Here is the idol poll from 2012
1) SNSD Yoona (700 points)
2) SNSD Taeyeon (667)
3) SNSD Tiffany (603)
4) IU (599)
5) SNSD Yuri (570)
6) SNSD Seohyun (534)
7) SNSD Jessica (523)
8 } SNSD Sooyoung (514)
9) 2AM Jokwon (480)
10) SNSD Sunny (468)
So, basically, there were just two major acts in KPop in 2012 before Psy : SNSD, and (to a much lesser degree) IU.
SNSD sold more than 1 million albums in Japan while IU sold very little there.
Fast forward 9 yrs and we hear this news about Jessica Jung
Jessica's company is in big financial trouble and it appears she is personally liable for the debt. It doesn't help that this happened in Hong Kong, where you can't discharge your debt by declaring bankruptcy. Tyler Kwon, her partner, is also involved but it appear she will be hit the most.
SNSD members made some money, but none of them are known for their wealth. While the runner up IU has bought a $11.7 million house.
Is it because IU continued to thrive when KPop became much bigger so even a domesticist like her could benefit ? Or is it because SM took a large portion of SNSD's income while IU, whose training cost was negligible since they didn't have to teach her dancing, was collecting more of her earnings herself? It is hard to tell.
Anyways it appears no member of SNSD is richer than IU, probably the richest female KPop figure of all. Which would have been unimaginable when the popularity of SNSD and IU had a gap as large as the gap between the sun and the moon. (The reference comes from Sunny (Susan Lee) and Jang Manwol (which means Full Moon).
