Korean pop music (K-pop) has become one of the biggest global phenomena and has allowed South Korean culture to become a major driver of global culture.
BTS, the most popular K-pop band in the world at this moment, is at the heart of this rise, with the newly released song Dynamite debuting at No.1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well as its music video setting the record as the first Youtube video to surpass 100 million views within 24 hours.
Riding on the success of BTS, Big Hit Entertainment, the management agency of BTS, has priced its initial public offering (IPO) at 4.8 trillion won (S$6 billion).
However, is BTS really as big as other global musicians? We’ve analysed social media platforms such as Youtube, Spotify and Instagram in order to compare BTS to other top 50 global musicians.
Key findings
BTS’ Youtube subscribers, most-viewed video viewer number, streaming number and Instagram followers are as high as other musicians listed on Billboard Top 30 chart
After debuting at No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 as well becoming the fastest MV to surpass 100 million views within 24 hours, BTS’ newly released song Dynamite is maintaining a meaningfully higher daily viewership on Youtube than than other top musicians’ new songs
Big Hit Entertainment’s valuation is more than the combined value of the big 3 entertainment firms in Korea (SM, JYP, YG), and could be overvalued compared to even Warner Music Group, a global music industry powerhouse behind top stars like Cardi B, Ed Sheehan and Bruno Mars
Social Media: BTS is already top 30 global musician
The days when music consumers had to buy physical albums ended in the 20th century with the advent of the Internet. Instead of rushing into the store to buy CDs, people listen to music on Spotify, watch music videos on Youtube and follow musicians on social media.
Such transition in music consumption suggests Spotify streamers, Youtube viewers and social media followers have become the most significant indicators measuring a musician’s fame. So how big is BTS compared to other top global musicians?
We’ve analysed publicly available data on 50 top-selling musicians to determine which musician has the most popularity and fame. Of all 50 musicians we analysed, BTS stands out as one of the top 30 musicians in the world, and even had the 9th highest Youtube subscribers in our study.
Artist
Youtube Subscribers
Youtube Most-viewed (song)
Spotify streaming number
Instagram Followers
Total Ranking
Justin Bieber
1
2 (Sorry)
3
4
1
Ed Sheeran
4
1 (Shape of You)
4
17
2
Ariana Grande
6
12 (Side to Side)
6
1
3
Taylor Swift
7
5 (Shake It Off)
16
5
4
Katy Perry
8
4 (Roar)
19
8
5
Selena Gomez
14
29 (The Heart Wants What It Wants)
13
2
6
Marshmello
3
11 (Alone)
7
20
7
Maroon 5
12
3 (Sugar)
12
26
8
Rihanna
10
16 (Diamonds)
17
9
9
Eminem
5
9 (Love The Way You Lie)
18
19
10
Beyonce
17
24 (Halo)
20
3
11
Drake
15
14 (Hotline Bling)
2
12
12
Nicki Minaj
18
27 (Anaconda)
10
7
13
Blackpink
2
18 (DDU-DU DDU-DU)
26
21
14
Billie Eilish
11
26 (Bad Guy)
15
13
15
Adele
16
6 (Hello)
28
15
16
The Weeknd
20
13 (Starboy)
1
22
17
Jennifer Lopez
28
15 (On The Floor)
30
6
18
Bruno Mars
13
10 (The Lazy Song)
22
24
19
Cardi B
27
21 (I Like It)
5
10
20
BTS
9
23 (DNA)
25
18
21
The Chainsmokers
19
7 (Closer)
24
27
22
Calvin Harris
25
8 (This Is What You Came For)
14
25
23
Chris Brown
21
25 (Loyal)
21
11
24
Lady Gaga
24
19 (Bad Romance)
9
14
25
Post Malone
22
20 (Congratulations)
11
23
26
Travis Scott
30
30 (SICKO MODE)
8
16
27
Linkin Park
26
17 (Numb)
29
28
28
Queen
29
22 (Bohemian Rhapsody)
23
30
29
Michael Jackson
23
28 (Billie Jean)
27
29
30
However, while BTS recently rose to prominence with their new song Dynamite, other top global musicians such as Ed Sheehan, Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande still stand out in all categories, from most-viewed Youtube video to Instagram follower.
Even Blackpink, another popular K-pop band, ranks at 14th which is slightly higher than BTS. All things considered, K-pop artists including BTS and Blackpink are still lagging behind other top musicians which may indicate that their most recent achievements might not have been fully reflected yet.
Still, they rank within the top 30 list despite their shorter careers, suggesting K-pop still has more potential to grow more than ever.
