Last Year K-pop Overseas Sales Surpassed 1 Trillion Won... 34% Increase in One Year

Overseas Performances 47.5%, Recording 600 Billion KRW
34.3% Increase Compared to Last Year... Expected to Grow This Year as Well

K-pop's overseas sales revenue surpassed 1 trillion won for the first time last year.

Jin, a member of BTS who has completed his military service, is posing at the offline fan meeting "Seokjin of June 13, 2024, Clear Weather" held at Jamsil Indoor Gymnasium in Seoul on June 13.
[Photo by BigHit Music]

According to the analysis results of "Trends in K-pop Overseas Sales Revenue Based on Data" released by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute on the 24th, K-pop's overseas sales revenue in 2023 was estimated at 1.2377 trillion won, a 34.3% increase compared to the previous year. Last year marked the first time K-pop's overseas sales revenue exceeded 1 trillion won.

K-pop's overseas sales revenue was calculated by summing the estimated sales revenue from three areas: export revenue of album-related products, overseas streaming services, and overseas performances.

By sector, the area with the highest proportion was overseas performance sales revenue, recording 588.5 billion won (47.5%). Export revenue of album-related products followed with 388.9 billion won (31.4%), and streaming services generated 260.3 billion won (21.0%) in sales revenue.

The overseas performance sales revenue of six domestic listed record agencies?SM, JYP, YG, and HYBE?recorded an average annual growth rate of 35.0% from 2018 to 2023. In particular, last year, when daily life recovered from COVID-19, performance sales revenue increased by 65.6% compared to the previous year.

'2024 KCTI Data Focus Issue No. 1' Trends in K-pop Overseas Sales Revenue Analyzed Through Data. [Graphic by Korea Culture & Tourism Institute]

Album-related products also recorded sales of 388.9 billion won, a 31.4% increase. Streaming service sales revenue increased about 3.4 times compared to 2017. The diversification of the market is analyzed as the background, with streaming sales increasing not only in Asia, K-pop's main market, but also in Europe and the Americas.

The institute stated, "Since 2018, K-pop's overseas sales revenue has increased faster than the export revenue of recently spotlighted items such as secondary batteries, agricultural products, and cosmetics," adding, "Considering this growth trend as well as the diversification of K-pop's overseas markets, the activities of rookie singers and teams who debuted this year, and continuous efforts to expand overseas, K-pop's overseas sales revenue is expected to increase in 2024 as well."

Senior Researcher Oh Si-jin explained, "Although there is a limitation in estimating overseas sales revenue using various data, it is meaningful to comprehensively examine the achievements K-pop has made in overseas markets," and added, "Given that K-pop's overseas sales revenue is growing very rapidly, it is necessary to continue paying attention."