before reading the article i was going to say its obvious by looking at the charts and seeing what are the current popular noraebang songs are that the korean gp’s focus is back to soloist and the rising popularity of band music (ballade music has always been the top genre in SK).
also, no group-boy or girl-after new jeans has resonated with the gp
and then i saw the author say the same:
>“In the first half of 2024, NewJeans held the top spot in market share and five girl groups were in the top 10. This year, only aespa, Ive and NewJeans made the cut,” Kim said.
it looks like its ballade, band, trot, and the same 3 girl groups that have held the publics attention since 2023. I dont see that changing anytime soon.
Lady_Lance on
Im just happy for Woodz.
Desire-Untold on
It’s a natural outcome of the globalization of kpop. Even the relevance of domestic vs. global streaming platforms are reflecting this. Melon users are significantly dropping compared to Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube. Most companies are aiming for international success.
Kpop groups have more resources now to become famous globally (self-produced content, tiktok, social media) but this is the same strategy foreign artists are using. Kpop groups only used to compete with kpop groups, but fighting for a spot on a global stage is tougher.
Anyway, I think companies won’t stop aiming for global success. It’s difficult but a lot of them probably think it’s worth pursuing after seeing the success of a handful groups.
Fragrant-Chance7654 on
great article. 2025 has really been a weak year musically speaking (not only in kpop)
daltorak on
The author claims that the problem is that people are suffering from “k-pop fatigue” but that’s a weak argument for why there are problems in 2025 specifically…. this conversation has been happening for ten years now. I distinctly remember people talking about getting tired of k-pop in 2016, right around the time that a lot of 2nd gen groups like 2NE1, Rainbow, and 4minute were closing up shop. People thought third-gen was boring compared to the 1990s and 2000s.
And a big part of that was that “sexy” went away and largely became kid-friendly. Apart from maybe Kiss of Life, there aren’t really any 2020s equivalents to Sistar, 4minute, or AOA. If Babymonster, IVE, or Illit were to put on high-heels & booty-shorts and bend 90 degrees at the waist while singing “touch my body all night”, there’d be a damned riot. As for the boys side…. geez, *nothing* is particularly sexy anymore. BND, TWS, KickFlip, all the majors are giving us teenager vibes. Partying at the club & dancing close to girls is all but dead as a k-pop BG concept. It’s gotten so ridiculous that Enhypen fans (who trend younger in Korea) sent damned protest trucks when women appeared in a music video. That would’ve been totally unthinkable when 2PM and SHINee were running the shop 12-15 years ago.
Maybe ADP’s early success ties into this too. Not that they’re trying to be sexy, but at least it feels like it’s for grown-ups.
Bigger market means bigger earnings potential. Small fish in a big lake, instead of a big fish in a small lake.
Efficient_Summer on
Trump also permanently imposed a 15% tariff on Korean products, which includes K-pop products, photos, CDs, and cosmetics.
Efficient_Summer on
“With music increasingly consumed through self-produced content, fan platforms and social media, fandoms are less concentrated,” he said. “Idols used to dominate the charts thanks to mass fan activity, but that’s no longer the case. In contrast, solo artists are resonating more with casual listeners.” Lim added that while idol tracks are “fun and powerful,” they often lack emotional depth. “Ballads or rock-inflected songs with strong melodic structure and individual expression are better suited for immersive listening,” he said. (с) Yes
gemjiminies on
There are lots of factors but there are a couple of points I want to mention:
A: Fan engagement is completely different in Korea. If you’re a stan, you’re not a multi. The competitiveness of fan culture means that people dont often invest in more than one group. What this says is more about casual fans and their current taste.
B: The big companies *do* continue to have a strangehold on the industry now more than ever. There are less and less mid tier groups. Its either Big 4 with a couple of additions or groups struggling to gain an audience. You can see with shows like B2P and the amount of established idols taking part. Companies have to reach out globally because new fans dont have that kind of prejudice or preference.
SecretStoryOfThe- on
Is Kpop’s popularity actually up abroad? If you look at Spotify numbers for example, it seems that a lot of older groups’ performance is down, while new groups aren’t really blowing up like they did in 2022-2024 (as the article notes).
Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that the popularity of groups domestically has always fluctuated. 2019, the year the article cites as the genre’s peak, [was a bad year for idol groups on the circle chart](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/196u1jb/kpop_groups_on_circles_gaon_digital_yearend_chart/). Meanwhile you had a massive surge in idol group songs from 2022 to 2024 (2024’s top 100 having 35 GG songs and 11 BG songs by my count).
The drop in total music consumption for the top 400 songs is an interesting thing. It might be simply the result of the increasingly fragmenting music landscape meaning there are fewer hits. However, I wonder if it might just be a statistical artifact resulting from listeners switching to Youtube Music, a platform I think isn’t included in the Circle chart, plus the decreasing relevance of downloads.
happysnaps14 on
There’s just a lull at the moment. Korean content in general is called Hallyu WAVE for a reason.
d7h7n on
Love Dive being blasted across Seoul into everyone’s faces and ears finally came back to bite the industry.
NobleArrgon on
My 2c on this topic.
Groups focusing too much on English releases and the US market.
People got into kpop because it sounded different. If the songs are in English, why would I listen to very very basic lyrics vs a song that has more meaningful lyrics?
Songs are getting disgustingly short these days too.
jcho430 on
Hmmm I also wonder how 2025 is in general. I feel like music wise it’s been a weird year kpop and pop this year.
Themasterofkpop on
No gg breakthrough? Didn’t hearts2hearts had a top ten and sold 400k first week? What the author is smoking?
And 42 million album, physical, is still huge and if we extrapole total sales will be around 90 million+, which show a stability. The 120 millions of sales of 2023 came after 10 years of exponential growth which one time will end.
And since in 2024,total sales equal 99 million the total sales for 2025 will be between 85 and 95 million which is very high and show stability of the market not a crash.
Silent-Title6881 on
I love how across any fanbase one things always remains the same: the old ways were better, now it’s not the same.
Aka I hate how kpop became more westernized, nevermind the fact that it was inspired by western pop and jpop in the first place.
fjm2003 on
I mean has there been anything new that worked since New jeans?
yoongisgonnabeokay on
Read that article yesterday, was underwhelmed by the claims, and that hasn’t changed today.
whattheanjing on
Idk which girl group that can maintain popularity & longevity in korea and internationally like Blackpink nowadays. The problem with newer kpop gg is they can’t carrying the momentum when they have a hit song. Illit, fifty fifty, itzy & weeekly as example. One hit song and then the next single hit rock bottom. Maybe they must be different than other gg. Back in 2016 full of cute bubble gum concept and only Blackpink doing the opposite from them.
Glittering_Tour_7271 on
I think that’s the proof of something they’ve been trying for years now: make kpop hit on the US. And to me that’s the same reason why kpop got so blend this past few years, it’s like listening any regular pop song. Kpop unfortunately has lost it’s uniqueness’, hope they’re back to their roots soon!
TheFluffy-Monster on
IMO the Kpop popularity is overinflated by photocards/POBs. Drop them from albums and true numbers will show. So many albums end up in landfill and GOMs end up with hundreds/thousands albums in their flats which they give away for free (just cover postage) but there’s no interest…..
Same applies to streams where people use multiple accounts to boost views/listeners but it’s all empty/fake..
ii_sophiechan on
i wonder tho what does kpdh’s success mean in this whole conversation? like a LOT of people were willing to listen to kpop songs sung by koreans and produced by known korean producers as long as it wasn’t attached to an actual kpop artist? hmmm. the interest in the industry is stagnating yet a whole movie inspired by it broke through and even caught audiences that wouldn’t be interested in listening traditional (as in, not pushed heavily in the west) kpop acts otherwise.
i also hate the westernization of songs and how the gap between big company groups and smaller company groups is broadening. like what the fuck is the point of listening to kpop when they’re getting western pop artist rejects? it’s not a new practice but at least kpop back then wasn’t ripped off straight from the bb hot 100. it’s even more blatant when companies set up random ass collabs with western artists that no fan asked for. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THIS GEN’S ZIMZALABIMS???? EVERYBODY GET MORE WEIRD!!!
