Whatever the conclusion of the Hybe-MHJ saga might be, it seems that KPop has suffered a blow from which it will be hard to recover.
The rebellion of Wu Yifan and Luhan, combined with the departure of Jessica Jung from SNSD, created a huge crisis in SM. JYP and YG were also at their bottom at that time, and never losing an opportunity, Lee Jieun attempted a takeover of KPop which almost succeeded.
MNet and SM fought tooth and nail to defeat Lee Jieun, but Exo never really recovered from this.
2015 was a very boring year. The #1 act was Big Bang, in its last hurrah, and in this midst of despair, GFriend, an unknown act, gained a lot of popularity, something which is unthinkable now.
2016 saw the rise of Twice and BTS and 2017 saw the blossoming of the 3rd Gen of KPop, but the entire KPop world had to endure the rule of Lee Jieun for one year as she was voted as the most popular singer of 2017 and her ballad Through the Night won the only nonKPop Song of the Year title in the KPop era.
The 2024 crisis is like the 2014 crisis, almost to the bone.
First Week Sales Records 2023
SVT FML 4.55M
NCT Dream ISTJ 3.65M
JK Golden 2.46M
TXT Freefall 2.25M
TXT Temptation 2.18M
ZB1 Melting Point 2.13M
Taehyung Layover 2.10M
Enhypen Orange Blood 1.87M
Ateez The WOrld Ep. Fin Will 1.71M
aespa My World 1.60M
NCT 127 Fact Check 1.65M
EXO Exist 1.56M
Ateez The World Ep: Outlaw 1.52M
I stop here.
17 albums with first week sales of 1.5M or more.
Such were the halcyon days of 2023.
5 months of 2024 have passed.
SVT 17 is right here - 2.97M, a 42% decline from 2023 (if an act released more than 1 albums with more than 1.5M sales I work with the one with the highest sales.)
NCT Dream Dream()Scape 2.46M 33% decline
TXT minisode 3: Tomorrow 1.55M 31% decline
Gidle 2 1.54M, the only major act in 2024 whose sales have increased.
ZB1 You had me at Hello 1.35M 37% decline
IVE IVE Switch 1.32M 18% decline
(aespa's ARMAGEDDON is still counting, but it will probably not exceed 1.2 M, a decline of at least 25%)
Twice With You-th 1.06M. It did increase, and the same to several other acts, since they were not subject to the halcyon days of 2023
NMixx a Midnight NMixx's dream 1.03M
LeSserafim Easy 989K
NewJeans How Sweet 885K, a decline of 45%
I think the numbers speak for themselves.
The flagpole act now, Seventeen, suffered a decline of 40%.
NCT Dream, txt and ZB1 all suffered hits greater than 30%.
Stray Kids is afraid to release a new album since it will probably show a similar decline.
Gidle, Twice, NMixx and LeSserafim did better, but their sway on the world is much weaker. Twice is a mature group, whose upside is now going to be limited, and Gidle is in its 6th year, with Shuhua probably not continuing and Jeon Soyeon will do whatever she feels like with it.
No need to retell the story of the MHJ saga, but NJ, expected to be the flagpole of 4th Gen, has been hit big and it is said only 30,000 copies sold in Japan, which will be another topic.
IVE and aespa did maintain themselves more or less effectively, but it cannot be denied that the HUGE decline on interest over KPop has taken place and it is unlikely to be reversed by the return of BTS.
Illit has its limitations ; having 2 Japanese means it is geared toward Japan. Baemon was defeated even by Ilit.
(Before someone says Twice had 3 Japanese members, I have to remind again that it began as 5 Koreans, 2 Japanese, 1 Taiwanese and 1 American.)
That is the biggest story; all the MHJ stories are just soap operas compared to this big issue.
