BTS had earned a spot in their 2018 edition for "having the world's most Twitter
engagements for a music group". That December, they were revealed to be the most
tweeted about celebrity in 2017, being "liked or retweeted over half a billion times (502
million)" worldwide. Their chart success and popularity in numerous countries has
prompted many Western media outlets to nickname them as 'the biggest boyband in the
world'.
In 2018, BTS became #1 on the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list, which ranks South
Korea's most powerful and influential celebrities, as well as #1 on Korea's most loved
artists of 2018 by a poll conducted by Gallup. They also became the youngest ever
recipients to be awarded the Order of Cultural Meritfrom the South Korean government. In
September 2018, BTS gave a speech at the United Nations as ambassadors for UNICEF,
as well as were featured on the cover of Time Magazine's International cover, with Time
referring to them as 'Next Generation Leaders. According to a study conducted by
the Hyundai Research Institute, BTS are estimated to bring in $3.6 billion USD to South
Korea's economy per year, totaling up to $50 billion USD in economic revenue up to the
year 2023.
RM, birth name: Kim Nam-joon (김남준, September 12, 1994 (age 24)) – leader, main rapper