K-pop album exports surpass $300M for first time
South Korea’s overseas shipments of K-pop albums topped US$300 million for the first time in 2025, highlighting the genre’s growing global pull even as domestic sales continued to soften.
According to the Korea Customs Service, album exports reached a record US$301.7 million last year, up 3.4% from 2024, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
Japan remained the largest buyer at US$80.6 million, followed by China at US$69.7 million and the United States at US$64 million. Despite a 10.2% drop in Japanese demand, shipments to China jumped 16.6%, allowing Beijing to reclaim the No. 2 spot for the first time since 2022.
Taiwan, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Canada, France and Poland also ranked among the top importers.
However, Circle Chart data showed overall K-pop album sales — both domestic and overseas — fell for a second straight year to around 93.5 million copies in 2025, down from roughly 120 million in 2023. Analysts attributed the decline mostly to a sluggish home market.
“K-pop maintained its global appeal last year, helped by releases such as the ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ soundtrack, but the local market was dampened by environmental concerns over plastic CDs and reduced fan-targeted promotions,” said Choi Kwang-ho of the Korea Music Content Association. He noted the gap between artists strong in major overseas markets and those who are not is widening.
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