BTS Draw 50,000 Fans Outside Mexico’s National Palace

BTS hasn’t even taken the stage yet, and Mexico City is already losing its mind. On Wednesday, an estimated 50,000 fans flooded the streets outside the National Palace after Jin and j-hope appeared on the balcony to wave to the crowd — fresh off a meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum herself. It was the kind of scene usually reserved for heads of state. Which, in a way, is exactly what this week has become.

The South Korean superstars are in town for three stadium shows — May 7, 9, and 10 at the GNP Seguros Stadium — as part of their sweeping ARIRANG World Tour, which launched April 9 at the Goyang Stadium in Seoul. More than 135,000 tickets sold out in less than an hour when they went on sale, setting off a chain of events that escalated far beyond anything the music industry typically sees.

When Concert Demand Becomes Diplomacy

The ticket chaos was immediate and overwhelming. Ticketmaster Mexico reported that more than 2.1 million people flooded its platform looking for BTS information after the ARIRANG tour was announced — “one of the highest-traffic inquiries in recent years,” the company noted. To put that in perspective, Ticketmaster said if the sale had been physical, the line would have stretched from Mexico City to the U.S. border. Nearly 5,000 complaint emails landed with the Federal Consumer Protection Agency (Profeco), and Sheinbaum’s administration demanded transparency in ticket sales from both Ocesa and Ticketmaster Mexico.

But Sheinbaum didn’t stop there. In an extraordinary move, she sent a letter directly to South Korean President Lee Jae Myung requesting additional BTS concert dates for Mexico. “The concerts will be in May, and about a million young people want to buy tickets, but there are only 150,000 available,” she said at her January 26 morning press conference. Three weeks later, Seoul responded, confirming the request had been forwarded to HYBE, the company that manages BTS. “He was very receptive to the request we made,” Sheinbaum said in March.

Not everyone in the fandom was thrilled about the diplomatic detour. “Our request was always the same: clarity in the ticket sales,” Melissa Salinas, a 27-year-old radio host from Sonora and member of ARMY Mexico, told Billboard Español. “Asking for more concerts in Mexico sparked criticism of our community from outside.”

Sheinbaum wasn’t even the only government official to make BTS their business. Mexico’s Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard used an official visit to South Korea in late 2025 to personally meet j-hope, sharing video of the encounter on his own TikTok as a declaration of Mexican love for the group.

@m_ebrard

Oigan amigos #armybts siempre pensando en mi México y en ustedes. Les dedico este video 💜💜💜. Si les gustó, déjenme un mensajito #hechoenmexico #armybts #marceloebrard

♬ sonido original – Marcelo Ebrard

Mexico’s ARMY Has Been Waiting a Long Time for This

BTS last visited Mexico in 2017. That’s nearly a decade — and the years since have included a pandemic, a hiatus, and all seven members completing South Korea’s mandatory military service, which kept the full group off the world stage for almost four years. Their return to the spotlight in March made this tour feel less like a concert announcement and more like a reunion.

Dancers were already bouncing to BTS tracks on Mexico City avenues days before the first show, pep rallies filling the streets with the kind of energy that’s hard to manufacture. And the passion isn’t limited to the youngest generation — parents have been cheering right alongside their kids.

The economic stakes are real too. Vicente Gutiérrez, president of Mexico City’s National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism (Canaco CDMX), told Billboard Español that BTS’s three-night run is projected to generate approximately $107.5 million (1.861 billion pesos) for the capital, with nearly $88 million of that coming from ticket sales alone. “The visit of BTS is a major event for Mexico,” he said.

For Salinas and the millions of ARMYs who couldn’t get tickets, the balcony moment on Wednesday — Jin and j-hope, two of the seven members of RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V, and Jung Kook, waving down at a sea of 50,000 people — was at least something. A glimpse. A promise of what’s coming.

“They’re going to fall in love with Mexico,” Salinas said. “BTS plus the Mexican ARMY is a formula that never fails.”