Inside BTS – the world’s biggest K-Pop band who’ve smashed Taylor Swift’s YouTube record with their hit ‘Idol’

K-POP band BTS are taking the music world by storm after notching up a string of world records.

The South Korean superstars will make the pages of the Guinness World Records book at least THREE TIMES next year and it seems global domination is now a virtual shoo-in.

The band's name comes from the South Korean phrase Bangtan Sonyeondan, which translates as "Bulletproof Boy Scouts".

BTS's seven worshipped members - V, Jimin, Jin, Suga, Jungkook, RM and J-Hope - are all aged between 20 and 25.

Formed just five years ago, the group has won a legion of fans (who call themselves BTS A.R.M.Y.) and a string of top music awards.

The group currently holds the record for the most Twitter engagements, with each of their tweets having an average of 330,624 retweets, replies, likes or other interactions.

The previous record was held by former One Direction star Harry Styles, with an average of a mere 147,653.

Their song DNA also has the record for the most viewed music video online in 24 hours by a K-pop group, with 21million views.

And they have also broken the record for YouTube's most-watched music video debut, receiving more than 45million hits in 24 hours for their song Idol.

They beat the former record holder - Taylor Swift with single Look What You Made Me Do - into second place.

They were also the first K-pop act to get a gold record, selling more than half a million copies of their song, MIC Drop (Remix).

And they became the first K-pop band to cross 50million listens on Spotify in 2017, and continue to break records almost on a daily basis.

Not surprisingly they have caught the eyes of some of the world's biggest stars and sponsors and everybody now wants to be seen with them.

The Late Late Show host James Corden has long supported the band, having had them on his sofa twice.

But now he wants to up the ante and have the K-pop idols on his most famous segment Carpool Karaoke, simply because he loves them so much.

The 40-year-old tweeted: "I want @BTS_twt to come on my show and perform serendipity so bad! Maybe we could even sing it in a #CarpoolKaraoke?"

BTS previously performed DNA on James’s show in 2017 and Fake Love earlier this year, as well as playing Flinch with the host.

Their brand deals with Puma, LG and Coca-Cola are reportedly worth millions.

But although BTS's bright and poppy video, made up of choreographed dance sequences against psychedelic backdrops has won then tens of millions of fans it hasn't always been easy for the boys.

They first gained a following in the notoriously cutthroat K-pop industry before their first official single was released by drip-feeding fans with cover versions of songs on Soundcloud.

Their first album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, managed to peak at a respectable fifth on the South Korean album charts.

It took two years of touring – including a visit to Japan – for the band to cement their reputation among the top tier of K-pop bands and they are now worshipped in their homeland.

The supergroup have recently set out on a sell-out world tour, including two dates in London in October that sold out in a matter of minutes.

A mixture of singers and rappers - and all incredible dancers - BTS fuse K-pop, R'n'B and hip hop.

Their album, Love Yourself: Her, hit No.1 on iTunes in over 73 countries.

The band made world headlines when they took to the stage of the Billboard Music Awards, held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday 20 May 2018.

The group - who have even been compared to The Beatles - gave a barnstorming performance of their mixed Korean-English single Fake Love – to the joy of the live audience.

And even though they're yet to make an English language release, their loyal fan base is growing by the minute and shows no sign of slowing down.