What musical collabs could we see from BTS in 2021?
BTS closed out 2020 with the chart-topping “Dynamite” and the album BE, which hit number one on the Billboard 200 shortly after its November release. The Savage Love remix with Jason Derulo and Jawsh 685 also reached the top spot, marking the group’s second number-one single that year. Those moments kept the conversation about future collabs alive, especially after a Billboard poll and an Ariana Grande Instagram post fueled speculation heading into 2021.
Ariana Grande
The October 2020 Billboard poll showed BTS capturing nearly 69 percent of fan votes for a potential Ariana Grande pairing, far ahead of Blackpink and other names on the list. An earlier January 2020 rehearsal photo posted by Grande added to the chatter, though both sides treated it as a casual backstage moment. BTS also voiced interest in cross-genre work during Grammy-week interviews that year. No joint track materialized, yet the 2020 snapshot remains a clear record of mutual curiosity at the time.
Theories for the next single
Fan theories on Twitter in late 2020 centered on a rumored track called “Umbrella,” citing umbrella imagery from past performances and social posts. Shazam listings at the time showed no credited artists, and no song matching that title or description ever appeared. The speculation stayed confined to that window and did not translate into an official release.
Previous collaborations
By the end of 2020, BTS already carried a short but high-impact list of featured credits. “Boy With Luv” with Halsey, “ON” with Sia, the Steve Aoki track “Waste It on Me,” and the Seoul Town Road remix with Lil Nas X had all landed on major charts. Those early crossovers established the group as reliable hitmakers who could lift tracks to number one, a reputation that continued to draw outside interest in the years that followed.
Post-2020 Collaborations and Chart Success
The pattern held after 2020. The Butter remix with Megan Thee Stallion arrived in 2021 and extended the group’s streak of chart-topping singles. Later that year, My Universe with Coldplay reached number one on the Hot 100 and topped charts in multiple territories. Bad Decisions, a 2022 single with Benny Blanco and Snoop Dogg, further showed how outside features could keep BTS in heavy rotation. Each release repeated the earlier lesson: pairing the group with established names produced immediate global streams and sales spikes.
BTS Military Service Hiatus and 2026 Return
All seven members completed mandatory service by June 2025. The full group stayed quiet on new music during that stretch, which explains the long gap between 2022 releases and the next wave of activity. In March 2026 the members reunited for the album Arirang, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. A world tour branded ARIRANG followed, backed by a Samsung Galaxy sponsorship that handled production and global marketing. The return confirmed that the earlier collab successes had not been one-off moments but part of a longer career arc interrupted only by service obligations.
Member Solo Collaborations
While the group paused, individual members kept working. j-hope appeared on LE SSERAFIM’s 2025 track Spaghetti, and other members released solo projects and features throughout the hiatus period. These efforts kept BTS names circulating even when the seven could not record together, and they broadened the fan base for the eventual full-group comeback.
The Enduring Ariana Grande Speculation
Despite the 2020 poll numbers and public comments from both camps, no official BTS and Ariana Grande collaboration has been released through mid-2026. Occasional social mentions still surface, yet the absence of a track has shifted the conversation from prediction to archival interest. The early fan enthusiasm stands as one of the clearest examples of how strongly audiences wanted to hear the two acts together.
The documented collabs from 2021 onward show that BTS continued to expand its reach whenever schedules allowed. The military hiatus created a clear pause, yet the 2026 reunion and Arirang campaign picked up the same global momentum that defined the group’s earlier chart runs. Fan curiosity around pairings like Ariana Grande remains part of the record, even if those specific rumors stayed unfulfilled. The pattern that began with Savage Love and Dynamite simply resumed once the members returned to recording as a full unit.
