BTS performs onstage during the 2018 Billboard Music Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena

Seoul (AFP) - K-pop megastars BTS will kick off their first world tour in four years in April, their label said on Wednesday, part of a hotly-anticipated comeback following a hiatus for the South Koreans whose music has become a global phenomenon.

BTS – known for funky and fun hits like “Dynamite” and “Butter” – hold the record as the most-streamed group on Spotify and are the first K-pop act to have topped both the Billboard 200 and the Billboard Artist 100 charts in the United States.

But the Bulletproof Boy Scouts – as their name means in Korean – haven’t toured or released music since 2022 as they underwent the national military service required of all South Korean men under the age of 30.

Now that all seven members have completed their military service the band’s label announced on New Year’s Day they would release a new album in March before heading on tour the following month.

Spanning 34 cities with 79 performances, it will be the largest-ever single tour by a K-pop group in terms of total shows and the “widest regional reach for a South Korean artist,” according to the band’s agency, HYBE.

The world tour will kick off in South Korea’s Goyang on April 9, with two additional concerts in the city before moving on to neighbouring Japan.

They will then head to the United States and Europe, with the tour ending in March 2027 in Manila.

The band’s label said that more cities will be announced, including additional stops in Japan and the Middle East.

Their new album – as yet unnamed – will be their first since the anthology “Proof”, which became South Korea’s bestselling record of 2022.

- ‘Right kidney is waving’ -

BTS’s famously loyal fanbase – known as ARMY – reacted with elation at news of the world tour.

One fan wrote in response to the news on Facebook that to buy a ticket their “Right kidney is waving”.

“Army hunger games are about to start,” another wrote, drawing a comparison between fans trying to get tickets and a series of popular young adult novels in which contestants fight to the death.

BTS is big business in South Korea – before their military service, they generated more than 5.5 trillion won ($3.7 billion) for the country per year, according to Seoul’s Korea Culture and Tourism Institute.

The figure is equivalent to roughly 0.2 percent of South Korea’s total GDP.

HYBE’s shares traded higher at Wednesday’s market open on news of their world tour, rising around three percent.

And investment bank IBK Securities on Wednesday projected the firm’s operating profits this year would soar tenfold compared to 2025.

“Based on the full tour schedule, around 4.5 million people are expected to attend,” said analyst Kim Yu-hyuk.