’ first North American stadium tour in May, with shows at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Soldier Field in Chicago and MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, sold almost 300,000 tickets and grossed US$44 million in sales. Their two headliners at the Rose Bowl stadium earned US$16.6 million, which Billboard cited as the “single highest-grossing engagement in the venue’s Boxscore history”.