K-pop album sales stagnate in 2024 as streaming grows

Korea Customs Service have released statistics indicating a stagnation in K-pop physical album sales, while streaming numbers continue to grow.

On January 19, the Korea Customs Service published new trade statistics via The Chosun reporting KRW423.8billion in earnings from physical album exports in 2024, a 0.55 per cent increase from 2023’s KRW421.5billion. The outlet noted that the modest increase in sales signals a gradual downtrend in physical album sales for the first time since the industry’s consistent growth since 2015.

Notably, K-pop exports to Japan – the industry’s largest market – fell by 24.7 per cent in 2024 with KRW130.3billion in sales. Meanwhile, sales to the US and China made up 72.8 per cent in exports in total last year, marking significant rebounds after Korean content restrictions were enacted in China in 2023. The outlet also noted that despite the achievement of a record-breaking 100million album sales in 2023, the industry was unable to hit the same numbers in 2024.

The Chosun cites industry insiders in attributing 2024’s sales decline to the “absence and underperformance” of major groups such as BTS and BLACKPINK, both of which are currently under hiatus. The lack of “new global mega-hits” in 2024 were also cited as a contributing factor to K-pop’s stagnating sales.

Additionally, the longstanding public feud between former ADOR CEO Min Hee-jin, HYBE executives and NewJeans occurring since April 2024 was also reported to be an additional factor to the album sale slump in 2024, per The Chosun’s sources.

The four biggest music labels in the K-pop space – HYBE, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment and SM Entertainment – reported declines in operating profit numbers as a result of album sale declines.

Despite this, streaming numbers for the K-pop industry continue to grow, although streaming has been known to yield only half of the revenue physical units. typically do. According to The Chosun, HYBE reported a 10.5 per cent year-by-year increase in daily streams last year, totalling to 12.6billion streams by the end of 2024.