BTS 'SWIM' Hits 1 Billion Streams As ARIRANG Plays Indian Cinemas
The BTS single 'SWIM' is the first 2026 release to reach 1 billion streams, as PVR INOX screens the ARIRANG concerts in 38 Indian cities on 25 and 31 October.
BTS's "SWIM" passed 1 billion streams on Spotify on Saturday, BIGHIT MUSIC said, the first song released anywhere in 2026 to get there. It took seven months and four days. No BTS song has done it faster.
It is the group's seventh song past the mark, after older entries such as "Dynamite", "Butter" and "Boy With Luv" with Halsey. "SWIM" is the lead single from ARIRANG, the fifth studio album, which came out on 20 March after a gap of three years and nine months. RM led the writing on the lyrics, which are built on the idea of swimming with the waves rather than fighting them.
The numbers so far
On release day the song went to No. 1 on Spotify's daily global chart with about 14 million streams, the biggest single day for any 2026 release on the platform. It entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 1 on the chart dated 4 April and stayed on it for 20 straight weeks.
The album has kept pace. ARIRANG crossed 5 billion Spotify streams on 14 October, the agency said, and each of its 14 tracks has more than 200 million.
In Indian cinemas
Fans in India get the tour on a big screen from Sunday. PVR INOX will show two ARIRANG concerts from South America as delayed live viewings in 89 cinemas across 38 cities: the Buenos Aires show on Sunday 25 October and the São Paulo show on Saturday 31 October, both at 3.45 pm IST. The time difference means each concert reaches Indian screens about a day after it is played.
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PVR INOX Pictures is distributing the screenings with Trafalgar Releasing. The agency's plan puts the same two shows in about 3,800 cinemas across more than 80 countries and regions.
"They come not simply to watch, but to celebrate a connection shared by fellow fans," said Aamer Bijli, who leads innovation, film marketing and digital programming at PVR INOX, of the crowds at its earlier BTS screenings.
The South American leg is 14 shows in five cities, starting in Bogotá this month, on a world tour that opened in Goyang in April. Tickets for both screenings are on the PVR INOX app and website.
(Source: BIGHIT MUSIC statement, PVR INOX press release, Yonhap)