and we’re not getting rags to riches underdog stories anymore when every other up and coming group is under the same 4 conglomerates, i feel like even a few years ago smaller debuts got to receive more attention and a chance to grow a name but now these underdog breakthroughs have been fewer and fewer; that has really been bothering me, and i wouldn’t be surprised if the monopolization has put off many other fans too.
a part of me wonders if the trend to debut idols on the younger side contributes to this? we’re only getting older. inb4 “it has always happened!!!” yes i’m aware, but in these last years these new groups have been debuting younger when the kpop audience keeps growing in age, looking to stan artists their age. and many fans aren’t as willing to stan minors nowadays… good!!
Colaiscoke on
I feel like this decade is not good for celebrities and musicians in general, so this is not unique for Kpop or Korea. People obsess over world building, big IPs or big shows (which is why KDH were so popular in part, these characters are not real people). In your fantasy world or with written characters, there are no human mistakes, errors, scandals or room to be disappointed (you can be disappointed with creators but thats another story). World building and gaming allows you to build your own fantasy based on IP, and share it with the world.
Musicians unfortunately becoming faceless background on tiktok or spotify, today you have a hit song, tomorrow your song is mid, and majority don’t know how they look like even. Yes, celebrities who made it in 2010s are still relevant and that including kpop groups. But for new upcoming groups, it’s just harder to break out.
At least with actors, to enjoy their craft, you kinda need to see the show, the movie. So if the movie is popular, most likely people would know how they look like. And that helps a lot with a recognition.
I don’t think that RnB and indie bands individually are gaining much more fans in Korea. I think there might be interest in genre such as R’n’B and going to underground shows just like K-hiphop in 2010s. But I don’t know if those artists will gain much more hardcore fans despite being on top charting positions on Melon and Koreans knowing their songs.
So I think that as kpop relies so much on hardcore fans, on that concept of becoming dedicated to certain group as a force of business drive, it is no surprise that genre is struggling.
23 Comments
before reading the article i was going to say its obvious by looking at the charts and seeing what are the current popular noraebang songs are that the korean gp’s focus is back to soloist and the rising popularity of band music (ballade music has always been the top genre in SK).
also, no group-boy or girl-after new jeans has resonated with the gp
and then i saw the author say the same:
>“In the first half of 2024, NewJeans held the top spot in market share and five girl groups were in the top 10. This year, only aespa, Ive and NewJeans made the cut,” Kim said.
it looks like its ballade, band, trot, and the same 3 girl groups that have held the publics attention since 2023. I dont see that changing anytime soon.
Im just happy for Woodz.
It’s a natural outcome of the globalization of kpop. Even the relevance of domestic vs. global streaming platforms are reflecting this. Melon users are significantly dropping compared to Spotify, Apple Music, or Youtube. Most companies are aiming for international success.
Kpop groups have more resources now to become famous globally (self-produced content, tiktok, social media) but this is the same strategy foreign artists are using. Kpop groups only used to compete with kpop groups, but fighting for a spot on a global stage is tougher.
Anyway, I think companies won’t stop aiming for global success. It’s difficult but a lot of them probably think it’s worth pursuing after seeing the success of a handful groups.
great article. 2025 has really been a weak year musically speaking (not only in kpop)
The author claims that the problem is that people are suffering from “k-pop fatigue” but that’s a weak argument for why there are problems in 2025 specifically…. this conversation has been happening for ten years now. I distinctly remember people talking about getting tired of k-pop in 2016, right around the time that a lot of 2nd gen groups like 2NE1, Rainbow, and 4minute were closing up shop. People thought third-gen was boring compared to the 1990s and 2000s.
