Import-export trade statistics from the General Department of Korea Customs show that exports of Kpop albums (CDs) from January to June this year reached 179.4 billion won (130.31 million USD), a decrease 2% over the same period in 2023.
The previous decline in CD export sales was in 2015, when the figure fell 7%, from 13.8 million USD in 2014 to 12.77 million USD in 2015.
However, exports have increased every year since then, based on the global popularity of the Hallyu wave.
Last year, Kpop album export turnover reached an all-time high, with 132.93 million USD in the first 6 months of 2023, an increase of 17.1% over the same period last year.
Data shows that in the first half of this year, Japan was the largest importer of Kpop albums with 46.93 million USD, followed by the US with 30.45 million USD and China with 18.4 million USD. Exports to China decreased by 18.7% over the same period last year.
The next 6 regions in the Top 10 are Taiwan (China), Germany, Hong Kong (China), Canada, the Netherlands, England and France.
According to data from Kim Jin Woo, head of research at Circle Chart, total Kpop album sales in the first half of this year also decreased.
Sales of the top 400 albums from January to June fell 14.39% year-on-year, to 47.6 million copies.
Album sales of Kpop artists in the first week of release on Hanteo also decreased.
Seventeen decreased from 5.09 million to 2.97 million copies; ZeroBaseOne from 2.13 million to 1.35 million copies; RM (BTS) from 0.62 million to 0.56 million copies; IVE from 1.61 million to 1.32 million copies; Red Velvet from 0.41 million to 0.27 million copies.
aespa's first full-length album, "Armageddon", sold 1.15 million copies, up from the previous EP's sales of 1.13 million, but not surpassing the 1.7 million copies of the third EP released last year.
The 4 largest Kpop companies, HYBE, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment, are also not safe from this decline. The total number of albums shipped in the first half of 2023 is 53.45 million copies, the first half of this year decreased to 44.74 million copies.
The market capitalization of the four "big guys" also decreased by nearly 30% compared to the same period last year.
Despite the slowdown, industry experts believe that Kpop is just laying the foundation to move forward once again. The prospect of BTS and Blackpink, the two leading Kpop groups, continuing to work seriously in the second half of 2024 and next year, will play an important role in the recovery process of the Kpop market.
However, there are concerns that Kpop will face a crisis if sales in China do not recover.
