by As the K-pop market boomed, major music agencies such as Hive, SM, and YG recorded the highest performance since their foundation last year.
According to the Electronic Disclosure System of the Financial Services Commission on the 24th, Hive recorded annual sales of 1.25 trillion won on a consolidated basis last year, an increase of 58.0% from the previous year, a record high. Operating profit increased 30.8% to 190.3 billion won. It seems to be the result of the group BTS’s strong record sales and the success of the Los Angeles concert in the United States. This is the first time for a domestic music agency to exceed 1 trillion won in annual sales.
SM Entertainment also achieved its best performance last year, generating more than 700 billion won in consolidated sales. Last year, consolidated annual sales increased 21.0% to 701.5 billion won, and operating profit increased by 954.1% to 68.5 billion won. Net profit for the year was 123.4 billion won, turning to black from -80.3 billion won in the previous year. This also reflects the increase in album sales. SM Entertainment recorded sales of 17,621,000 albums last year, about doubling from the previous year.
In addition to the newly released albums (1,5043,000 copies), album sales in the past also reached 2,578,000 copies. Last year, NCT 127 sold 3.62 million copies with its 3rd full album ‘Sticker’ and the repackage ‘Favorite’, and NCT Dream also sold its 1st regular ‘Taste’ and repackage ‘Hello Future’ ) and sold 3.31 million copies, each becoming a ‘triple million seller’.
Accordingly, the board of directors of SM Entertainment decided to pay a dividend of 200 won per share for the first time since its inception. The company said, “As a company leading the entertainment industry, we decided to pay this dividend to become a more shareholder-friendly company.
YG Entertainment, to which BIGBANG and BLACKPINK belong, also recorded 355.6 billion won in sales and 50.6 billion won in operating profit last year, up 39.3% and 370.4%, respectively. This is also the highest achievement since its inception. YG Entertainment analyzed, “Operating profit increased with the growth in sales of existing and new businesses.
The music industry analyzes the performance of such entertainment companies as the effect of actively purchasing albums, although performances became impossible due to COVID-19. The fact that singers such as BTS are active all over the world also had a positive effect.
Last year, K-pop album sales reached 57.09 million copies based on Gaon Chart 1st to 400th, up 36.9% from the previous year. Album exports also jumped 62.1% to $220,836,000 (about 264.1 billion won).
