‘KPop Demon Hunters’ is dominating the Billboard 200, the Hot 100 and the Global 200, and Billboard staffers sat down to share why the movie’s soundtrack has become a global phenomenon, plus BTS showing the soundtrack some love, BLACKPINK’s comeback with “JUMP,” and more. They also dive into statistics of K-pop fans, how the genre has taken over the world and more!
00:00Demon Hunters is taking over the charts and fans, including BTS themselves.
00:09Blackpink's comeback is massive.
00:11All while we chat with staff after Billboard has surveyed its K-pop readers to find out the info behind the phenomenon.
00:18Hey, what's up guys? Thanks for hanging out and talking all things K-pop with me.
00:23You know where we gotta start and it is Demon Hunters.
00:26What is going on with this movie and why has it taken over everybody?
00:30Yeah, I mean this movie is on Netflix and the soundtrack is absolutely everywhere.
00:35It was number 2 last week on the Billboard 200 and 4 of the songs are in the top 10 this week on the Global 200.
00:41To be clear, BTS has never had 4 songs in the top 10 of the Global 200, Blackpink has never done it.
00:47This is historic success for K-pop.
00:50What's interesting to me is that we're seeing a little bit of like an Encanto effect, right?
01:01Where you have a movie that is streaming that is reaching millions of homes and people are loving and spreading through word of mouth.
01:08And then you have all the songs really start spiking on Spotify and Apple Music because people want to go straight from the film into the soundtrack and listen to all the songs again.
01:19So not only do you have a song like Golden which has hit the top 10 of the Hot 100, but you have so many songs from the soundtrack because people want to discover the entirety of the music.
01:29And it's become this kind of multi-platform phenomenon that has really spread slowly but also like now that we're a month into it and a month plus into it is just like a total juggernaut.
01:41Yeah, and even we're a month in, 3 or 4 weeks in, and all of the songs are still like surging.
01:47It hasn't even reached its peak yet, so it'll be really fun to watch on the charts for the next few months.
01:52And how do you feel that sums up how K-pop fans consume media and how does it feel to be someone maybe new to K-pop that is just discovering it through this movie?
02:05So I actually watched this movie with my mother-in-law and father-in-law. They know nothing about K-pop. They loved the songs. They wanted to listen to the soundtrack over and over again.
02:15And that's the fun thing about K-pop Demon Hunters. It's kind of like a gateway into this entire new world of popular music.
02:22Obviously millions of people are listening to K-pop on a daily basis around the globe.
02:26But, you know, people might just discover this movie and it's such an interesting representation of K-pop fandom.
02:33You see like what it's like to be at a K-pop arena show in this movie and just get hooked on all these songs.
02:40And obviously the quality of the songs themselves are so high that, you know, people kind of go into that rabbit hole of,
02:47hey, I want to listen to more K-pop after seeing this movie and listening to the soundtrack.
02:52That's exactly what my friends did as well. I'm the only K-pop fan out of my fan group and we all watched together.
02:58And I think they heard Golden and they're like, wait, this is a great song.
03:02And then it sort of spiraled them into the K-pop world, which I was happy to introduce them to.
03:07I'm done hiding, now I'm shining like I'm part of things.
03:13And our team here at Billboard has done a great job surveying a lot of our readers to see how K-pop fans actually come together.
03:20And some of these facts I know you won't be surprised by, but they're very interesting.
03:24K-pop fans are about 80% female. Is that shocking to any of you?
03:29No, I'm the only female right now here. No, I'm not shocked, honestly.
03:34The funny part is it makes me think of one time at BTS's Permission to Dance show where it was like,
03:40hey, say what's up everybody to the male army out there and the arena got pretty loud.
03:45So I think there may be 20%. I think there may be a little bit more than that that are men out there listening to K-pop.
03:50Okay, I'll give you 20. I'll give you 20. Yeah.
03:54Out of K-pop fans, 48% of them are aged 13 to 24. What do you guys think of those numbers?
04:00I mean, I think that kind of lines up with the general perception of fans of vocal groups.
04:06If you think about the Backstreet Boys and NSYNC or One Direction, like you're thinking of younger fans.
04:11But that still means that more than half are older than 24. I think it was like a third of K-pop fans were 35 and up.
04:18I think that would be surprising to anyone. I remember being at a BTS show and being kind of shocked at the diversity of the ages of the people around me.
04:27Yeah, there's a grandma army that goes viral on Instagram all the time. I have to send you the reel. It's so funny.
04:33Now, 74% of the people surveyed call themselves serious collectors. What does that say about the K-pop fandom?
04:39So I think that this is really part of the K-pop phenomenon, right? Where, you know, a generation ago, boy bands had merchandise and pop groups had, you know, collectibles.
04:52But not to the extent that we've seen with these these K-pop groups where different vinyl variants and different posters and just everything that you can buy.
05:02These fans are just gobbling up like we've never seen before.
05:06I just think that the merchandising of the K-pop world is on a totally different level than it was, you know, for pop groups 10, 15, 20 years ago.
