Recently, Forbes Korea announced the ranking of the most powerful celebrities in Korea on YouTube in 2025.
Rose (Blackpink) took the No. 1 spot with a YouTube channel with more than 18 million subscribers (currently 19 million), reaching 3.6 billion views with 86 videos posted on the channel. The female singer's annual income on YouTube is estimated at 11.06 billion won (about 209 billion VND).
Rose created a global fever last October with a collaboration with American artist Bruno Mars in the song "APT." - inspired by "Apartment Game", a famous Korean game.
"APT." has reached 100 million streams on Spotify in just 7 days after its release and quickly set a record for the fastest Kpop song to reach 1 billion streams in history (after 100 days).
On the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, "APT." reached 3rd place - something that no other female Kpop artist has done before. The song has currently been on the chart for 41 consecutive weeks.
On YouTube, the MV "APT." broke the record for the fastest Kpop MV to reach 1 billion views in history that Psy's MV "Gangnam Style" once held. Currently, the MV "APT." has surpassed 1.9 billion views.
KBS Joy's "20th Century Hit Song" show said that Rose had a whopping 13.3 billion won in streaming revenue after only 2 weeks of releasing the song "APT.".
The tens of billions of won earned through YouTube continue to reflect her global popularity. This strengthens Rose's "superstar" position as one of the most successful solo artists in Kpop.
Thanks to the appeal of "APT. , Rose was voted by Time magazine as one of the "100 Most influential people of 2025" in April.
The song APT. is receiving 7 out of 8 nominations from Rose at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, including the main categories of video of the Year and Song of the Year.
Meanwhile, the group Blackpink also maintained its power on YouTube with 96.8 million channel subscribers and 38.8 billion views. Blackpink's channel has the highest number of subscribers and views among artists worldwide, with an estimated annual revenue of 8.12 billion won.
Blackpink is on a Deadline world tour, spanning 16 cities with 31 shows.
In early July, Blackpink released the song "Jump", marking their return to the music scene after 3 years since the album "Born Pink". The 4-member band is preparing to release a new album in November.
