With 50 days still to go before BTS returns as a complete seven-member group with their fifth full-length studio album, both domestic and international media have already begun an excited countdown. In its latest article, Osen called it “the return of the ‘Kings,’” describing “the global music icon is ready to reclaim their throne, with ARMYs worldwide eagerly awaiting”.
The area where the global ripple effect can be felt most clearly is their upcoming world tour. The group sold out multiple concerts across 44 stadiums worldwide for the ARIRANG tour in just three days after ticket sales opened. At certain venues, tickets were gone within minutes, and additional dates had to be added in some cities—further proving the tour’s explosive demand.
During the ARMY Membership presale, Ticketmaster also reported server crashes in some regions. For the July 11 concert in Munich, Germany, more than one million fans reportedly queued online. Tickets for BTS’s May 7 and May 9 concerts at Estadio GNP Seguros sold out within just 37 minutes, with approximately 1.1 million users entering the virtual waiting room simultaneously in an attempt to purchase tickets.
These signs have prompted even BigHit Music to begin preparing early to “respond” to the intense fan reaction ahead of BTS’s return. On the 30th of this month, BTS’s agency υиєχρє¢тє∂ly released a notice stating that it was “planning to improve the system to provide smoother and safer website experience.” The scheduled maintenance was noted for February 2, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
This sudden announcement immediately set the fandom buzzing across social media, with many wondering whether “BigHit drops soмєтнing” or “BigHit is cooking soмєтнing.” Naturally, speculation centered around their flagship IP—BTS, the global superstars set to return in March. Fans guessed that the website maintenance could be in preparation for the release of major news ahead of the album’s launch.
On the other hand, the most widely supported theory was that it might be related to a new version of the group’s light stick. Since last November, fans have been hearing that BigHit Music is producing a new version of the ARMY Bomb. One piece of “evidence” circulating online was a recruitment posting for temporary light stick αѕѕemblers “for the idol group BTS,” offering full weekly pay and 50,000 won in transportation support.
Moreover, it has been around five years since BigHit Music last released an updated version of the ARMY Bomb, and the ARIRANG world tour is set to begin in April. Given this context, many fans strongly agreed with the speculation.
Meanwhile, fans also believed that whatever BigHit Music “is cooking” must be soмєтнing "super huge", as such maintenance is not common and Weverse’s operations on that day remained stable—except during a few decisive moments in recent history related to BTS.
Specifically, Weverse experienced at least two unusual errors or crashes in early 2026. The first occurred on January 5, after BigHit Music officially confirmed that BTS would release their fifth full-length album at 1 p.m. KST on March 20. After the announcement spread, many ARMYs reported that they were unable to access Weverse because the platform temporarily went down due to a sudden spike in traffic.
The second incident happened on January 18—just days before the ARMY Membership presale for concert tickets. The global BTS ARMY Membership digital package sold out immediately after it was released on Weverse. In a post that garnered over 500,000 views, Pop Core emphasized that it was “listed as SOLD OUT on Weverse, despite being a virtual offering.” Another fan post that attracted more than 1 million views expressed confusion, asking, “How can a virtual membership be sold out,” noting that “it’s basically just a virtual number.”
According to Pop Core, the reason was believed to be “due to the upcoming ARMY Membership Tour presale on Ticketmaster next week.” Previously, BigHit Music and the official ticketing partners for BTS’s tour stated that in order to qualify for presale tickets, fans had to hold an ARMY Membership and complete membership verification on these ticketing platforms by the designated ∂єα∂line (no later than January 22).
Weverse is a platform used by hundreds of major artists beyond BTS, including SEVENTEEN, LE SSERAFIM, BLACKPINK, WINNER, TREASURE, EXO, NCT, aespa, and RIIZE, as well as well-known actors, and it has around 50 million users worldwide each year. Despite its mαѕѕive scale, the platform rarely experiences temporary disruptions due to overloaded traffic, nor does it typically see membership packages “selling out.” However, BTS’s return alone was enough to overload one of South кσяєα’s biggest platforms twice within a single month.
And if the launch of the ARMY Bomb Ver. 5 is indeed coming, it would clearly be a similar ѕнσ¢кwave. It is therefore likely that BigHit Music decided to upgrade and reinforce the platform in advance to prevent crashes that could disrupt the fan experience. Still, this remains speculation, and what awaits us next will require more time to confirm. But regardless of what it turns out to be, one thing remains unchanged: the excitement in the air is higher than ever.
