Last.fm is facing a huge backlash from BTS fans, aka ARMYs. On June 24, 2026, Last.fm posted its daily charts. The post showed other artists at the top positions with no BTS tracks appearing in the leading spots. The post was captioned:
“If you know, you know”
In reply to a user who asked about the removal of bots, Last.fm responded with a salute emoji.
Some participants in online discussions described the platform’s adjustments as efforts to prioritize unique listeners and reduce manipulation in chart data. Last.fm has described its recent changes as steps to improve chart accuracy.
These actions occurred in connection with Last.fm’s removal of large numbers of scrobbles that it identified as coming from bots. As a result, BTS dropped from the number one position to number 15 on the platform’s global top artists chart. The septet group holds 4.46 billion lifetime scrobbles and around 2.5 million listeners on the site.
On June 25, 2026, an X post by the account @minyooncat shared four screenshots from a Last.fm support forum thread titled “The K-pop Problem.” The images showed forum discussions in which users and Last.fm team members referred to BTS by name multiple times. The content included expressions of concern over scrobble volumes from K-pop artists.
Last.fm team members in the thread stated expectations that the update would remove BTS and BTS-adjacent artists from being a permanent fixture on the charts page and trending tracks. They also mentioned hoping to have the update ready before the release of the group’s album ARIRANG.
Following the June 24 posts, associated scrobble removals, and the forum discussion, ARMYs took several actions. Large numbers of users deleted their Last.fm accounts and uninstalled the app. Many left one-star reviews on app stores. As of this writing, platform ratings dropped from 5, reaching as low as 2.4 stars on Apple and 2.8 on the Play Store. Users also moved to alternative music tracking services, including Musicat and Stats.fm.
Several BTS fans are now boycotting the app and sharing their reaction across the social platform X.
One user said:
“@lastfm this is so unprofessional! At this level , you’re just a hater ! BTS anti ! But you forgot that BTS was the hand that was feeding you, even today you got a hot tweet and became a superstar bcz of them ! Shame on you ! I will never miss you , ingrates”
More ARMYs united and shared their opinion on the same.
Several groups’ fan accounts are calling for a migration to other apps.
Aftermath of BTS fans’ backlash against Last.fm
Last.fm has not shared any new public statement in response to the recent events.
Users have reported difficulties with account deletion. Many described long delays or temporary inability to complete the deletion process through the settings menu. Some noted that the account deletion option appeared unavailable or that the process took several hours to succeed. ARMYs also mentioned high server load during the period of mass deletion attempts.
Platform ratings on both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store have fallen below 3 stars according to user reports. Many accounts were closed, and the app was uninstalled by many users. Several users have moved their music tracking activity to alternative services such as Musicat and Stats.fm.
Musicat posted a status update acknowledging the situation. The update mentioned an ongoing partial outage and infrastructure maintenance. It stated that the service was handling extraordinary traffic. Their team was actively implementing fixes while monitoring the situation. They also apologized for the inconvenience. The message ended with a purple heart emoji.
Some users switching to these alternatives have reported technical issues. A number of people mentioned syncing problems with Musicat, especially during the high volume of new users. A few users also mentioned compatibility or performance issues on Android devices.
Others using Stats.fm noted limitations such as a cap of around 50 streams before requiring manual sync, which has led to lost stream counts for overnight listening in some cases.
On June 26, the septet group is set to perform at the Riyadh Metropolitan Stadium for their ongoing ARIRANG World Tour. They will also perform at the stadium on June 27.
Edited by Toshali Kritika
