Auditions for a possible boyband were held in 2010 and 2011 by Big Hit Entertainment, and the lineup went through several changes before it was finalized with Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook in 2012. Six months prior to their debut, they began to gain attention for their presence on various social media websites, as well as song covers on YouTube and SoundCloud.

BTS has been complimented for "speak[ing] honestly about topics they deem important, even in a conservative society" by Jeff Benjamin from Fuse magazine. Tamar Herman from Billboard magazine noted that the septet often have recurring themes in their materials. Their "school trilogy" series - 2 Cool 4 Skool (2013), O!RUL8,2? (2013), and Skool Luv Affair (2014) – explored "the troubles and anxieties of school-age youth." "Not Today" from You Never Walk Alone has an anti-establishment anthem, with messages advocating for minority groups while Wings (2016) touched upon mental health and female empowerment. Love Yourself: Her, in which themes were identified as "love, friendship, loss, [and] death" is the first of four EPs of the "Love Yourself" series.

Their Japanese studio album, Wake Up (2014), released that December, peaking at number three on the weekly Oricon Albums Chart and selling 25,000 copies. Along with re-recorded Japanese versions of older songs, it also contained the original tracks "Wake Up" and "The Stars". Their first concert tour, 2014 BTS Live Trilogy – Episode II: The Red Bullet, was held from October to December.

In 2015, BTS became brand ambassadors for Puma. In 2016, Nexon released character avatars based on the members for their RPG game Elsword. That year, they topped the 'Boy Group Brand Power Ranking' published by the Korean Corporate Reputation Research Institute for 9 out of 12 months, and were the boy group with the highest brand reputation.

Members of the group have also engaged in individual philanthropic endeavours. Since 2016, Jimin has supported graduates of Busan Hoedong Elementary School, his alma mater, by covering uniform expenses. After news of the school's closing was released, he donated summer and winter middle school uniforms to the final graduates and gifted autographed albums to the entire student body. For his 25th birthday, Suga donated ten kilograms of prime Korean beef to 39 orphanages in Korea under the name of BTS' ARMY fan club.

In 2017, BTS were chosen as the honorary tourism ambassadors for Seoul as part of the 'I Seoul U' programme. The group filmed an advertisement produced by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, which was subsequently aired in over 100 countries. On December 6, the promotional song, "With Seoul" was released online with the music video released on December 13. They were also chosen as the new brand Models for Lotte Duty Free Shop. BTS collaborated with popular Korean communication app LINE, creating LINE 'characters' BT21 that serve as emojis and stickers. These characters represent the members of BTS: RJ representing Jin, Shooky representing Suga, Mang representing J-Hope, Koya representing RM, Chimmy representing Jimin, Tata representing V, Cooky representing Jungkook, and Van representing ARMY.

On February 27, 2018, BTS were announced as global brand ambassadors for Puma, with Puma launching the remix of their 'Turin' line on March 2 in Korea and worldwide in July in celebration of this. The group will also feature in global campaigns for Puma's Sportstyle line as well. In March, they were announced as the new brand Spokespersons for KB Kookmin Bank, one of the top four largest banks in South Korea. On April 3, LG Electronics announced that BTS would "promote its smartphones in the global market" for the tech company, including an upcoming flagship model tentatively scheduled for unveiling by June 2018.

Grace Jeong, editor-in-chief of Soompi, praised the group by stating that, “BTS has something to say, and has a great marketing strategy that doesn’t alienate non-Korean-speaking fans.” While they have received praise for their lyrics, in 2016 the group faced criticisms of misogyny regarding the lyrics of "War of Hormone", "Converse High", and RM's solo song "Joke", as well as a Twitter comment made by Suga. The group's label later issued an apology.