BTS is, without a doubt, the largest k-pop act of all time, one of the biggest boy bands of all time, and cultural trendsetters. The band consists of vocalists Jin, V, Jimin and Jungkook, and rappers RM, Suga and J-Hope. The idol group debuted, after some delays and changes in their concept, in 2013 with their single album 2 COOL 4 SKOOL, later followed by the EPs O!RUL8,2?, also in 2013, and SKOOL LUV AFFAIR in 2014, the three being part of their "School trilogy" of old-school hip-hop releases; these releases were moderately successful but helped to establish the group among the plethora of idols thanks to the subject matter of their lyrics. The "transition" debut album DARK&WILD and Japanese debut Wake Up, both from 2014, continued to establish their brand not just in Korea but also abroad. In 2015 they got their mainstream breakthrough with the optimistic "Youth trilogy" of releases, starting with the EPs The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 1 (화양연화 pt.1) and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Pt. 2 (화양연화 pt.2) and concluding with the album/reissue The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever (화양연화 Young Forever) (released in 2016), these three releases raises their profile and allowed to enter and/or top multiple worldwide charts for the first time. After their Japanese album Youth, their second Korean album WINGS (later reissued as YOU NEVER WALK ALONE) from 2016 continued their transition towards the global dominance they currently enjoy while also allowing them to diversify their sound and giving a moment in the spotlight to each individual member; by this point in their career BTS was the first K-pop act to sell out arenas in the United States and to win a Billboard Music Award. After that they started the empowering "Love Yourself trilogy" of releases, with each release further cementing their status as one of the most successful worldwide acts in the current scene while wholly reaching new popularity grounds that any other non-Western artist haven't been capable of reaching before: the EP Love Yourself: Her (LOVE YOURSELF 承 'Her') from 2017, the album Love Yourself: Tear (LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear') and the compilation/reissue Love Yourself: Answer (LOVE YOURSELF 結 'Answer') , the last two from 2018, all sold million copies worldwide and gathered multiple chart records while, just like the previous BTS releases, being generally well-received by critics and appreciated for the lyrics and sonic variety; a Japanese album, Face Yourself, was also released as part of the era. Aided by multiple stadium world tours, the band started their new era in 2019 with the EP MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA and, after a lengthy (by K-pop standards) hiatus, the album MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 in 2020; both releases, influenced by Carl Jung's psychology theories, kept the streak of widely-successful and acclaimed BTS releases while increasing their presence among the general public. Their latest release so far, BE, spawned their first top charting US hit in Dynamite, and some of their warmest reception in the West so far.

Recognized for being the main writers and producers of much of their output and the "honest" social commentary of their lyrics, BTS' cultural and commercial impact have been compared to that of The Beatles during their peak and are generally recognized for their social influence and large widely-engaging fandom. Considered as partly responsible of revitalizing Korea's economy during the 2010s, the band has also participated or has been involved in multiple multimedia projects like the apparel line BT21 in collaboration with the messaging company Line, their own line of Mattel dolls and video games like the rhythm game BTS Superstars and the simulation game BTS WORLD (accompanied by its own original soundtrack). The group created the anti-violence two-year campaign Love Myself in collaboration with UNICEF, which started in 2017, also collaborated with the United Nations to kickstart the initiative Youth 2030: The UN Youth Strategy and its corresponding UNICEF campaign Generation Unlimited and the initiative Learn Korean With BTS.

All seven members have solo releases, either loose songs or features in some other artist's songs, while the three rappers of the group have released full-length solo mixtape releases: RM released the self-titled RM in 2015 and the follow-up mono. in 2018 to critical acclaim; Suga released August D in 2016 and then D-2 in 2020; and J-Hope released Hope World in 2018.

Having sold over 20 million records in their native Korea alone (and at least the same amount in international sales), BTS is the most successful act of all time there and their yearly economic impact in their home country is estimated to be around 0.3% of the GPD or over $4 billion dollars. During their career, the have been awarded with 24 Mnet Asian Music Awards, 23 Melon Music Awards, 20 Golden Disc Awards, 14 Seoul Music Awards, 13 Gaon Chart Music Awards, 11 Guinness World Records, 4 Billboard Music Awards, 4 Korean Music Awards, 4 American Music Awards, and 2 MTV Video Music Awards.