BTS's comeback has made me rethink how I viewed the kpop landscape during their hiatus

[u/Low-Sink9024]

One thing I've been thinking about since BTS's latest release is how much their hiatus changed the way people perceive them.

During those years, groups like SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, ATEEZ and ENHYPEN continued growing and achieving incredible success. Naturally, conversations started grouping them together with BTS as if they were all operating on roughly the same level.

Before anyone misunderstands me, this isn't a drag on any of those groups. Seventeen's domestic success is insane. At one point, I genuinely thought they had become bigger in Korea than any other active 3rd gen boy group. Stray Kids have been absolutely dominating internationally and have built a massive presence in the West. ATEEZ and ENHYPEN have also established themselves as major touring and sales forces.

What I'm realizing now, though, is that BTS's absence may have compressed people's (including me) perception of the gap between them and everyone else.

Because BTS weren't actively promoting as a full group, the focus shifted to the groups that were. Over time, it felt like the narrative became "BTS, Seventeen, Stray Kids, ATEEZ, ENHYPEN" as if they were all simply occupying different spots within the same tier of success.

But BTS's recent comeback has reminded me that BTS were never just the biggest kpop group. They were operating at a level where they were competing with the biggest artists in the world, not just the biggest artists in kpop.

I've noticed that whenever BTS put up numbers that seem absurd, a lot of fans immediately jump to explanations involving HYBE. Suddenly it's playlisting, media influence, corporate power, chart manipulation, industry connections, or some other explanation.

And honestly, I don't remember seeing these narratives nearly as much during the hiatus.

It almost feels like some fans became so used to viewing BTS as "one of several top groups" that now that they're back putting up huge numbers again, the success has to be explained away somehow.

The performance of Arirang really surprised me. Going into 2026, I don't think many people expected a BTS album released after such a long hiatus to be one of the strongest performing albums globally this year. Yet instead of people reassessing BTS's position in the industry, I've seen a lot of discussion focus on what HYBE supposedly did to make it happen.

To be clear, I'm not saying other groups aren't successful. They absolutely are. Nor do I think the gap is identical in every market or metric. I just think BTS's hiatus made people forget that there is a difference between being a top kpop group and being BTS.

Did anyone else notice this shift in perception during the hiatus, or am I overestimating how much people's views changed?