K-Pop Surpasses Record High in Album Exports... But the Chinese Market is 'Glseyo'

Annual Export Value Surpasses Record High Based on January-October Figures
Significant Increase in Exports to the US... "Expansion of Local Base"
Some Cases of Negative Growth Including Sharp Decline in Exports to China

This year, the cumulative export value of K-pop albums exceeded 300 billion won, breaking the highest annual record.

According to the Korea Customs Service's export-import trade statistics on the 26th, the export value of albums from January to October this year was $243.814 million (approximately 318.3 billion won), a 20.3% increase compared to the same period last year. The export value up to October alone surpassed last year's record, setting a new annual export record.

Korea's annual album export value first exceeded $40 million in 2017. Since then, it has continued to grow every year, recording $136.2 million (about 177.9 billion won) in 2020 and $220.85 million (about 288.5 billion won) in 2021.

Group BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan)
[Image source provided by Big Hit Music]

Looking at the K-pop album export value by country from January to October this year, Japan, the United States, and China ranked first to third respectively. They were followed by Taiwan, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.

In particular, exports to the U.S. increased by 67.3% compared to last year. This can be seen as evidence that K-pop, led by BTS and BLACKPINK, is expanding its base in the U.S. market, the birthplace of pop music. This year, BTS members Jimin and Jungkook topped the Billboard main singles chart 'Hot 100' with their solo activities, and NewJeans, Stray Kids, and Tomorrow X Together have achieved number one on the main album chart 'Billboard 200'.

On the other hand, exports to China sharply declined by 51.1%, creating a contrast. aespa's first-week sales (sales within 7 days of release) decreased by 33%, from 1,698,700 copies in May this year to 1,130,000 copies in November. Stray Kids' first-week sales also dropped by about 20%, from 4,617,400 copies in June to 3,702,600 copies in November.

In the popular music market, first-week sales are considered a key indicator to measure the size and cohesion of fandoms. A representative from an entertainment company said, "Most albums distributed in China were purchased through group buying, but although the cause is unclear, it seems that the numbers of such 'bottegasang' (resellers) have generally decreased in the second half of this year."

On the 22nd (local time), the group BLACKPINK attended a cultural and artistic encouragement event held at Buckingham Palace in the UK.
[Image source=AFP Yonhap News]

This is analyzed as due to several reasons including shadow regulations by the Chinese government, economic downturn in China, self-regulation among Chinese fan clubs due to competition, and the saturation point of K-pop growth. There are also criticisms that the first-week sales figures have been excessively inflated in the past. Additionally, there are voices of self-reflection that both entertainment companies and fandoms need to change the culture obsessed with increasing first-week sales.

An industry insider said, "We need to watch the performance of K-pop flagship stars such as Seventeen (HYBE), NCT Dream (SM), and Stray Kids (JYP) next year to accurately gauge the recent cases of some decline."

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