05:15And that includes the actual music itself, right? In terms of the vinyl variants, in terms of how people can download and different songs and how to find them and purchase them.
05:27Like this is to me like the unprecedented nature of K-pop fandom.
05:32Now, Jason, you brought up vinyls. I have to say, I was really shocked that it's actually 63% of fans do CDs more, where only 47% does vinyls.
05:43I don't know if I'm aging myself here, but I'm shocked that people are buying more K-pop CDs.
05:48I never owned a CD player, so I really can't say anything.
05:51I love CDs. I mean, I still love them. Like, you know, I got a CD player in my car.
05:57And, you know, I think that, again, it's just like a physical item.
06:00You know, vinyl variants have the tactile experience, but also, yeah, CD players, you can tote them around.
06:05You can swap them with your friends in terms of different types of CDs.
06:08It's kind of like that collect them all mentality. I grew up going to like McDonald's and having to collect all the little action figures and figurines.
06:18Now it's, you know, different CDs and vinyl variants. And it's pretty cool to see that world translated over into K-pop.
06:24Yeah. And the way that you were saying that, you know, it feels a lot more intense in terms of the collectibles and all of the different products that people are buying as compared to, you know, the pop groups of 20 years ago or even 10 years ago.
06:37It feels like K-pop artists have done a really great job forging like real close connections with their fans, probably on social media.
06:45Also throughout all these videos that they're putting out on YouTube, you know, EPs every six months or so.
06:51People, K-pop fans really feel motivated to support these artists, not just financially, but like to show them support, to show them that they have their backs.
07:01Now you talk about showing support. When it comes to showing support, we love to go to tours, right?
07:06I was shocked that 53% of K-pop fans said they have been to zero K-pop concerts.
07:13And only 21% of fans have been to one concert. That's crazy.
07:19I think what's most interesting about that is that the reason that was most cited among K-pop fans as to why they're not going to concerts is that their favorite artists haven't played in their city or near their home.
07:30You know, even in the US, K-pop is still sometimes seen as kind of a regional phenomenon.
07:36K-pop artists will go on big world tours in Asia, Europe, Latin America, etc.
07:42But the US leg is often just like New York, LA, San Francisco, Chicago, maybe one or two other cities because the people booking these shows maybe think, eh, is there really an audience to support an arena show in a smaller city or in the middle of the country or whatever.
07:57And maybe the fact that there are this many people responding to this survey saying, I'm not going to any concerts because I can't go to any concerts, maybe that suggests that there's enough of an audience in more places around the country.
08:12And I do want to talk about one of my favorite shows I just came back from. Blackpink Deadline Tour was amazing. How are they doing on the charts right now?
08:20They're having quite a week. They just released Jump. It was their first single back together as a group in almost three years.
08:26Of course, all four members of Blackpink have really been doing their thing over the last year or so.
08:32They've all hit the top five of the global charts. They've all had like really, really big success individually.
08:38And now Jump has debuted at number one on both of our global charts, did over 100 million streams in its first week outside of the U.S.
08:47The last time that happened was when Rosé did it with Apata with Bruno Mars. So that just kind of speaks to how dominant they've been as a group and set apart over the last year.
08:58Gotta love the blinks. And the last thing I want to touch on is some of the reasons people call themselves K-pop fans.
09:08So 85% says it helps me relieve stress. I think that's a beautiful thing. Any of you guys listen to K-pop when you're feeling down?
09:16I love it. Like, and the funny thing is like when I've gone to a K-pop show, I've seen some artists that I don't know their full catalog.
09:24I only know a couple of their hits. These shows will stretch two, three, three and a half hours.
09:30I have a blast. Like just because you get swept up in the emotion, in the excitement, and you see just the fandom around you.
09:39And it's easy to get swept up within that. So that's not surprising at all.
09:45Yeah, I think for K-pop concerts and just listening to their music, it's primarily definitely a little bit more upbeat, I would say.
09:51And so it's always fun. I think being at the concert, just with the light sticks around you, with like parents bringing their kids, like you can't not have a good time.
10:00And then if you're working in corporate America and you want to put a Blackpink song on, it's upbeat.
10:06It sort of just brings you back to life a little bit, you know?
10:09No, and to follow that point, 62% says it gives me a sense of belonging to a community.
10:16Yeah, there's a stat in the report that we put out that like I think 20% of K-pop fans are either a member or an organizer of a fan club for one of the artists that they love.
10:27That is a really high number of people who are actively, like daily involved with artists they love.
10:35They're not just listening to the music. They're like, this is fully part of their life.
10:39Yeah, it's just channeling that passion into an extension of listening and you become more active.
10:46And, you know, we've seen over the decades of popular music that kind of connectivity of fans, right?
10:53Where it's not just buying an album and listening to your favorite song, it's talking to other fans.
10:59It's making friendships through this fandom.
11:03And it's cool to see that K-pop is now a genre that has truly harnessed that power.
11:10It may be the leading genre that has harnessed that power at this point.
