The year 2024 has been a global success for K-Content as a whole but will K-Pop and K-Dramas continue to dominate the trends or simply fade out like most trends do?
Compared to the past, K-Pop is starting to see a decline. Compared to the years 2022 and 2023, album sales saw a huge decrease and companies reported mixed earnings despite the global phenomenon K-Pop has become. Circle Chart revealed total album sales for the top 400 albums from January 1st to December 14th in 2024 amounted to 92.67 million copies. It is the first decline in album sales in nine years with a 19.5% drop compared to 2023 after a steady rise in sales since 2014.
The sharp decline can be attributed to many sources. Not only is there global inflation but also fewer fans are buying multiple albums at once. Internal chart manipulation and tampering is an ongoing problem and real numbers are surfacing since these underhanded methods by various companies were exposed. Groups like Seventeen and Stray Kids sold over 5 million copies with albums like FML and ★★★★★. Now, this year’s top-selling album, Seventeen’s Seventeen is Here, sold around 3 million copies.
However, social media and music platforms are continuing to save K-pop and put the artists on the map, becoming an effective marketing strategy. We see more K-Pop dance challenges, songs oriented for TikTok’s algorithm, and more English lyrics and western collabs in K-Pop. However, the saturation and gradual shift to pandering to Western audiences’ needs loses authenticity and older fans (ones who have money) tend to lose interest. Groups like BLACKPINK remain influential due to their well-executed collaborations. Rosé outshines K-Pop soloists with “A.P.T” feat. Bruno Mars and JENNIE’s collaboration with The Weekend made it to Spotify’s Top Global Songs in the 2024 Spotify Wrapped. Still, we failed to see any other Korean artists make it to Spotify’s list despite the increased interest. K-Pop is relying heavily on BLACKPINK and BTS to break the slump.
With consistent scandals arising, can major labels like HYBE hold up? Issues surrounding NewJeans and HYBE’s “trend report” sent the media giant towards a downward spiral. Yet, HYBE is likely to dominate 2025’s music scene by having the most active groups under their belt with ENHYPHEN, Seventeen, ILLIT, LE SSERAFIM and Fromis9. Despite the drunk driving incident surrounding member Suga, BTS are expected to make a full comeback that will drive the success of K-Pop since their absence. Industry insiders predicted that BTS’ activities, album sales, music charts, and performance sales will help HYBE to gain approximately 1.87 trillion won. HYBE will record an operating profit increase of 80% year-on-year almost immediately.
As for others, SM remains comfortable, celebrating their sold-out 30th SM Concert anniversary alongside legendary acts H.O.T., S.E.S., and Fly to the Sky at Gocheok Sky Dome. SM plans to debut a new girl group since aespa, hoping to further their success after aespa’s triple kill with albums SUPERNOVA, ‘Armageddon‘, and ‘Whiplash‘ – which further pioneered SM’s legacy globally as they were recognized by Billboard and Grammy.
JYP continues to dominate Japan with TWICE and is expected to find success with the announcement of their new group KickFlip while Stray Kids continues to be their cash cow in the U.S.A. The return of Gen 2 legends like G.D and 2NE1 revive the legacy that once surrounded YG. Despite fans noticing Jisoo’s disinterest in music and Lisa facing harsh criticism for her inability to sing, BLACKPINK are YG’s main IP and are riding on the hopes of BLACKPINK‘s possible world tour being their saving grace.
Overall, K-Pop can continue to fall short if major groups like BTS and BLACKPINK don’t continue to push the wave further into Western markets. Idols may need to continue their English education to better communicate with fans worldwide and agencies may need to rethink the formula that meets global needs without diluting what makes K-Pop unique in the first place.
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With the return of BTS, as long as their comeback isn’t deemed a flop like Squid Game Season 2, one can expect significant growth and global impact from the beloved genre. What are your predictions for the future of K-pop in 2025? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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