When Pandemic Closed Venues, Album Purchases Rose
Japan, China, and the US 'Big 3'... Germany, France, and Others
K-pop album export revenue nearly reached 300 billion won last year, marking an all-time high.
According to the Korea Customs Service's import-export trade statistics on the 16th, the album export revenue in 2022 was $233.113 million (approximately 289.5 billion won), a 5.6% increase compared to the previous year.
BTS took a commemorative photo at the 64th Grammy Awards held on April 3 last year (local time) at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, USA. [Photo by BigHit Music]
Since surpassing $40 million for the first time in 2017, it has experienced rapid growth every year.
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 paradoxically became a catalyst for the increase in album sales.
As global K-pop concert venues closed, overseas fans opened their wallets to purchase albums.
Album export revenue exceeded $100 million in 2020 and surpassed $200 million in 2021.
Japan is the largest importer of Korean albums... followed by China and the United States
Last year, the country that imported the most Korean albums was Japan, recording $85.749 million (approximately 106.5 billion won). It was followed by China with $51.326 million (approximately 63.7 billion won) and the United States with $38.877 million (approximately 48.3 billion won).
The 'Top 10' countries for album exports included Taiwan, the Netherlands, Thailand, Hong Kong, Germany, Indonesia, and France.
Although K-pop enjoys great love worldwide, as evidenced by the record-breaking album export revenue, regional concentration in album exports remains a challenge to overcome.
The combined share of Japan, China, and the United States increased by 3.8 percentage points from 71.7% in 2021 to 75.5% last year.
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