BTS’s J-Hope Makes History As He Is Set To Headline Lollapalooza

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 21: J-Hope of the K-pop boy band BTS visits the “Today” Show at … [+] Rockefeller Plaza on February 21, 2020 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Lollapalooza, one of the biggest and most important music festivals in the world, has added several names to its lineup for its upcoming 2022 event, and K-pop fans are sure to be thrilled with the new acts that have been recruited.

J-Hope, one of the seven singers that make up the band BTS, has been chosen as not just as a performer at Lollapalooza 2022, but a headliner. A quick look at the update posted on the festival’s website shows that his name has been sandwiched in between fellow headlining acts Green Day and Jane’s Addiction on Sunday, the last day of the fun.

The festival’s Instagram account, which shared the good news with the world on June 7, made a big deal of J-Hope’s inclusion. A post which includes several photos and a video of the BTS star performing was captioned with the statement, “Verified We are thrilled to announce j-hope of @bts.bighitofficial will headline #Lolla 2022 on Sunday, July 31st! 🙌 His performance will make history, cementing him as the first South Korean artist to ever headline a main stage at a major U.S. music festival.”

J-Hope joins fellow Lollapalooza headliners Metallica, Lil Baby, Dua Lipa, Machine Gun Kelly, Big Sean, J. Cole, and many others. He is set to command the Bed Light Seltzer stage at 9:00 PM on Sunday, July 31, following in the footsteps of artists like The Kid Laroi and Charli XCX, who will play the same stage earlier that day.

MORE FROM FORBESBTS’s Suga And Psy Join Blackpink’s Lisa And Rosé With Their First Global Top 10 Smash SingleBy Hugh McIntyre

It’s interesting that J-Hope will be headlining Lollapalooza without his bandmates, who aren’t mentioned. While he has conquered the global music industry as one-seventh of the biggest band in the world right now, he has also found time to write, record, and release tunes on his own as well, as have several of his bandmates. In 2018, he made history when his mixtape Hope World peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. At the time, he was one of a very small number of South Korean soloists to reach that list.

The following year, he returned with a new single without the other members of BTS, “Chicken Noodle Soup,” a collaboration with Latin-pop singer Becky G. That tune brought him to the Hot 100 for the first time on his own, as it rose as high as No. 81, which was also another historic showing.

There have been rumors for years that J-Hope has been working on his sophomore solo project, but no formal announcements have been made. The fact that he is now set to headline a major festival in the largest music market in the world may be a sign that he’s also gearing up to deliver a new full-length, which would help him flush out his setlist.

In an announcement press release shared by C3 Presents, one of the companies behind Lollapalooza, fellow South Korean vocal act Tomorrow X Together was also revealed as an added performer. The band is set to take to the stage on Saturday, July 30 in the first U.S. festival showing.

MORE FROM FORBESBTS Member Suga And Psy Make Hot 100 History With Their New SingleBy Hugh McIntyre