COVER STORY
The 11 Most Surprising Stats In Billboard’s ‘K-Pop Fandom in the U.S.’ Report
After surveying more than 1,000 K-pop fans in the States, Billboard lead analyst Glenn Peoples crafted an impressive and broad look at the American fandom
Billboard delivered its “K-Pop Fandom in the U.S.” report today: a 20-page exploration of survey data from over 1,400 U.S.-based fans ages 14 and over who identify as a K-pop fan. The full report is more than worth a read, especially in understanding the core K-pop fan, but for those who think they have the U.S. K-poppie figured out, here are the stats that stood out to me and paint a more vivid picture of today’s consumer. Read the full report here and dive into some insights below.
When K-pop fans spend on bundle packages, they spend big: “Box sets are popular purchases. Nearly half (47%) of respondents purchased a box set (an album bundled with other items such as T-shirts or posters) in the previous 12 months…about 14% of respondents spent more than $250 on box sets and another 19% spent between $101 and $249 in the previous 12 months. The older the K-pop fan, the greater the likelihood of purchasing a box set: 55% of respondents ages 45-54 had purchased a box set in the previous 12 months.”
The East vs West demographics are worth a deeper look: “Geographically, respondents can be found throughout the country but are most concentrated in the Western states, where 26% of K-pop fans come from states that account for 22% of the U.S. population.” Meanwhile, the Northeast area (which includes New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc) only accounts for 19% of fans. Doing an actual East vs. West battle means the East (including the Northeast and Southeast states) accounts for 40% of fans while the West (West and Southwest states) accounts for 39%. The Midwest has a 22% representation.
K-pop fans are streaming every day, but mostly K-pop and pop: “82% of respondents listen to K-pop seven days a week. While 72% of K-pop fans regularly listen to pop music, just 19% are frequent listeners of Latin music and 15% are regular country music listeners.”
K-pop on vinyl and cassette hasn’t clicked yet: “Vinyl may sell well in rock and pop genres, but few K-pop fans (16%) are buying it. Cassettes (15%) were the least popular format.” I also feel like this may be a result of fewer K-pop releases on vinyl and cassette — I believe only chart-topping names like BTS, TWICE and Tomorrow X Together have even attempted to move vinyl on limited releases.
Fans want to support multiple versions of artists’ albums: “There’s some potential for labels to sell more album variants: 16% of respondents said they may or may not purchase a variant, while 56% said they are likely to buy one (compared with 52% who had purchased a variant in the last 12 months). Just 27% of respondents said they are unlikely to purchase an album variant. For many fans, buying a variant comes down to factors other than the actual music on the album. Respondents overwhelmingly said they purchased album variants to collect the albums (86%). Even though record labels sweeten the deal by putting exclusive tracks on album variants, just 23% of respondents have purchased a K-pop album variant for additional tracks. Buying an album variant reflects the reasons people are K-pop fans and show an affinity for their favorite artists. Most respondents said they buy album variants to show their support for the artist (68%), because they like the packaging (55%) or want to financially support their favorite K-pop artists (53%). Just under half of respondents (49%) buy album variants to help the artist get a better chart position.”
K-pop artists in magazines are basically merch: 40% of responders bought a magazine featuring their favorite artist. In comparison, “clothing (63%) is the most popular merch, but two others are purchased by more than half of respondents: posters (56%) and photo books (55%).”
Brick-and-mortar retailers are key to breaking through with sales: “Most respondents who buy K-pop albums get them at a mass-merchant retailer such as Target and Walmart (64%) or an online store such as Amazon (54%).” I always thought K-pop fans embraced much more variety when it came to their K-pop album purchases, but perhaps the convenience of these major stores is too easy to pass up. These big brick-and-mortar retailers seem to be the key in helping artists’ sales break through in meaningful ways to enter charts like the Billboard 200, etc.
YouTube is the clear leader in K-pop listening, discovery and news: “YouTube (87%) is the most popular way for respondents to listen to K-pop...a favorite across all age groups as well, peaking at 90% for 13-17 compared to 81% for both the 35-44 and 45-54 age groups. When it comes to keeping up to date on news about favorite K-pop artists, YouTube (84%) is the leader by far.”
But a majority of fans are also looking for K-pop news on social and sites: After YouTube’s 84% as a source for K-pop news, the top sources are Instagram (69%), K-pop specific news sites (like Soompi, Koreaboo and Allkpop at 59%) and then general news sites (like Billboard, Rolling Stone and NME at 52%).
Lack of diverse locations and high ticket prices are hindering more fans from attending concerts: “Fewer than half (47%) of respondents attended a K-pop concert in the previous 12 months…K-pop fans are spread throughout the country, but tours don’t always reach where they live. Nearly two in three (64%) of respondents have not attended a K-pop concert because a favorite artist did not perform near them. Over half of the fans (56%) said prices prevented them from attending.”
