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BTS BE: Life Goes On, Dynamite and an Album Made in 2020

Published: 2026-11-06

• Category: Album guide
• Artist: BTS

KPOP NO1 Editorial · Sources checked November 6, 2026

In 2020, tours stopped and the world stayed home. BTS answered with BE, released on November 20, 2020. It's a short album, eight songs, and it holds two of the group's biggest moments: the summer hit "Dynamite" and the lead single "Life Goes On," the first song sung mostly in Korean to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Here's what BE is about, the four versions of the Life Goes On video, the eight songs and the official videos to open.

Two more versions

BIGHIT's album page lists four Life Goes On videos in all. Besides the original and in the forest, there's on my pillow, released on November 22.

The fourth, like an arrow, came on November 29.

Our take: the same song, four settings. The titles alone (a pillow, a forest, an arrow) tell you each version has its own mood, so it's worth watching all four in release order.

BE's official page has more for fans than videos. It has BTS Notes, with an entry for each of the seven members, and a section called Curated for ARMY, also one per member, plus a Curate Your Own option. The page also lists three concept clips: Mirror, Reflection and Room versions.

Dynamite, the song that came first

Dynamite closes the album as track 8, but it came out months earlier. Its music video went up on August 21, 2020 (Korean time).

BIGHIT calls it the No. 1 summer hit. Dynamite debuted at the top of the Hot 100 that year, and when Life Goes On followed, BTS became the first group with more than one No. 1 debut on the chart. Yonhap via The Korea Times

Archival photo: BTS performing "Butter" at the American Music Awards, November 2021, a year after BE. Credit: Carolin von Petzholdt, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0. Linked from Wikimedia Commons at a smaller size; no other edits by KPOP NO.1.

The 8 songs

Here's the official running order, with lengths from BIGHIT's album page. BIGHIT album page

The album opens with the lead single and ends with the summer hit. In between are five songs and a skit, and the whole thing runs under half an hour.

Our take: after the 19 songs of MAP OF THE SOUL : 7, BE is easy to hear in one sitting. Start at track 1 and let it play through to Dynamite.

The No. 1s

Life Goes On debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the first Hot 100 No. 1 in the chart's 62-year history sung mostly in Korean. In the week ending November 26, 2020, it drew 14.9 million U.S. streams and sold 150,000. Yonhap via The Korea Times

It was BTS's second song to debut at No. 1 on the Hot 100, after Dynamite. The group now had three Hot 100 No. 1s within about three months, counting the BTS remix of Jason Derulo and Jawsh 685's "Savage Love."

BE itself became BTS's fifth album to top the Billboard 200.

BTS thanked ARMY in a post in Korean. They were grateful for the No. 1, they wrote, and for having two of their songs in the top three.

Official BE videos

Dates are the YouTube publication dates in Korean time.

Keep exploring

Want the album before BE? Our MAP OF THE SOUL : 7 guide covers ON and Black Swan, and the LOVE YOURSELF 轉 'Tear' guide goes back to the first Billboard 200 No. 1.

New to BTS? The BTS starter guide introduces the seven members. And the ARMY fandom guide explains who BTS were thanking.

Sources

• BIGHIT MUSIC, BE album page
• Yonhap via The Korea Times, "BTS' 'Life Goes On' becomes first Korean song to top Billboard main singles chart," December 1, 2020
• Official YouTube channel: HYBE LABELS