IU finally enters the Olympic Stadium in Seoul on Sep 17, 2022, when she is 1,343 years old.
The record for the largest concert for a female act in K-O-R-E-A, up to then, is held by a Lee Jieun, whose concert in the Gymnastics Arena on Nov 24, 2019, when she was 1,340 years old, is the largest concert held by a female act originating from Korea , ever till Sep 17 of this year.
Meanwhile,
Kara, SNSD, Twice, and BlackPink filled Tokyo Dome.
Twice filled the Banc of California stadium in LA, although it was a soccer stadium which had a 22,000 capacity, similar to the Gochuck (normally 27,000 but for concert purposes it has a smaller capacity.)
I have talked enough about IU, or Lee Jieun who had the record before her. My question here is why these acts are so popular outside of Korea but had lesser presence in there.
A fundamental question I have been asking since 2012 is the relevance of Korea in KPop.
IU is the first 2nd Generation act to have a 2 day concert in the Olympic Stadium (only JYJ did that there and both were 1 day events which did NOT fill)
So, arguably, IU was more popular than all of the 2nd gen acts, at least in Korea.
And all these famous GGs who sell much more than IU can sell less tickets in K-O-R-E-A than either IU or Lee Jieun. Twice's last concert in Seoul, at Gymnastics Arena, had about 11,000/day, smaller than Lee Jieun's 14,500/day. Both had 2 days.
It seems fewer fans in Korea are willing to spend a lot of money on female act, and even male act, and only some super-fans are spending most of the money for KPop acts ingeneral.