HYBE's Park Ji-won and SM's Tak Young-jun Selected for Billboard 'Power Players' 3 Years in a Row

Big Hit's Shin Youngjae and Pledis' Han Seongsu
Kakao's Jang Yunjung and HYBE360's Oh Yujin Also Listed

HYBE, representing K-pop, along with Kakao Entertainment executives including those from SM Entertainment, have been named among the global entertainment industry leaders selected by the US Billboard.

Tak Young-jun and Jang Cheol-hyeok, Co-CEOs of SM [Photo by SM Entertainment]

On the 29th (local time), Billboard, a US music media outlet, announced the '2024 Billboard International Power Players,' which included HYBE CEO Park Ji-won, Big Hit Music CEO Shin Young-jae of the group BTS, Pledis Entertainment Master Professional Han Sung-soo of the group Seventeen, and HYBE 360 GM Oh Yoo-jin. HYBE was classified as a global music group.

Executives from Kakao Entertainment and SM also had many names on the list. They included Jang Yoon-jung, co-CEO of Kakao Entertainment (SM director), SM co-CEOs Jang Cheol-hyuk and Tak Young-joon, and SM CAO Lee Sung-soo. Kakao Entertainment and SM were classified as Oceania & Asia music groups.

HYBE CEO Park Ji-won (left), Big Hit Music CEO Shin Young-jae.
[Photo by HYBE]

CEO Park Ji-won, CEO Shin Young-jae, co-CEO Tak Young-joon, and CAO Lee Sung-soo have been named on the list for three consecutive years, following 2022 and 2023. Co-CEO Jang Yoon-jung was also selected for the third time this year, following 2021 and 2023.

Billboard praised HYBE for "diversifying its business through acquisitions such as the US hip-hop label QC Media Holdings and the Latin label Exile Music, surpassing 2 trillion won (1.5 billion USD) in annual revenue last year, becoming the first Korean entertainment company to do so." However, it added that most of the company's revenue still came from K-pop artists.

It continued, "BTS's Jungkook's 'Seven (feat. Latto)' and Jimin's 'Like Crazy' reached No. 1 on Billboard's main singles chart, the Hot 100, and Seventeen's 10th mini-album 'FML' recorded global sales of 6.4 million copies, becoming the best-selling album in K-pop history." It also explained, "Post-pandemic tours by BTS, Tomorrow X Together, LE SSERAFIM, and ENHYPEN attracted 1.2 million concertgoers over 90 performances."

Jang Yoon-jung, Co-CEO of Kakao Entertainment
Photo by Kakao Entertainment

Billboard mentioned Kakao Entertainment and SM's launch of a North American integrated corporation last year, stating, "The launch of the North American integrated corporations by both companies is a significant milestone in the expansion of K-pop, establishing a systematic global business system to support labels and artists."

It also referred to the global expansion of Kakao Entertainment artists' activities. Billboard evaluated, "Expanding into Europe, they are producing a TV show to launch a boy group locally in the UK through collaboration with the British entertainment company Moon and Back." It added, "Additionally, Ive, under Kakao Entertainment's label Starship, is currently on their first global tour since debut, including arena performances in six North American cities last March."

'International Power Players' is a list Billboard publishes annually, selecting leaders who are driving the global music market outside the United States.