"I bought in after hearing news about the BTS world tour" - a personal investor wrote in a post on a HYBE stock discussion forum. Shares of the entertainment company HYBE have recently shown a rebounding trend. Analysts attribute this rally to expectations of improved business performance as large-scale activities by the company’s flagship artist, BTS, are set to roll out this year. Securities firms project that HYBE’s stock growth will outperform its industry peers and have continuously raised their target prices for the company’s shares.

Meanwhile, the retail and tourism sectors are also facing what is being described as a mαѕѕive surge in consumer demand, dubbed the phenomenon of "BTS Special Demand". According to sources in the retail industry on January 16, most hotels and accommodations near Goyang Stadium were fully booked for the period from April 9 to 12, when BTS is scheduled to kick off their world tour. An official from SonoCalm Goyang stated, "Room reservations from April 9th to 12th are already completely full. We understand that neighboring accommodations are in the same situation." The situation in Busan are no better, even though the concert there is still six months away.

The “buying” trend related to BTS is spreading globally, reflecting the overwhelming excitement of fans for the K-pop superstars’ first comeback in three years. Notably, ARMYs have recently witnessed, for the first time ever, "BTS Special Demand" reaching a level so intense that it caused overload issues on Weverse.

Specifically, on January 18, several fan accounts and major media outlets simultaneously shared news that the BTS ARMY Global Virtual Membership had sold out immediately after going on sale on Weverse. In a post garnering over 500,000 views, Pop Core emphasized that it was “listed as SOLD OUT on Weverse, despite being a virtual offering.” Another fan post that attracted more than 1 million views expressed confusion, asking, “How can a virtual membership be sold out,” noting that “it’s basically just a virtual number.”

According to Pop Core, the reason is believed to be “due to the upcoming ARMY Membership Tour presale on Ticketmaster next week.” Previously, BigHit Music and the exclusive ticket distributors for BTS’s tour—Nol Ticket in кσяєα, and Ticketmaster in the United States, ¢αиα∂α, мєχι¢σ, Europe, and the United Kingdom—announced that in order to be eligible for concert ticket presales, fans must hold ARMY Membership and complete membership verification on these ticketing platforms by the designated ∂єα∂line (no later than January 22).

Although it is widely known that competition among fans and the general public worldwide to secure BTS concert tickets is extremely intense, the fact that even a virtual membership package sold out on Weverse was truly beyond imagination. It is likely that the teams at Weverse and HYBE also did not anticipate such an overwhelming number of purchasers, leading to this situation. Fortunately, since it is a “virtual package,” Weverse later apdated more membership slots and restored the status to “available" now. 

Following this υиєχρє¢тє∂ incident, netizens have been buzzing about BTS’s immense influence, while also expressing concern that this may be a warning sign of an even fiercer-than-ever battle for concert tickets:

- Army crashed the twitter when they announced the tour. Army crashed the weverse when they announced the tour and album name. Army crashed the Spotify pre save. Army soldout the virtual army membership. The demand for BTS is insane

- Digital doors slammed shut BTS loyalty refreshing pages all night

- This is just a virtual membership and it’s already this chaotic… I’m honestly scared of what ticketing day is going to look like

- I’m glad they do this because then scalpers can’t buy the membership to get into the presale

- I’ve been a member since ‘21 and I’ve never seen this happen before. The whole world is shaking because of BTS

- This is completely unprecedented — a virtual membership selling out has never happened before. That alone shows how insane the demand for BTS really is

- I’ve never seen anything like this in K-pop history. A virtual membership crashing and selling out platforms? This is a clear sign that the battle for tickets will be extremely fierce

- If people are panicking over a virtual membership, imagine the madness when actual concert tickets go on sale. This is terrifying

- We haven’t even gotten to concert tickets yet and it’s already like this. I’m genuinely afraid that I can't get one to meet our boys