Why nobody talks about airplay in South Korea?

  • I realized people always talk about what's on the radio to say what's popular or not. And it's even more important in the US because of the Hot 100.


    But I've never seen anyone talking about what's being played on the radio in South Korea. I've never seen a chart for airplay.


    Why is that? Is radio dead in South Korea?

  • they have Melon

    and music tv shows


    that's kind of enough


    plus there are those music shows on Naver NOW, and many Idols are also hosts/guests in other shows. I've noticed that probably most of big tv channels also have their own radio stations/or some kind of versions of them.


    by the way it's kind of funny because I've just realised that I've only seen some radio playing in kdrama when they are driving lol

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  • True.


    I think almost nobody still listens to the radio when not driving.

  • Maybe charts aren't unified or tracked by just one metric. Also, music shows don't use it if it exists in a unified format, so it may not have any relevance for the fandom, but it is important for others. Isn't the same in Japan? I don't quite follow all the intricacies of Japanese music industry, but when talking about charts, I only hear about Oricon. Does Chinese track radio airplay as well? Maybe it is an East Asian thing to not care much about airplay charts as it may not fit fandom culture.

  • Maybe charts aren't unified or tracked by just one metric. Also, music shows don't use it if it exists in a unified format, so it may not have any relevance for the fandom, but it is important for others. Isn't the same in Japan? I don't quite follow all the intricacies of Japanese music industry, but when talking about charts, I only hear about Oricon. Does Chinese track radio airplay as well? Maybe it is an East Asian thing to not care much about airplay charts as it may not fit fandom culture.

    I thought it was because South Korea had a strong digital market that killed radio. But Japan doesn't and doesn't have it either. Interesting.

  • I thought it was because South Korea had a strong digital market that killed radio. But Japan doesn't and doesn't have it either. Interesting.

    Yeah. I'm not sure either. It may be a series of factors, but I don't know enough why to point to a main reason. It is a good topic to wonder about :siptear:

  • Wow I actually never really thought about it... Interesting though, but it's not as strong as other streaming services maybe? But I can't believe how it can be, I mean radio is really massive everywhere, at least should be

  • I had a similar question on the old AKP forum in 2019 and no one knew then either. My theory is, the most heard radio stations in Korea don’t play much Kpop outside of the already popular acts. Because - for example - how could the „general public“ miss out on „Brave Girls - Rollin“ if it was on the radio in 2017… ^

  • Radio is definitely a thing there, I think it just doesn't count for charts. There are many radio shows so there has to be a large audience for it there.

    But I remember RM once saying he was very surprised radio counted on charts when they went to the US because that's not a metric they worry about in South Korea. I understand him since it was weird for me as well to see radio as one of the metrics for charting.

  • Moderator

    Moved the thread from forum KPOP to forum KPOP.

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