*Editor’s Note — As BTS prepares to return as a full seven-member act with a new album set for March 20 and an open-stage performance at Gwanghwamun on March 21, following a near four-year hiatus for rotational military service, AJP revisits the group’s 13-year trajectory. This series reexamines BTS’s history, music, performance identity and enduring appeal. The second installment traces the BTS member Jin's roots and growth.
SEOUL, February 09 (AJP) - With 40 days to go until BTS’s March 21 comeback show, fan attention is once again sharpening around individual members. Among them, Jin, the group’s eldest, is making clear he is not content with symbolic seniority.
He topped the January Idol Ranking conducted by global fandom platform Star Planet, collecting 155,385 votes in a poll held from Jan. 1 to 25. The result earned him a week-long advertising feature at Digital Media City Station in Seoul — a familiar but still telling marker of sustained fan engagement.
The numbers reflect more than online enthusiasm.
Jin’s recent musical and performance results point to a solo career that has moved beyond experimentation. His title track “Don’t Say You Love Me” from the 2025 mini album Echo has surpassed 800 million cumulative streams on Spotify. His Blu-ray release #RUNSEOKJIN_EP.TOUR in JAPAN, documenting the final stop of his first solo tour, topped Oricon’s Weekly Video Ranking in early February, leading both the combined DVD/Blu-ray and Blu-ray-only charts. First-week sales exceeded 14,000 copies.
These milestones are the product of gradual accumulation rather than sudden reinvention.
Born on Dec. 4, 1992, Kim Seok-jin debuted with BTS in 2013 as a vocalist in a group initially driven by performance and rap-centered structures. As BTS’s albums grew more narrative and musically layered, his role expanded accordingly.
His solo development began within group releases. “Awake” on WINGS (2016) introduced a restrained, introspective tone. “Epiphany” on LOVE YOURSELF 結 Answer (2018) became a thematic anchor in concerts. “Moon,” included on MAP OF THE SOUL: PERSONA (2019), broadened his appeal with a more accessible sound.
That progression culminated in “The Astronaut” (2022), produced with Coldplay and released shortly before his military enlistment. The single charted globally and marked his transition toward independent visibility.
Jin enlisted in December 2022 and served 18 months as an assistant drill instructor in Yeoncheon, becoming both the first BTS member to enter and complete mandatory service. He was discharged in June 2024.
Since then, his solo work has shifted into album-centered form. HAPPY (2024) debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200, while Echo (2025) entered at No. 3, confirming steady upward momentum. The results suggest a developing catalogue rather than a series of isolated releases.
Beyond music, Jin has maintained a consistent media presence through Run Seokjin and Netflix’s Kian’s Bizarre B&B, earning major variety and popularity awards in 2025. His commercial profile remains strong, with endorsement deals spanning fashion, beauty, food and technology — from Gucci and Fred to Laneige and Ottogi — reinforcing his reputation as a reliable sales driver.
Across recording, touring, broadcasting and branding, Jin has quietly built one of the most structurally balanced solo portfolios within BTS.
As the group moves toward its long-awaited full reunion, his trajectory stands out not for spectacle, but for continuity. Having navigated enlistment, reentry and reinvention ahead of his peers, Jin now returns to the group not simply as its eldest member, but as one of its most methodically prepared.
The next installment will track SUGA.
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