BTS opened the South American leg of their world tour in Bogotá on 2 October, with 14 shows in five cities still to play, after a tour that had grossed about $465.8 million from its first 38 shows.
BTS began the South American leg of their 2026 world tour on 2 October in Bogotá, Colombia, and will play 14 shows in five cities, according to a report by Star News Korea. The other cities are Lima in Peru, Santiago in Chile, Buenos Aires in Argentina and São Paulo in Brazil.
The tour is already one of the most successful on record. Star News Korea, citing Pollstar, reports a gross of about $465.8 million, or 637 billion won, from 38 performances up to mid-August 2026, with a total attendance of 2.31414 million. Pollstar described the group’s performances as a “flawless commercial success” and said that “it’s not over yet”.
The report says that BTS has surpassed the record of Beyoncé’s 2025 Cowboy Carter Tour, which earned $476 million. The figures as printed do not support that statement, since $465.8 million is less than $476 million, so the claim and the numbers conflict. The article notes that the tour is still going, so the final total may pass Beyoncé’s figure, and Delima News does not treat the record as confirmed.
The average figures can be worked out from the report. A gross of $465.8 million over 38 shows is about $12.3 million a show, and 2.31414 million attendees over 38 shows is about 60,900 a show, which are Delima News’ own calculations. Adding 14 shows in South America at a similar rate would add about $170 million, but that is an illustration and not a forecast, since ticket prices and venues differ.
The group’s fifth full album, ARIRANG, was at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 in late September, its 26th consecutive week on the chart, according to the report. Its title track, “SWIM”, was at No. 5 on the Billboard Global (excluding U.S.) chart. The album’s release date and sales figures are not given in the sources reviewed.
BTS announced in 2025 that they would return in 2026 with a new album and a world tour, according to headlines from CNN, Bloomberg and Consequence. The headlines refer to a comeback after the members’ absence, and Bloomberg called it the group’s biggest world tour ever. Those pieces were not reviewed, so Delima News does not give details from them.
The South American shows are the part of the tour that is still to be played. The sources reviewed do not give the dates of the shows after Bogotá, the venues or the capacities, so those details are not listed here.
The tour’s scale puts it in a small group. The comparison drawn by the article is with Beyoncé’s 2025 run, and the gap between the two figures is about $10 million, from $476 million to $465.8 million, on Delima News’ calculation. A difference of that size could be closed by a handful of large stadium shows, which is why the report says the tour is not over.
Delima News has reported on the Billboard 200 this week, where the top five albums were Taylor Swift’s, Drake’s, Olivia Rodrigo’s, the Beatles’ and Morgan Wallen’s, and ARIRANG is further down the chart.
The tour will end when the South American dates are played, though the sources reviewed do not say whether more dates will be added.
Image: BTS at the American Music Awards, 2021 (file photo). Photo: Carolin von Petzholdt / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