And a big part of that was that “sexy” went away and largely became kid-friendly. Apart from maybe Kiss of Life, there aren’t really any 2020s equivalents to Sistar, 4minute, or AOA. If Babymonster, IVE, or Illit were to put on high-heels & booty-shorts and bend 90 degrees at the waist while singing “touch my body all night”, there’d be a damned riot. As for the boys side…. geez, *nothing* is particularly sexy anymore. BND, TWS, KickFlip, all the majors are giving us teenager vibes. Partying at the club & dancing close to girls is all but dead as a k-pop BG concept. It’s gotten so ridiculous that Enhypen fans (who trend younger in Korea) sent damned protest trucks when women appeared in a music video. That would’ve been totally unthinkable when 2PM and SHINee were running the shop 12-15 years ago.
Maybe ADP’s early success ties into this too. Not that they’re trying to be sexy, but at least it feels like it’s for grown-ups.
But the real problem with being kid-friendly is this: with every passing year, Korea has [more grown adults and fewer children](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_South_Korea#/media/File:South_Korea_Population_Pyramid.svg). The birth rate collapse is real. Appealing to younger fans is a fast dwindling market.
Bigger market means bigger earnings potential. Small fish in a big lake, instead of a big fish in a small lake.
Trump also permanently imposed a 15% tariff on Korean products, which includes K-pop products, photos, CDs, and cosmetics.
“With music increasingly consumed through self-produced content, fan platforms and social media, fandoms are less concentrated,” he said. “Idols used to dominate the charts thanks to mass fan activity, but that’s no longer the case. In contrast, solo artists are resonating more with casual listeners.” Lim added that while idol tracks are “fun and powerful,” they often lack emotional depth. “Ballads or rock-inflected songs with strong melodic structure and individual expression are better suited for immersive listening,” he said. (с) Yes
There are lots of factors but there are a couple of points I want to mention:
A: Fan engagement is completely different in Korea. If you’re a stan, you’re not a multi. The competitiveness of fan culture means that people dont often invest in more than one group. What this says is more about casual fans and their current taste.
B: The big companies *do* continue to have a strangehold on the industry now more than ever. There are less and less mid tier groups. Its either Big 4 with a couple of additions or groups struggling to gain an audience. You can see with shows like B2P and the amount of established idols taking part. Companies have to reach out globally because new fans dont have that kind of prejudice or preference.
Is Kpop’s popularity actually up abroad? If you look at Spotify numbers for example, it seems that a lot of older groups’ performance is down, while new groups aren’t really blowing up like they did in 2022-2024 (as the article notes).
Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that the popularity of groups domestically has always fluctuated. 2019, the year the article cites as the genre’s peak, [was a bad year for idol groups on the circle chart](https://www.reddit.com/r/kpopthoughts/comments/196u1jb/kpop_groups_on_circles_gaon_digital_yearend_chart/). Meanwhile you had a massive surge in idol group songs from 2022 to 2024 (2024’s top 100 having 35 GG songs and 11 BG songs by my count).
The drop in total music consumption for the top 400 songs is an interesting thing. It might be simply the result of the increasingly fragmenting music landscape meaning there are fewer hits. However, I wonder if it might just be a statistical artifact resulting from listeners switching to Youtube Music, a platform I think isn’t included in the Circle chart, plus the decreasing relevance of downloads.
There’s just a lull at the moment. Korean content in general is called Hallyu WAVE for a reason.
Love Dive being blasted across Seoul into everyone’s faces and ears finally came back to bite the industry.
My 2c on this topic.
Groups focusing too much on English releases and the US market.
People got into kpop because it sounded different. If the songs are in English, why would I listen to very very basic lyrics vs a song that has more meaningful lyrics?
Songs are getting disgustingly short these days too.
Hmmm I also wonder how 2025 is in general. I feel like music wise it’s been a weird year kpop and pop this year.
No gg breakthrough? Didn’t hearts2hearts had a top ten and sold 400k first week? What the author is smoking?
And 42 million album, physical, is still huge and if we extrapole total sales will be around 90 million+, which show a stability. The 120 millions of sales of 2023 came after 10 years of exponential growth which one time will end.
And since in 2024,total sales equal 99 million the total sales for 2025 will be between 85 and 95 million which is very high and show stability of the market not a crash.