BTS’ Dynamite ranked No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100
Indeed, the ranking above does not fully capture the most recent trends where K-pop artists have just started to become mainstream globally. For instance, the most-viewed Youtube video of BTS that we used in our ranking was DNA, not Dynamite.
In order to make the ranking more aligned with the most recent trends, we’ve calculated the daily viewer number of the most recent Youtube music videos. As a result, BTS’ Dynamite ranked first with over 10 million daily views and Blackpink’s Ice Cream ranks second with 8 million daily views.
ALSO READ: BTS score a first for Korean band on Billboard chart with Dynamite
In comparison, Cardi B’s WAP, which maintained its dominance over the Billboard charts for over a month since its release, had less than 50 per cent of Dynamite’s daily viewers.
Overall, the popularity of K-pop artists on social platforms turned out to be 2-3x higher than other global musicians, and this proves that the ranking above does not completely cover the most recent records of K-pop songs.
We’ve also analysed the daily streaming number of the songs listed on Spotify’s Top 200 chart. The daily streaming number of Cardi B’s WAP ranked first with 5 million daily streams, BTS’ Dynamite ranks second with 3.94 million streams and Justin Bieber’s Holy ranks third with 3.39 million streams, which indicates BTS has become as phenomenal as other great musicians.
In addition, Blackpink’s Ice Cream hit 1.98 million daily streams, marking the highest position ever by a K-pop girl group.
However, Spotify stream figures likely underestimate K-pop artists’s audience since the service is not mainstream in Asian countries, especially in Korea, where a significant portion of their fanbase exists.
BTS and Big Hit Entertainment: How big will it be?
BTS’ overseas success not only has allowed K-pop to become a part of mainstream culture but also has created tremendous economic impact.
In fact, the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) reported that BTS generates an estimated amount of 4 trillion won ($3.54 billion) of economic value to South Korea per year and predicted that BTS’ 10-year economic impact will reach 56.2 trillion won.
Riding on the success of BTS, Big Hit generated a record 587.2 billion won (roughly $507.9 million) in revenue last year, which increased by 7 times since 2016, becoming the 2nd biggest entertainment company in Korea in terms of sales.
On Oct 15, the company will launch its IPO, valuing the company at 4.8 trillion won ($4.1 billion). Yet, there are some concerns that the company may be overvalued because Big Hit’s business is heavily dependent on BTS.
In order to evaluate the actual value of the company, we’ve analyzed financial statements of music labels in Korea as well as in the US.
Financial statements of music labels in Korea and the US
($mn)
Warner Music Group
Big Hit
SM
JYP
YG
Market cap
14,448
4,042
661
1,083
786
2019 revenue
4,509
489
548
130
220
Growth rate
0.76 per cent
95 per cent
7 per cent
25 per cent
-2 per cent
First, Big Hit’s valuation is more than the combined value of SM, JYP, YG, the country’s top 3 entertainment companies. Of course, Big Hit has been growing considerably faster than its peers; however, that the label relies heavily on 1 K-pop idol group should be a huge concern for investors.
For instance, the average life span of K-pop idol groups is known to be only 5 to 10 years, often fading in popularity due to competition, scandals or military service.
Indeed, 2 of the 7 BTS members are nearing their mandatory military service, which suggests the group may not be able to perform as a complete team for much longer.
Furthermore, Big Hit Entertainment’s valuation seems unrealistic when compared to Warner Music Group (WMG), the third largest in the global music industry. Big Hit’s revenue is about 10 per cent of WMG’s, but its valuation is about 30 per cent of WMG’s.
This contrast is even more concerning when considering the fact that WMG has a number of top musicians such as Cardi B, Ed Sheehan and Bruno Mars, while Big Hit mostly relies on BTS and has no other global musicians.
In fact, there are some views that the company seems to be overvalued and it might not be able to maintain the estimated market cap unless it diversifies its business structure.
Methodology
We used publicly available data of 50 top-selling musicians based on their physical/digital album sales, and statistis from platforms like Youtube, Spotify and Instagram.
In order to see which artist has the most popularity, we gathered data of each musician’s Youtube subscriber number, most-viewed video viewer number, Spotify streaming number and Instagram follower number.
