Rising Korean Share, Entry into 4th Place in the U.S.: Changes in the 2025 K-Pop Global Consumption Map

The K-Pop Radar, a comprehensive dashboard for K-Pop artists operated by music startup SpaceAudity, has released its “2025 K-Pop World Map” section focused on countries. This analysis is based on views of related videos on YouTube’s Artist Chart from January 1 to December 31, 2025, and it illustrates global K-Pop trends throughout that year.

According to the 2025 country-specific K-Pop consumption analysis, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia retained positions 1 through 3, just as in the previous year. South Korea, the birthplace of K-Pop, demonstrated continued growth with an even higher share compared to 2024. The U.S. rose one place to rank 4th, accounting for 6.25% of global K-Pop consumption, marking a nearly 1 percentage point increase in its share. This shows that localization strategies and global collaborations are yielding tangible results. In contrast, India dropped to 5th place.

Japan still held the 2nd position, but its share declined from 8.44% to 7.41%, and absolute view counts also decreased, indicating that the market has entered a stage of maturity. Taiwan rose to 9th place, entering the Top 10 for the second consecutive year, while the U.K. surged to 17th place, breaking into the Top 20.

The simultaneous entry of Western countries such as France, Germany, and Canada clearly demonstrates that K-Pop consumption is expanding into a more globally diversified phase. In the domestic market, DAY6 moved up from 2nd to 1st place, while aespa and IU ranked 2nd and 3rd respectively. G-Dragon topped the list in terms of growth rate with about 200 million additional views, placing him 5th overall. BIGBANG also secured 4th place overall, demonstrating strong appeal among domestic fans.

In international markets, Stray Kids maintained 1st place in the U.S. market with a 8.63% share. KATSEYE ranked 3rd overall after achieving the highest growth rate with about 260 million additional views. In the U.K., Rosé held both 1st place overall and 1st place in terms of growth rate, with an overwhelming 11.63% share. In Taiwan, IVE stayed at 1st place with a 5.69% share, while G-Dragon and BIGBANG ranked 1st and 2nd respectively in terms of growth rate, confirming strong demand for their music there.