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BTS' "Swim" Passes 1 Billion Spotify Streams, the First 2026 Release to Get There
The lead single from ARIRANG crossed the line seven months after release. It is the group's seventh song to do it, and the fastest.
BTS' "Swim" has passed 1 billion streams on Spotify. The group's agency said the song crossed the mark on Saturday, October 24, and The Korea Herald reported that it is the first song released worldwide in 2026 to get there.
"Swim" is the lead single from ARIRANG, the group's fifth studio album, which came out on March 20. That puts the climb at roughly seven months.
Why the number matters
A billion streams on Spotify is the platform's best-known milestone. BTS already had six songs above it, including "Dynamite," "Butter" and "Boy With Luv (Feat. Halsey)," according to the Herald. "Swim" makes seven, and it got there faster than any of the others.
The start was fast too. On release day the song topped Spotify's Daily Top Songs Global chart with about 14 million streams, which the Herald reports was the highest single-day total for any song released this year.
The US chart run
In the United States, "Swim" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 4 and stayed on the chart for 20 straight weeks, per the same report. In the UK it reached No. 2 on the Official Singles Chart, a career high for the group there.
The album is still selling. On the Billboard 200 dated October 24, ARIRANG sits at No. 41 in its 30th week on the chart. It peaked at No. 1.
Awards so far
The song has already collected two major US trophies this year. It won song of the summer at the American Music Awards and song of the year at the MTV Video Music Awards, the Herald notes.
More nominations are on the board. At the 2026 MAMA Awards, "Swim" is up for best vocal performance group, and BTS lead the field with five nominations, including artist of the year and album of the year for ARIRANG, Billboard reported.
The album behind it
ARIRANG was BTS' first album in three years and nine months. It passed 5 billion total Spotify streams as of October 14, the highest total for any album released worldwide this year, and all 14 of its tracks have each passed 200 million, according to the agency's figures. One of those tracks, the interlude "No. 29," uses the sound of the Sacred Bell of King Seongdeok.
RM led the writing of the "Swim" lyrics. The song uses swimming through waves, rather than fighting them, as a picture of getting through hard stretches, the Herald writes.