Artist
Youtube Subscribers (mn)
Youtube Most-viewed (song)
Spotify streaming number
Instagram Followers (mn)
1
Justin Bieber
57.2
3,344,152,168 (Sorry)
54,959,128
148
2
Ariana Grande
43.3
1,804,804,410 (Side to Side)
50,435,169
203
3
Ed Sheeran
45.6
4,997,696,657 (Shape of You)
51,374,606
32
4
Taylor Swift
39.9
2,968,489,562 (Shake It Off)
40,288,776
140
5
Katy Perry
38.6
3,182,514,641 (Roar)
35,510,726
107
6
Selena Gomez
26.8
692,509,088 (The Heart Wants What It Wants)
43,714,366
194
7
Marshmello
48.7
1,835,754,102(Alone)
49,069,916
30
8
Rihanna
35.4
1,571,349,249 (Diamonds)
38,994,536
88
9
Beyonce
21.7
1,065,706,949 (Halo)
34,487,365
155
10
Drake
22.8
1,663,253,262 (Hotline Bling)
61,906,396
72
11
Maroon 5
32
3,290,473,710 (Sugar)
43,769,058
8
12
Eminem
44.5
2,067,536,542 (Love The Way You Lie)
35,938,919
31
13
Nicki Minaj
21.5
958,940,958 (Anaconda)
44,273,954
123
14
Billie Eilish
34
974,931,000 (bad guy)
41,548,457
67
15
Blackpink
48.8
1,333,653,708 (DDU-DU-DDU-DU)
27,399,289
30
16
The Weeknd
20.5
1,753,169,676 (Starboy)
63,946,390
25
17
Jennifer Lopez
13.4
1,608,795,739 (On The Floor)
16,453,245
132
18
Cardi B
14.7
1,230,954,661 (I Like It)
50,774,968
76
19
Adele
22.2
2,715,283,782 (Hello)
22,662,386
39
20
Bruno Mars
28.2
1,962,298,773 (The Lazy Song)
33,206,050
22
21
BTS
37.3
1,096,175,032 (DNA)
31,143,920
31.1
22
Calvin Harris
17.5
2,388,829,906 (This Is What You Came For)
41,829,925
10
23
Chris Brown
20.1
1,008,987,442 (Loyal)
34,444,365
72
24
The Chainsmokers
20.9
2,552,684,485 (Closer)
31,403,909
7
25
Lady Gaga
18.3
1,272,438,740 (Bad Romance)
44,671,488
44
26
Post Malone
19.8
1,254,752,114 (Congratulations)
44,052,147
23
27
Travis Scott
12.4
680,227,273 (SICKO MODE)
45,390,451
34
28
Justin Timberlake
8.94
1,270,171,693 (Can’t Stop The Feeling)
21,362,568
59
29
DJ Khaled
10.2
1,453,202,115 (I’m The One)
31,666,160
22
30
Tyga
9.51
1,041,762,254 (Taste)
37,192,833
21
31
Queen
13.2
1,208,558,964 (Bohemian Rhapsody)
32,920,396
4
32
Linkin Park
16.8
1,459,335,529 (Numb)
19,316,644
6
33
Michael Jackson
18.7
843,549,520 (Billie Jean)
23,569,158
5
34
Britney Spears
7.86
533,501,817 (Baby One More Time)
16,053,792
27
35
Whitney Houston
5.24
991,279,529 (I Will Always Love You)
20,226,949
1
36
AC/DC
6.61
793,624,423 (Thunderstruck)
19,894,459
3
37
Kanye West
6.41
360,785,341 (Stronger)
31,974,211
N/A
38
Metallica
6.54
835,532,451 (Nothing Else Matters)
16,086,270
7
39
Mariah Carey
6.2
638,796,832 (All I Want For Christmas Is You)
14,225,714
10
40
The Beatles
4.8
297,181,834 (Don’t Let Me Down)
22,986,623
N/A
41
Madonna
4.28
347,041,528 (La Isla Bonita)
13,306,239
16
42
Jonas Brothers
4.9
285,140,630 (Sucker)
20,220,889
N/A
43
Elton John
1.93
329,148,054 (Sacrifice)
23,859,701
N/A
44
Pink Floyd
2.28
503,072,921 (Another Brick In The Wall)
13,625,242
N/A
45
The Rolling Stones
2.13
50,096,262 (Anybody Seen My Baby)
19,820,498
N/A
46
Celine Dion
4.48
208,091,901 (I’m Alive)
9,656,007
N/A
47
Elvis Presley
1.75
241,370,476 (Can’t Help Falling In Love)
12,364,385
N/A
48
Billy Joel
1.03
153,744,999 (Piano Man)
14,447,654
N/A
49
Eagles
0.272
571,132,833 (Hotel California)
13,993,474
N/A
50
George Strait
0.641
85,244,301 (Remember When)
4,086,052
N/A
This article was first published in ValueChampion.
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