BTS The City Arirang to Turn Singapore Into a Monthlong Fan Destination in December 2026

Four stadium nights become a month of events

Singapore will host BTS The City Arirang from December 1 to 31, 2026, extending the group's four sold out National Stadium concerts into a month of music, art, light shows and themed experiences across the island. Thirteen landmarks will also turn red each night from December 8 to 22, creating a shared visual backdrop around Marina Bay and the Singapore River.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and HYBE announced the partnership on October 19. In its Singapore event announcement, STB describes the programme as the largest coordinated fan experience ever held across Singapore for a recording artist. Singapore will be the project's first and only Southeast Asian stop in 2026, and HYBE says it will close the project's calendar for the year.

The programme brings together eight partners, ranging from Jewel Changi Airport and Mandai Wildlife Reserve to cultural institutions, Sentosa attractions and Zouk Singapore. Instead of concentrating activities at the concert venue, organisers plan to place BTS music and imagery inside destinations that visitors and residents already use.

BTS will perform at the National Stadium on December 17, 19, 20 and 22. The wider programme begins 16 days before the first concert and continues for nine days after the last, giving the Singapore edition a much longer calendar than the performances themselves.

What The City brings beyond the concert

HYBE's The City format connects a concert tour with experiences across its host city. For Singapore, that means installations, music programming, gallery visits and evening spectacles linked by BTS and the Arirang album and tour.

Fans could encounter the programme at the airport, follow music through an art exhibition, or attend a themed event on Sentosa. The monthlong Singapore edition is described as the longest The City programme to date.

HYBE, the entertainment company partnering with STB, explained its intention in the announcement:

With the support of the Singapore Tourism Board, we look forward to extending the excitement of BTS' concerts beyond the stadium and bringing fans and visitors together through unique experiences across the city.

Jewel and Mandai take the experience beyond central Singapore

Jewel Changi Airport will host a themed light and music show at its Rain Vortex. The attraction gives the programme a location at Singapore's airport complex, allowing the concert celebration to reach beyond the stadium and the central visitor districts.

Mandai Wildlife Reserve will stage a landmark themed takeover of Exploria, its new immersive multimedia attraction. An immersive attraction uses elements such as projected images, sound and designed environments to surround visitors with an experience rather than present it on a single screen.

Jewel and Mandai illustrate the geographical spread of the project. Alongside events in Marina Bay, the civic district, Kallang and Sentosa, they make this a programme across several parts of Singapore rather than a festival confined to one neighbourhood.

BTS music enters galleries and museum spaces

National Gallery Singapore will create an art trail pairing BTS music with works in Pop after Pop: Art around Us. The format places songs alongside artworks, giving visitors a route through the exhibition shaped by both listening and looking.

The National Museum of Singapore will present themed light and sound installations. Its contribution differs from the gallery trail: the announced museum experience centres on a designed audiovisual environment, while the gallery connects the music to specific works of art.

These two institutions broaden the programme beyond concerts and parties. A gallery visit or museum installation offers a different pace from a stadium performance, while keeping BTS music at the centre of the experience. Both institutions are named among STB's eight official activation partners.

Sentosa plans fireworks, drones and a themed race

Universal Studios Singapore at Resorts World Sentosa will host a fireworks display choreographed to BTS music, alongside other themed experiences within the park. Choreography here means timing the fireworks to the soundtrack so that the visual display follows the music.

Sentosa Island's wider programme includes a rave and drone show set to BTS songs, a themed race and immersive installations. Resorts World Sentosa and Sentosa Development Corporation are separate partners in the official announcement, covering the resort's contribution and the broader island programme respectively.

Sentosa therefore has several announced formats, from a physical activity to music events and aerial displays. The fireworks at Universal Studios Singapore and the drone show on Sentosa are listed as different attractions, giving visitors more than one kind of evening spectacle to look for in the eventual schedule.

The Kallang will add interactive experiences across multiple themed zones. Zouk Singapore will host opening and closing night takeovers with dedicated music and experiential programming, extending the celebration into a nightclub setting.

Thirteen landmarks will glow in Arirang red

Marina Bay and the Singapore River will provide the programme's most widely shared visual element. From December 8 through December 22, 13 named landmarks will be illuminated nightly in Arirang red, the colour associated with the album and tour.

The list includes seven bridges: Anderson Bridge, Cavenagh Bridge, Clemenceau Bridge, Coleman Bridge, Elgin Bridge, Ord Bridge and The Helix Bridge. Gardens by the Bay, Millenia Tower, OUE Bayfront, Singapore Flyer, The Fullerton Hotel Singapore and The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore complete the lineup.

