South Korea Ranks Fourth in Global Music Export Power; K-Pop Boom in Japan, Ongoing Challenges in the U.S.

According to the 2024 “Luminate Export Power Score” released by the U.S.-based music and entertainment analytics firm Luminate, South Korea finished in fourth place behind the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. This position places it at the top among non-English speaking countries, demonstrating the global influence of Korean music. The index evaluates countries based on a variety of factors including the number of top-streaming artists per nation, the count and scale of music-importing countries, and the number of artists with overseas listeners. Japan emerged as the country that imports the most Korean music. Nine out of the top 50 streaming teams in Japan are Korean artists, while four out of the top 10 in Taiwan and three out of the top 50 in Indonesia are also Korean. In addition, Korean artists made it into the top 50 streaming teams in a total of 12 other countries, including Singapore and Malaysia. Luminate provided a detailed analysis of the reasons behind K-Pop’s strength in Japan. A key factor is that 18% of music listeners among Japan’s millennials (born 1981–1996) and Gen Z (born 1997–2010) are K-Pop fans. Specifically, K-Pop listeners in Japan spend an average of 37.3 hours per week listening to music, which is 6.5 hours more than the average Japanese music listener (30.8 hours). Analysts note that “K-Pop fans in Japan consume music actively due to their strong affection for the genre.” However, this strength in Asian markets has not extended to the United States, the world’s largest music market. In 2024, no Korean artists made it into the top 100 streaming songs in the U.S. This contrasts with last year’s statistic showing that seven out of the top 10 albums in terms of CD sales in the U.S. were K-Pop releases, highlighting the unique structure of the K-Pop market. Despite Stray Kids’ “ATE” ranking second in highest CD sales and ENHYPEN’s “ROMANCE : UNTOLD” finishing third, their performance on streaming platforms remains modest. Experts attribute this gap to the characteristics of the K-Pop industry. Since K-Pop has grown centered around highly loyal fanbases, it performs well in metrics reflecting purchasing power such as album sales, but it struggles in streaming markets that target the general public. Music critic Kim Young-dae stated, “For K-Pop to become a more universal industry, it needs to achieve both fan-focused music and music that is accessible to the general public.” He cited the popularity of songs that became trends on TikTok in the U.S. last year, adding that “music that is entertaining, intuitive, and capable of becoming memes has an advantage in streaming.” Meanwhile, the K-Pop album sales market is showing signs of its first decline. According to Circle Chart of the Korean Music Content Association, global K-Pop album sales in 2024 amounted to 98.4 million units, a 17.4% decrease from the previous year (119.1 million units). This drop occurred just one year after sales exceeded 100 million units for the first time in 2023. The main reason is a decline in domestic sales, with K-Pop album sales in South Korea falling from 102.99 million units in 2023 to 81.95 million units in 2024. However, export sales increased by 2.1% to 16.43 million units, accounting for 16.7% of total sales.