K-pop’s Momentum Fades: Exports Decline and Even Japan Sees a Slowdown

Both Export Value and Sales Volume of K-pop Albums Decline

On March 2nd (local time), one day before the opening of the world's largest mobile telecommunications exhibition, Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025, dancers performed K-pop dances at the KT booth in the Fira Granvia exhibition center in Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Joint Press Corps

There is growing concern as both the export value and sales volume of K-pop albums declined in the first half of this year.

On July 20, Yonhap News reported, citing Korea Customs Service statistics, that both K-pop album and digital music sales had decreased. According to export-import trade statistics from the Korea Customs Service, album exports from January to June this year amounted to $114.425 million (approximately 159.5 billion won), an 11.6% decrease compared to the same period last year. After reaching $132.965 million (about 185.3 billion won) in the first half of 2023, this marks a two-year consecutive decline in first-half figures.

By country, Japan ranked first with $39.095 million (about 54.5 billion won). China was second with $20.102 million (about 28 billion won), followed by the United States in third place with $19.452 million (about 27.2 billion won). Exports to Japan fell by 15.0% year-on-year, while exports to China increased by 9.3%, allowing China to overtake the United States (which saw a 36.1% decrease) as the second-largest export destination in the first half of the year. Following the 'Big Three' of Japan, China, and the United States, Taiwan, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom rounded out the top ten K-pop album export destinations in the first half.

The slump in the K-pop market is evident in both albums and digital music. According to data cited by Yonhap News from music data journalist Kim Jinwoo, physical album sales (based on Circle Chart rankings 1 to 400) reached 42,486,293 units in the first half of this year, a 9.0% decrease compared to the same period last year. During the same period, digital music (based on Circle Chart rankings 1 to 400) usage also fell by 6.4%.

The image shows a K-pop concert and is unrelated to the article content. Asia Economy DB

K-pop's stronghold in Japan is also under threat. Since the success of BoA and TVXQ in the 2000s, Japan has served as a key base for K-pop exports, never once relinquishing its position as the number one album export destination. Its importance is underscored by consistently high local performance scores. However, as seen in the first-half export results, the decline in exports to Japan was greater than the overall decline.

According to Oricon's album chart for the first half of this year, only seven K-pop albums made it into the top 25, excluding local groups such as INI, JO1, and &Team. This includes Seventeen's "Happy Burstday" (ranked third). In the first half of last year, 12 of the top 25 albums were K-pop releases.

Experts unanimously agree on the need to diversify revenue streams by discovering next-generation super IPs (intellectual property) and expanding into concerts and MD (merchandise) sales.

According to the "2023 Global Hallyu Status" report published by the Korea Foundation (KF), there were 225 million Hallyu (Korean Wave) fans worldwide in 2023. Of these, K-pop fans accounted for as many as 75 million.