This is the heyday of girl groups. 3rd and 4th generation girl groups are shaking up the music industry by winning the title of ‘Million Seller (selling over 1 million albums)’, which was considered the exclusive property of boy groups. An entertainment industry official said, “When it comes to profitability, it’s an old saying that male idols should be raised.
According to the Circle Chart operated by the Korean Music Content Association, Blackpink’s 2nd regular album, ‘BORN PINK’ sold 2,141,281 copies, including exports to North America and Europe. According to the Hanteo Chart aggregation, which does not include part of the export volume, a total of 1,542,950 copies were sold during the week of its release. As a result, Blackpink became the first K-pop girl group to become the protagonist of ‘double million sellers (more than 2 million albums sold)’.
Previously, Blackpink also recorded sales of over 1 million albums for the first time in the history of girl groups with their first full-length album in 2020. Two years have passed since then, and not only Blackpink, but also Espa ( 2nd mini album ‘Girls’ 1.79 million copies), Ive (3rd single ‘After Like’, 1.11 million copies), Itzy (5th mini album ‘Checkmate’) ‘ Up to 1 million copies), three additional teams joined r ranks of a million sellers. TWICE also recorded sales of 997,000 copies with their 11th mini album ‘Rwhng Un a Dau’, which was released last month, and is about to break through a million copies.
Jinwoo Kim, Senior Research Fellow of Circle Chart, said, “Until the mid-2010s, many teams with sexual concepts focused on domestic demand in the girl group market. Women’s groups are showing their prominence.”
“As the fandom of girl groups increases, there is a high possibility that the radius of activity of girl groups will change from the current mass market center to the fandom business center,” he added.
In fact, many teams go on world tours and start fandom-like activities. Blackpink will hold a world tour in North America, Europe, Asia and the South Islands starting from the 15th to the 16th of next month at the KSPO Dome in Seoul Olympic Park. According to Touring Data, an American concert tour box office aggregation company, Blackpink earned about 44.2 billion in profit during their first world tour in 2019, before Corona 19. The size of the tour, which was 500,000 at the time, has tripled to 1.5 million now three years later.
Lee Hye-in, a researcher at Yuanta Securities, said, “The loyal foreign fandom is judged to have grown enough to be compared to the indicators of top foreign singers such as BTS, Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift.” It will start In October, as the world tour itself acts as a marketing tool for the singer, the growth of the fandom is also expected in 2023.”
The rapid growth rate of the 4th generation runners is also notable. Itzy, already on the list of million sellers, will embark on an American tour starting next month in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, Sugar Land, Atlanta, Chicago, Boston, and New York. Rookie New Jeans proudly took first place in the domestic music charts, which are said to be more difficult than foreign charts as their first song, and has been running at the top for two months for a long time.
Performance on the music charts is a particularly evident strength in girl groups. Because it is a result that proves it has popularity. For a boy group that has grown based on the fandom business, it is not easy to climb to the top of the domestic music charts. At one point, fans recorded high positions by turning streaming into a lump, but various sanctions and power loss were introduced. On the other hand, women’s groups are closer to what is called ‘popular choice’. In addition, the global fandom is growing, so it is evaluated that they are catching two rabbits at the same time.
An entertainment agency official said, “The world tour is a representative profit business of entertainment. Because ticket sales are considered based on the power of fandom, in the past, girl groups were often limited to Asia. Anyway, it’ r support for K-pop groups has increased The radius of girl group activities has expanded significantly over the years.”
In Korea, girl groups are said to be the leading contracting group. A performance official said, “Girl groups like Red Velvet, Twice, Espa, and Ive have the advantage of being well-known, so they are preferred at various events.” There are various timescales that need to be digested up to CF.”
Kim Soo-young, reporter for Hankyung.com swim@hankyung.com
