ICYMI: K-Pop as a genre, has unmistakably been dominating the Western music scene, and now, there’s even more proof to this.
According to the export trade statistics of the Korea Customs Service on July 18, 2023, exports of K-Pop albums have reached an all-time high in the first half of the year. Moreover, the United States has now overtaken China as the second-largest market for K-Pop and music exports, solidifying the genre’s presence in the West.
Album exports from January to June 2023 were said to be $132.934 million dollars (approx. ₩168.5 billion won), which was an increase of 17.1%, compared to the same time frame as last year.
The United States comes second to Japan, which was reported to be the largest market for K-Pop with an export amount of $48.523 million dollars (approx. ₩61.5 billion won). The United States was reported to have an export amount of $25.519 million dollars (approx. ₩32.3 billion won), and China came in third with $22.64 million dollars (approx. ₩28.7 billion won).
China has always held second place in terms of annual record exports from 2012 until 2022, excluding 2020.
Other countries that are said to occupy the list for K-Pop’s export market are Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Canada, the United Kingdom, and France.
The United States has always held the title of the world’s largest music market and now with its position in the K-Pop export market, the growth of K-Pop from something niche and “unique to South Korea and Asia” to something global is proof of how the genre’s presence is now a force to reckon with.
At the same time, Luminate, an American music market analysis company, announced in their mid-year report that Korean was the third-most streamed language in the United States, following English and Spanish.
In response to this, Choi Kwang-ho, the Secretary General of the Korean Music Contents Association, said that “K-Pop, which was represented by BTS and BLACKPINK in the North American market, has now established itself as a genre. This is necessary. After BTS first won awards at the 2017 US Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs), it took several years for K-Pop to establish itself.”
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