Billboard in the U.S. paid attention to BTS's return.
The music specialist Billboard published an article on its official website on the 19th (local time) titled "The top 10 wildest music moments that defined pop culture in 2025" (THE TOP 10 WILDEST MUSIC MOMENTS THAT DEFINED POP CULTURE IN 2025).
Billboard highlighted, among the 10 decisive moments, the scene of BTS gathering in one place after completing military service as an impressive issue symbolizing this year's pop culture. Along with this, it listed rapper Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show, Taylor Swift's marriage, and the Netflix film "K-pop Demon Hunters," which swept charts worldwide, as news that struck the cultural world.
In addition, Billboard recently released "The 25 Best K-Pop Songs of 2025: Staff Picks." According to it, BTS's J-Hope's solo single released in June, "Killin' It Girl (feat. GloRilla)," ranked 24th.
Billboard described the song as "a work that continued global momentum through clear musical choices and high-quality production." It especially noted that J-Hope's distinctive rapping clearly revealed the song's character and that the sounds building toward the latter half completed an addictive chorus. It added that rapper GloRilla's participation made the song more three-dimensional and that the different personalities blended naturally.
Billboard also said it was "a song that captured a moment that expressed achievement and confidence as an aesthetic," emphasizing that it renewed the peak of his career as a solo artist. In fact, "Killin' It Girl (feat. GloRilla)" entered the Billboard main song chart Hot 100 at No. 40 upon release, marking the highest position for a J-Hope solo song.
Meanwhile, BTS announced a new album release next spring along with a large-scale world tour. In a full-group live broadcast on the global superfans platform Weverse on the 21st, they said, "Let 2026 be BTS's year. Something really big is coming. It will be an important year," raising fans' expectations. Global attention is focusing on the ripple effect BTS's return will produce.<
[Photo] BigHit Music
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