Record High Export Value of Music Albums Driven by BTS and Other 'K-POP Popularity'

Thanks to the popularity of K-pop, the scale of overseas exports in the Korean music album market has been steadily growing. The table shows the annual export status of music albums (top) and video content (bottom) over the past four years. Provided by Korea Customs Service

[Asia Economy (Daejeon) Reporter Jeong Il-woong] This year, the export value of domestic music albums reached an all-time high. This is attributed to the popularity of K-pop, led by BTS and others.

The Korea Customs Service announced on the 17th that the export value of music albums and video materials from January to November amounted to $170 million (approximately 203 billion KRW).

This represents a 94.9% surge compared to the same period last year, with Korean music albums exported to over 110 countries worldwide. Notably, this figure is based on export declarations for albums and video materials and does not include online performance such as music streaming and downloads.

The Korea Customs Service analyzes that as 'K-pop' has established a global fandom culture overseas, the number of people purchasing CDs and DVDs containing music and music videos of Hallyu stars has increased, leading to a rise in export value.

In particular, the export value of K-pop albums and videos has been continuously breaking records after surpassing the previous year's annual performance once in September.

In fact, by type of music album, export value increased from $40 million in 2017 to $70 million in 2019, and $123 million this year (as of November).

During the same period, the export scale of video materials rose from $1 million in 2017 to $20 million in 2019, and $48 million this year (as of November).

Japan remains the top export destination for Korean music albums, holding the number one position since 2017. This year, Japan accounted for 48.6% of the total domestic music album export value (market value of $60 million). Compared to last year, the export scale of Korean music albums to Japan this year recorded 93.4%.

The United States is the second largest importer of Korean music albums after Japan, importing $17 million worth of Korean music albums this year. China ranked third, importing approximately $16 million worth of Korean music albums this year.

The Korea Customs Service also notes that the K-pop music album market is expanding beyond Asia to countries worldwide. In fact, the number of countries importing K-pop albums increased from 78 in 2017 to 114 this year, and for video materials, from 12 countries in 2017 to 39 countries this year.

The continental distribution of Korea's K-pop album exports is also diversifying. For example, in 2017, Asia accounted for an overwhelming 92.6% of album exports, whereas this year, Asia's share dropped to 75.8%, and the share of other regions expanded from 7.4% to 24.2%.

Similarly, for video materials, the share shifted significantly from 57.1% Asia and 42.8% North America in 2017 to 84.4% North America, 12.8% Europe, and 1.5% Asia this year.

A Korea Customs Service official stated, “The record-high export scale of K-pop music albums this year proves that Hallyu cultural content is gaining popularity worldwide,” adding, “The Korea Customs Service will spare no effort to support smooth exports related to Hallyu cultural content in line with this trend.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.