Top 10 Best BTS Music Videos

BTS first came onto the scene in 2013 with 2 Cool 4 Skool, with “No More Dream” as their debut single. The lyrics talk about growing up, following your dreams, and the pressures put on kids by society. The video features the members dressed in black and performing in visually striking locations, including a graffitied skatepark, and a destroyed suburban neighbourhood. The band also released a dance version of the music video, which features some hard hitting choreography that would go on to be a staple of their work.  
 

Although Bangtan Sonyeondan is originally from South Korea, they’ve quickly become international sensations, with a large part of their fanbase in Japan. While they often re-release their more popular songs in Japanese—with original music videos to accompany them—they released an exclusively Japanese single back in 2015 called “For You.” The music video is beautifully shot, and features scenes of the band working hard to save money in order to surprise the group’s maknae, Jungkook, with enough cash to finally meet the girl he’s been writing to in person.
 

Blasting through at number eight is BTS’ “We Are Bulletproof Part 2.” The hip-hop number served to many as the group’s musical introduction to audiences, despite “No More Dream” being their debut single. The song is iconic among ARMYs—the official name for fans of the group—and has since become a popular meme. Still, the video features impressive rap work by the group’s leader Rap Monster, and has somehow made twirling snapbacks look oh so cool.
 

A song from their school trilogy and off the album Dark & Wild, “Danger” is a piece that talks about the frustrations of being in a one sided relationship, and how it can hurt to not know where you stand with your partner. This video features BTS moving away from their formerly hip-hop look and moving towards more of a punk/grunge aesthetic in both their fashion and shooting style. Although he wore a wig for the hair cutting scene—and despite receiving multiple warnings to be careful—band member Taehyung still managed to chop some of his locks off during filming.
 

What do you get when you put school uniforms, elaborate sets, memorable choreography, and BTS together? Another hit video. From their album Skool Luv Affair, “Boy In Luv” features the group trying to pluck up enough courage to talk to the girl they’re mad about. The video plays off tropes common in k-dramas—namely the manly boy who seems to tease the female protagonist out of affection—and even has an iconic locker scene with the group’s oldest member, and otherwise softie, Jin.
 

Both the name of this song, and the perfect way to describe high school, “War Of Hormone” is one of BTS’ more iconic videos. Going for a blend of preppy and punk, this video is shot in black and white (with some red accents), and features the band moving around a school campus while singing to a girl they’re all crushing on (a common feature of the school trilogy album collection). If you listen closely to the lyrics you can hear J-Hope make a Frozen joke, as he compares some women to ice mountains and tells listeners to, “let it go.”
 

Considered among many to be the band’s signature music video, “Dope” has gained over 112 million views since its release, and helped expose mainstream audiences to both k-pop and the band. Although the song is catchy—with lyrics discussing how the group has worked hard, despite their haters, and pushed through adversity in order to succeed—the choreography is absolutely captivating, and won them several prestigious awards for their video in 2015. In addition to their dancing, the costume choices for each of the band’s seven members, along with a dope filming set featured, keeps audiences coming back for more.
 

Always overachieving, BTS put out another trilogy over the course of 2015 and 2016 called The Most Beautiful Moments In Life. Although the third album featured a lot of repackaged and remixed content from the first two albums, their hit single “Fire” more than made up for it. While, “Save Me,” one of the singles from the record, took a simplistic approach to shooting the music video—with the band dancing in an open field—”Fire” is a significantly more intense and features complicated sets, tons of extras, and some seriously fun to watch pyrotechnics kicked off by Suga at the video’s start.
 

The single off their newest album Wings, “Blood Sweat & Tears” is fast becoming one of BTS’ most popular videos, having amassed over 61 million views since its release this past October. The piece—which plays more like a short film than a music video, and runs over six minutes in length—features the group in expensive suits at even more expensive filming locations. The song, as well as the video, have received multiple awards, including Best Performance by a Male Group at the 2016 MNet Asian Music Awards.
 
Before we get to our top pick, here are a few honourable mentions:
 
- “Epilogue: Young Forever” (2016)
- “N.O” (2013)
- “Just One Day” (2014)
 

Coming in at number one is “I Need U,” from part one of the Most Beautiful Moments In Life album trilogy. This music video changed the game, as it features members of the band in seemingly deadly situations—like vocalist Jimin drowning in a bathtub—and left audiences desperate to know what happened to the band at the end of the video. The story then continued in their music video for “Run,” the single for the second album in the collection, and caused a flurry of fan theories to erupt online following the video’s release. The high concept video “I Need U” was revolutionary not only to the way musicvideos are now stylized, but helped establish the band’s current aesthetic while cementing them in k-pop history.