Largest concerts held in Republic of Korea from 2016

It is hard to determine who had the largest concert in Korea prior to 2018 or 19, since reliable figures do not exist.

On 2016 Big Bang had a one day concert at the Soccer Stadium.

YG claimed an audience of 70,000 but more reliable figures say it was 65,000. However, some ticets were free tickets, and it is impossible to determine how many of them attended it for free.

On 2017

(All figures from the Olympic Stadium except for 2023 and 24)

Exo - claims to be 70,000, actually probably around 60,000

H.O.T Reunion -

It claimed to have 100,000 attendees, but given that its next concert was held at the Gochuck, for about 45,000 total, the real number was significantly short of what was claimed. How much, who knows, but probably a bit north of 80,000.

2018

BTS - claimed to be 90,000. Actually probably around 85,000

2019

BTS - 129,268, 3 day event. About 43,000/day.

Probably the first reliable number in the concert history of Korea.

However, amazingly, no KPop idols planned to match it

2020

BTS planned a 4 day event at Seoul, which would have had 172,000 given the capacity of the previous tour.

However, amazingly, no KPop acts tried to rival BTS.

Instead, a nonKPop act decided to have a 2 day concert.

The Owner of Edam Entertainment, and the Ultimate Nemesis of BTS, planned to have a 2 Day event in a stadium, which would have had about 80,000

But both BTS and its nemesis didn't get to hold their concerts because of heavy Covid restrictions, which led to no concerts in 2020

2022

BTS had its 1/3 capacity concert on March. Reliable numbers are not available, but it is estimated that 45,000 attended it.

At that time the city of Pusan was trying to hold a world expo , competing with Saudi Arabia's Riyadh. So a free concert was announced in a spot, in the middle of nowhere, for 100,000.

That would have been the largest one day event, ever, in the history of Korea.

However, that spot had no amenities and was hard to get to, so some people began to cry that it was not safe.

Meanwhile, BTS' nemesis, who had lost the control of Edam Entertainment back to Kakao, but the desire to end KPop not having diminished at all, decided to steal the luster by deciding to hold a concert in Sep.

In the end, BTS' free concert was attended by 50,000 , which is the capacity of the decrepit stadium in Pusan, while BTS' nemisis' concert as attended by 89,000, ending with a huge victory by BTS' nemesis.

NCT 127 and NCT Dream had concerts at stadiums but about 50,000 each.

Psy also had a 3 day concert but attended by about 75,000 total.

So, after 2020, BTS' nemesis had the largest concert in Korea.

2023

BlackPink had a concert at the Gochuck for 35,000, the largest concert done by a KPop female act in Korean history, since BTS' nemesis is NOT a Kpop figure

Seventeen had a concert at the Gochuck for 37,000, largest in 2023

2024

Seventeen had a 2 day concert at the Incheon stadium for about 56,000

Seventeen had a 2 day concert at the Soccer stadium for about 70,000

Lim Youngwoong, a trottist, had a 2 day concert at the Soccer Stadium for about 90,000, beating the record of BTS' nemesis for the largest concert to be held in Korea after the Covid era

Unfortunately, that led to BTS' nemesis to up the ante, and she will have 108,000 attendees

So, from 2017, the largest concerts to be held in Korea are

BTS - 2019

(BTS' nemesis - 2024)

Lim Youngwoong - 2024

BTS - 2018

BTS' nemesis - 2022

H.O.T - 2017

Seventeen - 2024

and so on.

It seems BTS' nemesis is trying to have a larger concert in Korea than BTS, to show who is the boss in Korea at least.

Quote from penepol

I dunno, mate, that was why I was asking!

I was guessing ‘masses’, though, from what si remember!

Ok, just looking and first article said ‘50k’ in stadium, 10k in the port, 2k in Haeundae, and approx 49 million online…

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It is estimated that 100k people were at Pusan . 50K was in there and 50k outside. In addition , about 20k assembled in 2 separate locations at Pusan where they could watch a view of the perf.

Quote from ornaldo7

Psy had an free outdoor concert in Middle of Seoul City Hall in Oct 2012, gathering "ESTIMATED 80,000 - 150,000 attendance". Here's a video of him performing Gangnam Style

Free concerts do not make the artist any money, although it is likely that he was given some concessios by the City

KPop's Senior Singer does hold the record of the largest paid concert in Korea by a soloist.

Quote from bbgc

Well that is not fair comparison, someone may do just 1 day and some may do 3 days.

Maybe we can divide total by number of days, assuming the attendance was constant on all days.

My criteria is one 'session'.

For example, if someone did a concert at the same location for 4 days over 2 weekends it is one concert

but if the act did a concert in another location it is separate

Even if the act returned to the same location to do an encore concert it is a separate session.

Quote from Chocolate-cheeks

since you seem to be an expert on all things about IU do you know the exact attendance and revenue from the golden hour shows? i don't think the box office numbers were ever reported and yet i've seen multiple sources claim 87,578 tickets were sold over the 2 days. If you know the actual numbers i'd be very grateful.

where did you get this number from? touringdata has them at 34k for the gocheok dates on their follow tour.

I looked at wikipedia and some Korean sources. Touringdata is a bit weak in concerts held in Korea.

The available seats for the Senior singer's 2 day concert at the Olympic Stadium was 89,000. It is likely that the 1,500 gap is from those who were invited (the stars, the staff's family, etc. For example the children of IU's bodyguard attended her latest concert at Seoul. I don't think they paid for the tickets)

Quote from bbgc

True.. but that will complicate matters. The number of days, the period over which the tour happens, has multiple other factors like schedule conflicts and venue availability.

You will have to keep adding parameters making the measurements complex.

Take for example the current tour of IU, are you going to add the 2 weekends 4 shows she did at KSPO 60000 in March, to the 2 shows at Sangam 107000, in September = 167000? after all it is the same tour. But spread across 6-7 months.

That also does not seem fair.

I think it is simpler and ok to just measure 1 day event. Even with the assumption that the act can only pull that off for one day. we are talking 40000+ numbers, even if they pull it off for just 1 day, it is still a big deal. than doing 10 X 5000

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In my criteria, the KSPO and the Soccer stadium are separate events, and not combined since they were held in different locations.

1 Day event is not fair since in Korea there are only a few places to have a 1 day event, and I do not think Big Bang's 1 day concert was larger than BTS' 3 day concert in 2019.