I love how across any fanbase one things always remains the same: the old ways were better, now it’s not the same.
Aka I hate how kpop became more westernized, nevermind the fact that it was inspired by western pop and jpop in the first place.
I mean has there been anything new that worked since New jeans?
Read that article yesterday, was underwhelmed by the claims, and that hasn’t changed today.
Idk which girl group that can maintain popularity & longevity in korea and internationally like Blackpink nowadays. The problem with newer kpop gg is they can’t carrying the momentum when they have a hit song. Illit, fifty fifty, itzy & weeekly as example. One hit song and then the next single hit rock bottom. Maybe they must be different than other gg. Back in 2016 full of cute bubble gum concept and only Blackpink doing the opposite from them.
I think that’s the proof of something they’ve been trying for years now: make kpop hit on the US. And to me that’s the same reason why kpop got so blend this past few years, it’s like listening any regular pop song. Kpop unfortunately has lost it’s uniqueness’, hope they’re back to their roots soon!
IMO the Kpop popularity is overinflated by photocards/POBs. Drop them from albums and true numbers will show. So many albums end up in landfill and GOMs end up with hundreds/thousands albums in their flats which they give away for free (just cover postage) but there’s no interest…..
Same applies to streams where people use multiple accounts to boost views/listeners but it’s all empty/fake..
i wonder tho what does kpdh’s success mean in this whole conversation? like a LOT of people were willing to listen to kpop songs sung by koreans and produced by known korean producers as long as it wasn’t attached to an actual kpop artist? hmmm. the interest in the industry is stagnating yet a whole movie inspired by it broke through and even caught audiences that wouldn’t be interested in listening traditional (as in, not pushed heavily in the west) kpop acts otherwise.
i also hate the westernization of songs and how the gap between big company groups and smaller company groups is broadening. like what the fuck is the point of listening to kpop when they’re getting western pop artist rejects? it’s not a new practice but at least kpop back then wasn’t ripped off straight from the bb hot 100. it’s even more blatant when companies set up random ass collabs with western artists that no fan asked for. WHERE THE FUCK ARE THIS GEN’S ZIMZALABIMS???? EVERYBODY GET MORE WEIRD!!!
and we’re not getting rags to riches underdog stories anymore when every other up and coming group is under the same 4 conglomerates, i feel like even a few years ago smaller debuts got to receive more attention and a chance to grow a name but now these underdog breakthroughs have been fewer and fewer; that has really been bothering me, and i wouldn’t be surprised if the monopolization has put off many other fans too.
a part of me wonders if the trend to debut idols on the younger side contributes to this? we’re only getting older. inb4 “it has always happened!!!” yes i’m aware, but in these last years these new groups have been debuting younger when the kpop audience keeps growing in age, looking to stan artists their age. and many fans aren’t as willing to stan minors nowadays… good!!
I feel like this decade is not good for celebrities and musicians in general, so this is not unique for Kpop or Korea. People obsess over world building, big IPs or big shows (which is why KDH were so popular in part, these characters are not real people). In your fantasy world or with written characters, there are no human mistakes, errors, scandals or room to be disappointed (you can be disappointed with creators but thats another story). World building and gaming allows you to build your own fantasy based on IP, and share it with the world.
Musicians unfortunately becoming faceless background on tiktok or spotify, today you have a hit song, tomorrow your song is mid, and majority don’t know how they look like even. Yes, celebrities who made it in 2010s are still relevant and that including kpop groups. But for new upcoming groups, it’s just harder to break out.
At least with actors, to enjoy their craft, you kinda need to see the show, the movie. So if the movie is popular, most likely people would know how they look like. And that helps a lot with a recognition.
I don’t think that RnB and indie bands individually are gaining much more fans in Korea. I think there might be interest in genre such as R’n’B and going to underground shows just like K-hiphop in 2010s. But I don’t know if those artists will gain much more hardcore fans despite being on top charting positions on Melon and Koreans knowing their songs.
So I think that as kpop relies so much on hardcore fans, on that concept of becoming dedicated to certain group as a force of business drive, it is no surprise that genre is struggling.