K-pop Bubble Bursting? Album Exports in the First Half of the Year Decrease for the First Time in 9 Years
It has been revealed that our country's album exports have shown a downward trend for the first time in nine years, based on the first half of this year from January to June.
According to the Korea Customs Service's import and export trade statistics, album exports from January to June this year amounted to 133,210,000 dollars (179.4 billion won), a 2% decrease from the same period last year.
This is the first time in nine years since 2015 that album exports have shown negative growth in the first half of the year.
Exports decreased by 7.0% from 19 billion won in 2014 to 17.6 billion won in 2015. Starting the following year, they have grown every year, reaching 183 billion won last year, riding the K-pop wave.
Looking at album exports by country in the first half of this year, Japan had the highest at 64.8 billion won, followed by the United States at 42.1 billion won and China at 25.4 billion won.
Total album sales, which can be used to gauge the appearance of the K-pop market, have also decreased.
The cumulative sales of albums ranked 1st to 400th from January to June this year amounted to approximately 47.6 million copies, a decrease of approximately 8 million copies compared to the same period last year.
