BTS is back: Join fans as they react to the band’s song “Permission to Dance”
BTS fans have kept the spirit of Permission to Dance alive through every comeback cycle, and the band’s 2026 full-group return only strengthened that connection. The 2021 single still circulates on playlists and tour setlists, its bright hooks and easy choreography turning into a reliable crowd-pleaser whenever the seven members hit the stage again. With all members discharged by January 2026 and the new album Arirang already in circulation, the song feels less like a distant memory and more like a through-line that links the early English-language era to the current stadium run.
BTS Returns as a Full Group
All seven members completed mandatory service and were back together by January 2026, marking the first full-group activities since the 2022 hiatus. The July 2025 announcement of Arirang and its accompanying world tour gave longtime listeners a direct bridge back to the Permission to Dance era, when the group was already balancing global chart dominance with lighthearted dance tracks.
Permission to Dance on Stage – Live Album
The July 18, 2025 release of Permission to Dance on Stage – Live captured the 2021-2022 tour performances in one package, giving fans a polished souvenir of the original run. It became the group’s first live album and debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 with 36,000 pure sales, proving that the desert-shot choreography and upbeat arrangement still translated in arena settings years later.
Chart Legacy and Ongoing Impact
Permission to Dance entered the Hot 100 at No. 1 in July 2021, displacing Butter and becoming the fifth chart-topper in under eleven months. That pace made BTS the fastest act to five No. 1s since Michael Jackson, and the pattern continued with later singles, including the 2026 track Swim, keeping the group’s total at seven group-led Hot 100 leaders.
From 2021 Desert Video to 2026 Stadiums
The original music video was filmed in a sun-baked laundromat set in the California desert, a low-key backdrop that contrasted with the song’s expansive hook. The same track now anchors segments of the 2026 Arirang world tour, where the group plays stadiums across multiple continents and grosses tens of millions per venue, turning a 2021 dance-pop single into a centerpiece of their largest-scale production to date.
You know what they say . . .
Three times is definitely a pattern. Can’t wait to see what celeb gets the next name drop in a BTS English-language song!
Writer approved
Yep. Ed Sheeran was the one to write the latest BTS bop. Co-written by Ed Sheeran with Johnny McDaid, Steve Mac, and Jenna Andrews, the track sits alongside his earlier BTS contribution on Make It Right, showing a continued songwriting thread rather than a one-off cameo.
Fun fact about the choreo
Honestly? That’s pretty dope. The music video dropped July 9, 2021 and racked up 72.3 million views in its first day, while the upbeat, accessible choreography kept the track circulating through dance challenges long after the initial rollout.
Basically but let the band be
Nice joke. A+ job.
We know this joke
And they all do BTS karaoke!
There was literally an Elton John movie a few years ago
Did . . . did people not know this?
Anything they do will chart
At this point, BTS could just sing Yelp reviews and it would still chart. Permission to Dance opened with 15.9 million streams, 140,000 sales, and 1.1 million radio impressions in its first week, confirming the group’s commercial consistency across multiple English-language releases.
People: Hey there’s a new BTS song!
Army was like, “what you didn’t know about the new BTS song.” Viral reactions poured in at the 2021 release, and the track’s continued presence on tour setlists and the later live album shows the excitement never fully cooled.
Feel it!
Feel the love!
