BTS officially announce release date of comeback album after four year hiatus
Phoebe Tonks
Featured Image Credit: Francis Specker/CBS via Getty Images
BTS fans are kickstarting 2026 with an extra special treat, as the iconic K-pop band has officially announced the release date of their next album following a four-year hiatus.
The beloved group's seven members — RM, 31, Jin, 33, Suga, 32, J-Hope, 31, Jimin, 30, V, 30, and Jungkook, 28, stepped away from the spotlight in 2022 to complete their mandatory military service, which is a requirement for citizens of South Korea.
All members were officially discharged from their positions upon completion: Jin and J-Hope in June and October 2024, while RM, V, Jungkook, and Suga completed their service in 2025.
But now, four years later, the band is back and announced the news with a very sweet and personal tribute to fans who have been with them since day one.
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According to social media reports, the band members sent handwritten notes to select members of their official fan club, BTS ARMY, along with an enclosed membership card confirming that a new album will be released on March 20.
Among the messages, RM wrote that he’d been 'waiting for this moment more desperately than anyone'.
Jin remarked: “I greeted you all as a soloist in 2023 and 2024, but I can finally greet you as part of a team again.”
J-Hope wrote: “Finally, it’s the year that we will all be together with you!!”
With Jungkook adding: “Please take good care of us this year as well.”
The news was later independently confirmed by South Korean media outlets, per Variety, and the band’s management company, Big Hit, also confirmed it in a Korean-language post on its social media accounts.
Gold membership armys recieved handwritten letters from bts with a date on it?!? bts said the announcement better go to armys first like through mail with handwritten letters, THIS IS LOVE 😭 pic.twitter.com/eS7hpyH8U5
— ⁷ bts year ²⁰²⁶ (@Inmagicshop___) December 31, 2025
Needless to say, fans were over the moon with the announcement.
News of a new album first emerged in July 2025, when the band confirmed they were working on new music during a livestream.
“Since it will be a group album, it will reflect each member’s thoughts and ideas. We’re approaching the album with the same mindset we had when we first started,” they said during the broadcast.
[기사] #방탄소년단, 3월 20일 컴백 확정https://t.co/hnSw4o4RVp
— BIGHIT MUSIC (@BIGHIT_MUSIC) January 1, 2026
They also revealed that a new tour, building on the success of their Love Yourself World Tour from 2019, would accompany the new album.
BTS first formed back in 2013 and initially took South Korea by storm with tracks that included ‘No More Dream’, ‘I Need U’ and ‘Run’.
However, they later expanded into the global market with several Korean-language tracks before releasing their first English songs, 'Dynamite' in 2020 and 'Butter' in 2022.
Six of the band's songs even topped the Billboard 100 during their active years, with fans hopeful that their new album will also do the same.