K-pop Export Growth Stalls at ‘0% Level’ for First Time in 10 Years; Lack of Global Super Groups Fuels Crisis

K-pop’s overall growth trajectory has begun to decline. For the first time in a decade, its growth rate dropped below 1%, with industry experts citing the absence of next-generation global super groups as the primary cause. **Signs of Stalled Growth Rate** According to data released by the Customs Service, K-pop’s physical album exports in 2023 amounted to approximately 42.38 billion won, marking only a 0.55% increase from 42.15 billion won in 2022. This represents the first time in 10 years that K-pop exports, which had maintained a steady upward trend since 2015, have shown no growth. Demand in key export markets is particularly weak. Japan, along with the United States and China, is one of K-pop’s top three export markets, but exports to Japan in 2023 dropped by 24.7% to 13.03 billion won compared to 2022. The U.S., China, and Japan together account for 72.8% of total exports. **Weak Album Sales Records as Well** K-pop’s annual record of 100 million album sales set in 2022 was not sustained in 2023. According to the Circle Chart operated by the Korean Music Content Association, physical album sales in 2023 totaled 98.9 million units, a 17.7% decrease from 102.02 million units in 2022. The poor performance of new groups is cited as the main reason for this decline. With globally recognized groups like BTS and BLACKPINK on hiatus, album sales by emerging groups have plummeted. SEVENTEEN, the first K-pop group to exceed 16 million total album sales in a year in 2023, sold only 8.96 million units after that year. The number of groups that sold over 3 million units per album dropped from 11 in 2023 to 7 in 2024, while those selling over 1 million units decreased from 26 to 24. Notably, no group has sold over 5 million units from a single album since 2023. Music critic Yunha Kim analyzed the situation by saying, “The lack of large-scale groups is the biggest factor. In the past, digital and physical album sales were driven by a small number of top teams, and sales during the pandemic period were abnormally inflated.” She emphasized the need to diversify album marketing strategies beyond traditional methods. **Ongoing Growth in Overseas Royalties** While physical album exports are sluggish, revenues from digital areas continue to grow. The Korean Music Copyright Association reported that music copyright royalties collected in 2024 amounted to 43.65 billion won, a 7.38% increase from 2023, with 42.35 billion won distributed to rights holders. Overseas royalties are showing particularly strong growth. Total overseas usage fees in 2024 reached 37.7 billion won, a 38.1% increase from 2023’s 27.3 billion won, marking seven consecutive years of growth. This is driven by the global popularity of Korean music, including K-pop. Transmission usage fees (for video streaming services and music platforms) increased by 15.5% from 172.1 billion won in 2023 to 198.9 billion won in 2024, with usage fees alone on global streaming platforms exceeding 10 billion won. Broadcasting usage fees rose by 49.5% to 44.7 billion won compared to the previous year, while performance usage fees (for concerts, karaoke, and in-store music) increased by 8.1% from 50.7 billion won to 54.8 billion won. In contrast, reproduction usage fees associated with CD production dropped by 22.1% from 119.8 billion won in 2023 to 93.3 billion won in 2024. This decline is attributed to a combination of factors such as increased preference for experiential consumption after the pandemic, environmental concerns over traditional plastic CDs, and accelerated shift to digital platform albums.