The youngest K-pop fans paint a slightly concerning picture if their habits don’t change: “Young K-pop fans are the most active online but the least likely to spend money on K-pop, attend in-person fan events and go to K-pop concerts. The 13-17 age group is the most likely to use YouTube and Spotify and contribute to K-pop wikis such as Kpop Wiki. But the younger K-pop fans are also the least likely to purchase K-pop items such as CDs, box sets, merchandise and concert livestreams. They’re relatively unlikely to own a CD player or turntable. And they’re also far less likely than older age groups to have attended a K-pop concert in the past 12 months.” But go back to Point Number One and you’ll remember: “The older the K-pop fan, the greater the likelihood of purchasing a box set.” The report adds, “the 45-54 demo was most likely to purchase a K-pop box set (55% versus an overall average of 47%), merchandise such as a T-shirt or poster (82% versus an average of 68%), a K-pop concert livestream (47% versus an average of 25%) and a light stick (64% versus an average of 49%). With age comes spending power.”
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IN THE NEWS
—Will ‘Golden’ From ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Be Able to Overtake Alex Warren’s ‘Ordinary’ on the Billboard Hot 100? “Golden” has been fully embraced by audiences on DSPs, topping Billboard‘s Streaming Songs ranking for the first time this week, and has an extra boost coming in the way of a new David Guetta remix, released at the beginning of this tracking week (July 25). But to clear that final Hot 100 hurdle, it will need support from within an arena where Warren has ruled for the last six weeks: radio. “Golden” is currently growing on the airwaves — it debuts at No. 35 on Pop Airplay this week, and is up another 24% in plays July 25-28 over the same period from the week prior (according to Luminate). But it’s still got a long way to go to meet “Ordinary” — it’s still nowhere to be found on Radio Songs, nor is it particularly close yet — and as long as that gap between the two remains so sizeable, it will be tough for “Golden” to get over the top on the Hot 100.” (Billboard)
—Several KPop Demon Hunters producers have credits on Jeon Somi’s upcoming Chaotic & Confused album. The lead single “Closer” was co-written and composed by Teddy (who worked on KPDH's “Golden” and “How It's Done”), who worked on nearly every song on the EP including “Escape,” “Extra” and “Chaotic & Confused.” Dominsuk (who worked on “Soda Pop”) also helped on “Escape” as well as the track “Delu.” There’s also Vince (“Your Idol,” “Soda Pop”) on the tracks “Delu” and “Extra.”
—Lim Sejun and Kang Yuchan won’t be attending KCON LA this weekend. The singers’ agency WAY BETTER cited “health-related reasons,” saying, “Due to a decline in their condition, we have determined that they require sufficient time for recovery.” (WAY BETTER)
—New K-pop boy band features singer from Bentonville, Arkansas: “I would guess that most Arkansans over the age of 25 have a K-pop knowledge that consists of whatever current BTS song is trending on TikTok, vague memories of PSY performing ‘Gangham Style’ with Madonna in 2012 and (if they are a bit hornier on main) an awareness of Kwon Eunbi’s Waterbomb Festival performances in recent years. As infectious as the melodies may be, it remains a hard sell to get Arkansans interested and listening. That could be changing, however, and in the most unexpected way imaginable: a Northwest Arkansas native joining a new K-pop boy band. Nathan Kousol is a 24-year-old of Laotian and Thai descent who was born in California but grew up in Bentonville, where he graduated high school in 2019. Performing simply as “Nathan,” he began releasing his own music in 2020. Last year, he was selected from a group of auditioners to be the fifth member of the K-pop group 1VERSE, who released their first single album, The First Verse, last week.” (Arkansas Times)
—New England ARMY have a BTS party coming up: “Hartford music venue The Webster will host a BTS day party on Sept. 13 for fans of the K-pop group. The event will kick off at 2 p.m. The venue will only play BTS songs throughout the event, and fans are permitted to bring lightsticks, a handheld device that lights up in a variety of colors that K-pop groups custom design for fans to collect and bring to concerts. The BTS-themed event is hosted by fan-made organization Apanmania.” (CT Insider)
BUSINESS INSIGHTS
—V of BTS has been named a new ambassador for Coca-Cola. Just over a month after he completed his mandatory military service, the Instagram for Coca-Cola Korea teased the collaboration with V conducting a series of what appear to be social-focused interviews about Coke Zero with several local Korean media like Eyes Magazine, Fastpaper Magazine and Hypebeast Korea to promote the partnership.
The BTS star’s HYBE labelmates NewJeans were previously teamed with Coke, taking part in different promos through the last two years, even releasing the original song “Zero” to promote Coke Zero, which got fellow ambassador J.I.D on board for a Coke Studio remix.