The lighting period covers 15 nights, including all four National Stadium concert dates. It starts nine days before the first performance and ends on the final concert night. The wider fan programme, however, continues until December 31.

Those different calendars matter for visitors choosing travel dates. Someone arriving late in December may still be in Singapore during The City's overall run, while the coordinated red lighting is scheduled to finish on December 22.

The dates that shape the Singapore finale

BTS announced the Singapore edition through the fan platform Weverse on October 19, alongside the tourism board's announcement. The next major tour date is November 19 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where the Asia leg is scheduled to begin.

The sequence brings together an album release, an international fan programme and the concert tour:

• March 2026: Arirang is released, and The City Arirang begins in Seoul.
• June 3 to 5: Tickets for the Singapore concerts go on sale in phases. All four dates sell out.
• October 19: The Singapore edition of The City Arirang is announced.
• November 19: BTS are scheduled to begin the Asia leg in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
• December 1 to 31: The City Arirang Singapore runs across participating destinations.
• December 8 to 22: Thirteen landmarks are scheduled to light up nightly in red.
• December 17, 19, 20 and 22: BTS perform at the National Stadium.

The four Singapore concerts represent the largest number of shows at a single stop on this Asia leg. They also mark the group's return to Singapore as a full ensemble after seven years.

STB says further details will be announced later. Individual activity dates, operating times, prices and booking arrangements have not yet been given, leaving visitors to wait for those details before building a complete itinerary.

Why Singapore is making this a destination project

STB's partnership with HYBE and its labels began in 2024. Earlier work included social media content, participation in events featuring K-pop artists and music video productions showcasing Singapore landmarks and attractions.

The December programme takes that relationship into physical venues across the island. For participating attractions, BTS provides a shared theme connecting places that visitors would usually consider separately: an airport attraction, a wildlife destination, galleries, a museum, a theme park, entertainment spaces and a nightclub.

Oliver Chong, STB's assistant chief executive for its international group, described the scale of the collaboration:

This is the largest city-wide destination project we have collaborated on with a partner for any recording artist, and we are proud to bring this exclusive experience to the region for the first time.

STB is seeking to draw fans from abroad while also giving residents reasons to visit participating venues. Spreading activities across December creates opportunities for visits before and after the concert dates, while the range of locations connects the live music audience with Singapore's cultural and leisure attractions.

A finale backed by a large global audience

The City Arirang began in Seoul in March and subsequently visited Las Vegas, Busan, London and New York. Singapore follows those five cities as the project's final destination in 2026. Seoul's edition included landmark light shows, temporary shops and listening parties, while Singapore's announced programme puts substantial space into attractions, cultural venues and evening entertainment.

Arirang, BTS's fifth studio album, supplies the theme. STB's announcement says the album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and its lead single, SWIM, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group's seven members are RM, Jin, SUGA, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jung Kook.

The album has generated five billion streams since its March release. The tour's North American leg drew 1.92 million concertgoers across 31 sold out shows, averaging about 61,900 attendees per performance. The comeback concert streamed on Netflix on March 21 attracted 18.4 million viewers worldwide.

Billboard's Top Tours chart separately recorded $171.7 million from around 800,000 concertgoers in August, when BTS played back-to-back concerts at six North American stadiums. The two MetLife Stadium concerts in East Rutherford, New Jersey, accounted for $32.7 million from 158,000 tickets.

The Arirang tour's cumulative gross has also exceeded $500 million, according to Billboard Boxscore figures. That makes BTS the first pop act and the seventh group of any genre to reach that figure on a single tour, placing Arirang among fewer than 20 tours in Boxscore history to do so. Gross refers to ticket revenue before costs are deducted. These figures show the size of the audience surrounding the tour as Singapore prepares to host its December concerts and the year's final The City edition.

A separate Pollstar year-to-date tally published on September 22 recorded $465.8 million and 2,314,140 attendees across 38 shows held through August 12. That is a snapshot covering those reported concerts, not a final total for the ongoing tour.

Key Points

• BTS The City Arirang Singapore runs from December 1 to 31, 2026, its longest edition to date.
• Singapore is the project's only Southeast Asian stop in 2026 and its final destination for the year.
• Eight official partners will present experiences spanning art, music, installations, nightlife and attractions.
• Thirteen landmarks will light up nightly in red from December 8 to 22.
• BTS's sold out National Stadium concerts take place on December 17, 19, 20 and 22.
• Detailed schedules, prices and booking arrangements for individual activities will be announced later.