HYBE, SM and YG recorded the best performances last year along with the explosive expansion of K-pop despite the pandemic spread
Despite the pandemic spread, major music agencies, such as HYBE, SM and YG, performed their best along with the rapid growth of K-pop market.
According to reports of the Financial Services Commission on February 24th, HYBE”s combined annual sales rose 58% to 1.2577 trillion won last year thanks to BTS’s strong physical sales and the success of their concert in LA, the U.S.
Their operating profit rose 30.8% to 190.3 billion won. This is the first time that HYBE has exceeded 1 trillion won in annual sales, becoming the first K-pop agency to reach this milestone.
SM Entertainment, the management agency of popular K-pop groups, such as NCT and aespa, also recorded its best performance of over 700 billion won in annual sales last year. SM Entertainment’s combined annual sales rose 21% to reach 71.5 billion won in 2021. Their operating profit also increased 954.1% to achieve a record of 68.5 billion won. Their net profit in that term was 123.4 billion won, which was a turning into a surplus from -80.3 million won in the previous year.
Regarding this, SM Entertainment explained, “Performance has been boosted thanks to the strong physical album sales”, adding, “Along with improved performance in the main business, major subsidiary’ losses were reduced, resulting in a turnaround in our overall performance.”
In fact, SM Entertainment sold 17.621 million copies of albums last year, which doubled the record of the previous year. In addition to 15,043,000 copies of new products, sales of old products also reached 2,578,000 copies.
Last year, NCT 127 sold 3.62 million copies of their 3rd full album “Sticker” and the repackage album “Favorite“, while NCT Dream also exceeded 3.31 million copies for their first full album “Hot Sauce” and the repackage album “Hello Future”. Both units of NCT became “triple million seller”. In addition, SM Entertainment decided to pay 200 won per share at the board meeting for the first time since its foundation.
SM Entertainment said, “As a company leading the entertainment industry, we decided to pay this dividend to become a more shareholder-friendly company. In the future, we’ll continue to carry out activities to enhance shareholder value along with K-pop fans.”
YG Entertainment, to which BIGBANG and BLACKPINK belong, also saw its sales rise 39.3% to 355.6 billion won and operating profit rise 370.4% to 50.6 billion won last year. This is also the best performance since its foundation.
YG Entertainment analyzed, “Operating profit grew accordingly due to solid sales growth of both existing and new businesses. The activities of affiliated artists increased as well as the profits and losses of major subsidiaries improved.” At YG Entertainment, BLACKPINK Rosé and Lisa debuted as soloists last year and achieved great success.
The music industry believes the fact that fans’ wallets were “open wide” to purchase albums affected the performance of such entertainment companies as concerts became impossible due to COVID-19. The rise of K-pop Hallyu around the world, led by BTS, NCT and BLACKPINK, also played a positive role.
Last year, K-pop album sales reached 57.09 million copies based on the 1st to 400th places on the Gaon Chart, up 36.9% from the previous year. Exports of K-pop albums also increased by 62.1% to 264.1 billion won.
