Equally as massive for the group was their return concert, BTS THE COMEBACK LIVE: ARIRANG, which livestreamed on March 21. The huge show had a jaw-dropping amount of people watching it, with Netflix reporting 18.4 million viewers tuned in.

BTS misses out on the band's first No. 1 on Billboard's Streaming Songs chart as "Swim" debuts at No. 2, marking a new high for the group.

BTS' "Swim" debuts at No. 2 on the Streaming Songs chart, becoming the band's highest charting song on the tally yet.

BTS opened the three hour show with one of their new hits, Hooligan. They sang all but one song from their record-breaking album Aririang, including SWIM, which is their highest charting song in the UK ever having reached number 2 in recent weeks.

Last week, a No. 1 debut for BTS's Arirang seemed as inevitable as the tides: The K-pop boy band didn't have much competition beyond country star Luke Combs (whose The Way I Am debuted at No. 2), and the group had already banked six No. 1 albums in its career. So it came as no surprise when Arirang became its seventh.

BTS's single "Swim" holds as the fifth-highest-rising hit by a K-pop group on Billboard's Pop Airplay chart, where it keeps at No. 16 after launching there last week.

It was 21 March and, after a long break, J-Hope, RM, Suga, Jin, Jimin, V and Jungkook had taken to the stage again - silhouettes against an arch of LED screens framing the historic gate to the royal palace in Seoul, as screaming crowds stretched for blocks.

BTS broke records with Arirang while bypassing traditional media. Here is what their strategy reveals about power in today’s music industry.