K-Pop Star Reveals He Has Lost 33 Pairs of Apple AirPods

For many people, Apple’s AirPods are one of their first big audio purchases. Swiping your credit card for these little wireless earbuds will set you back around $160 and lock you into Apple’s ecosystem just a tad bit more. But lose one of them while you’re out and about, and you’ll pay beaucoup bucks ($69) to replace it.

Now imagine losing not one pair of AirPods, but misplacing 33 of them.

Yes, we said 33. As in thirty-three.

If you follow K-pop at all, the name Kim Namjoon might sound familiar – after all, he’s the lead singer of popular group BTS. In a recently live Q&A Namjoon had with fans, he casually broke the news that he was on his 34th pair of Apple’s tiny wireless buds.

Someone shared they lost their airpods, and RM clapped, saying there's someone he can become good friends with. He thinks he's on his THIRTY FOURTH (!!!) PAIR OF AIRPODS NOW, and that when he logs into his bluetooth he's able to mourn over all his old ones.

— wisha 🥂 (@doyou_bangtan) December 14, 2019

Let’s do some quick math:

34 pairs of AirPods at $159 each means that the superstar has spent at least $5,247 to replace his missing ‘Pods. We’re sure that’s a drop in the bucket compared to his earnings, but for most people in the U.S., that’s around 8% of their annual household income, or a Focal Utopia with enough money left over to pick up a set of Campfire Audio Andromeda IEMs.

We’d like to believe that Namjoon is acting like some sort of gift-giver, losing the AirPods on purpose so that others can find them scattered across the land, or perhaps meet their significant other by pairing a lost left with a lost right. But realistically, they’re probably in someone’s bin or on Craigslist.