—Colgate tapped K-pop icon IU for star power and sparkle in new Asia campaign: “Colgate has partnered with South Korean singer and actress IU to promote its ‘optic white purple’ toothpaste, tapping into the global reach and influence of the K-pop star. The campaign, which spans Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Hong Kong, features a series of social media posts with IU endorsing the product. In the videos, she describes the purple variant as her personal ‘beauty hack’ and ‘the secret’ to her whiter smile. The brand also teased the launch of a limited-edition kit.” (Marketing Interactive)
—Billboard Pro’s “Takeaways From Luminate’s Korea Music Data Summit Launches in Seoul”
Global Leaders: “When it comes to growth for the K-pop genre worldwide outside of Korea, during the first half of 2025, Japan and the United States imported the highest volumes of K-pop streams. But the genre is most popular in Taiwan based on its share of total streams in that market across all genres.
Top 3 Most K-Pop-ular Cities: “When looking at U.S. market share popularity, Honolulu, San Francisco and Los Angeles were the top three markets for K-pop consumption in the first half of 2025.”
Cross-Platform Impact: “Another analysis highlighted the effectiveness of trans-media, multi-platform marketing campaigns and the effects on streaming consumption. One case study showed that BLACKPINK’s 2020 album avoided the usual post-release decay due to the group’s Netflix documentary release 12 days later. Luminate’s analysis showed the documentary added over 80 million-plus global on-demand audio streams for the album in the month following release, when compared to other BLACKPINK releases.”
FOR THE RECORDS
Mirror.co.uk
—Apparently, there are people on this Earth who don’t know what BTS looks like. The Mirror previewed the upcoming theatrical release of “BTS Army: Forever We Are Young” (the fan-created documentary that, despite having the blessing of HYBE and BIGHIT MUSIC, has irked some fans into calling for a “boycott”) but used a photo of another seven-member boy band, BLITZERS, instead.
This outlet isn't actually the first to fumble this photo faux pas. The culprit is almost certainly the metadata and caption for a series of 2021 photos of the band including BTS’ name on Getty Images: “Thirty teenagers, thousands of hours of training, dozens of shattered dreams: it all comes to a head next week when the BLITZERS will be launched into the cut-throat K-pop market, hoping to become the next BTS.”
Still, a big eek when it’s your article’s main photo and later photos used in the article are actually of BTS. What happened?
—Globely News was right when they wrote, “Lollapalooza 2025 returns to Chicago’s Grant Park tomorrow, and this year’s lineup delivers a massive dose of K-pop.” The outlet continued, “Global superstars TWICE will headline the Saturday, August 2 bill, joined by Korean acts Xdinary Heroes, Wave to Earth, and BOYNEXTDOOR, making this the festival’s most K-pop-heavy year yet. KATSEYE, the K-pop-inspired global girl group, also makes its Lollapalooza debut.”
But the point would have been that much stronger had they remembered to include boy band KickFlip, who is also on the bill! (The rising rookie group that released one of the best K-pop songs of the year so far, in my opinion)
BITS AND BOPS
@jarredjermaine Some lore behind the song KATSEYE “Gnarly” #katseye #gnarly
—Pink Slip, the producer behind KATSEYE’s “Gnarly,” revealed the origin behind a quick moan in the song that is seemingly sampled from a much longer clip of a woman…moaning repeatedly. I don’t want to say it’s actually audio of someone having sex or from a porno movie unless they confirm, but Pink Slip plays a longer clip and says, “If you zoom out a little bit from the audio clip, you can kind of see where the sounds from; you can take a guess.”
Some fans online have expressed being uncomfortable with this when 17-year-old Yoonchae is in the group. The clip is nearing one million views on @jarredjermaine’s TikTok account, while a Twitter post with the video calling it “inappropriate” has 3.1 million views.
—TWICE’s new Japanese single “ENEMY” is an unexpected emotional rock-pop journey.
—The Korea Times says, “BTS members V and Jimin are drawing attention from global fans and Formula One enthusiasts alike, thanks to their unexpected connection with the world’s top motorsport…the mention of F1 caught the attention of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, who responded on X (formerly Twitter) with a post reading, “Taehyung [V’s real name] likes F1? Send him our YouTube link,” tagging their official channel...Jimin, too, recently crossed paths with F1 culture. On July 15, he shared photos on Instagram of himself wearing an outfit from Dior’s collaboration with seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton. The outfit, part of Dior’s capsule collection designed with Hamilton, drew attention when the racer himself liked Jimin’s post and even shared it to his own story.”
—ILLIT’s upcoming Japanese single will be a collaboration with Care Bears.
—”How one media outlet linked K-Pop Demon Hunters Saja Boys to HYBE in recent reporting”: “Channel A News took a creative turn in reporting this and linked the latest hit film K-Pop Demon Hunters, successfully catching the attention of viewers. Borrowing from the recent hit film K-Pop Demon Hunters, the outlet dubbed the NTS’s 4th Bureau of Investigation the ‘Saja Boys,’ as the investigators have been often likened to grim reapers sweeping through Korea’s corporate world.” (Allkpop)
—KPop Demon Hunters profile icons are now on Netflix and Kevin Woo can now access his account as the character he sings for in the animated flick.
