Latest news with #JoshuaHong
Business Insider
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Insider
K-pop's biggest stars are showing off their blind box pulls and fueling the Labubu frenzy that's taking over South Korea
K-pop band Seventeen is going all in on the Labubu craze. Its vocalist posted a picture kissing his pink Labubu, and the band is touting their custom dolls. Pop Mart South Korea has halted physical Labubu sales, citing "potential safety incidents." K-pop's biggest names are fueling the Labubu craze in South Korea. Members of the boy band Seventeen, which is one of K-pop's biggest acts of the moment, posted pictures on social media showing off their Labubu dolls. Labubu, a furry doll made by the Chinese toymaker Pop Mart, went viral this year, causing snaking queues to form outside outlets around the world. Seventeen's vocalist Joshua Hong posted a picture on Instagram on Sunday showing him posing in a park and kissing his bright pink Labubu's head. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joshua Hong (@joshu_acoustic) Seventeen's rappers Hoshi and Vernon also showed off the Labubu that Seventeen created in collaboration with Pharrell Williams' auction site Joopiter, fashion brand Carhartt, and Japanese luxury brand Sacai. And another of the band's vocalists, Seungkwan, showed the doll off at an event in Seoul, commenting offhand that the doll shared a last name with him — Boo. The 6.7-inch dolls in the Seventeen collaboration are clad in gray onesies by Carhartt and feature neon green fur, a color not seen on a Labubu until now. Labubu's ties with K-pop run deep. The toy got immensely popular in Asia after Lisa, one of the four singers from the hit K-pop band Blackpink, posted an image of it on her Instagram last April. K-pop stars showing off their blind box pulls may be one reason South Koreans are going crazy over Labubus, to the point that Pop Mart has halted physical sales in the country. "Due to concerns raised over potential safety incidents at offline sales locations, and with the safety of our customers as our top priority, we have decided to temporarily suspend the offline sales of all LABUBU plush dolls and LABUBU plush keyring series," Pop Mart Korea said in an Instagram story on Sunday. Videos on social media show Pop Mart stores in Seoul packed with fans of the dolls. In May, Pop Mart similarly suspended physical sales of Labubus in the UK, citing a "significant rise in customer turnout on restock days." The toymaker announced last week on its UK Instagram that it would continue sales of "The Monsters" series, which Labubu is a part of, at the end of June. On June 13, Pop Mart launched a new series of The Monsters called Wacky Mart. The series is food-inspired, and includes Labubus modeled after tempura shrimp, cup noodles, and corn.
Forbes
31-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
K-Pop's Live Touring Boom 2025: SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, BTS, BLACKPINK
Joshua Hong, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Dino, Woozi, Vernon of Seventeen ... More performs at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Penske Media via Getty Images) K-pop's global momentum isn't just confined to chart-topping hits and massive album sales this year: it's on full display under the bright lights of arenas and stadiums worldwide with new milestones hit by the likes ofSEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, BTS' J-Hope,TVXQ!, BABYMONSTER and more. Following the latest reports on midyear tour figures, the K-pop industry's touring business has surpassed previous milestones with entertainment agencies leaning more heavily on live-performance revenue as we near the second half of 2025. It marks an apparent shift in K-pop, transitioning from being dependent on album sales to concert-fueled growth, with the trend unlikely to swing back as the rest of the year promises more prominent shows on the way. Billboard's midyear Boxscore report revealed that SEVENTEEN firmly established themselves as a world-class live act. Based on the reported touring data from October 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025, the boy band earned a staggering $120.9 million in gross revenue with 842,000 tickets sold during the period. Before celebrating their 10th anniversary in May, the stars secured the Number 3 spot on Billboard Boxscore's all-genre midyear list — only slightly behind Coldplay and Shakira, who are on massive stadium tours of their own with that have grossed a respective $142.1 million and $130 million. Remarkably, SEVENTEEN essentially doubled its midyear gross for the second consecutive year, jumping from $30 million in 2023 to $67.5 million in 2024. SEVENTEEN's third-place finish marks the highest ranking ever achieved by a Korean act in Billboard Boxscore's midyear tally, surpassing BTS' previous Number 4 midyear placement from 2022. But SEVENTEEN wasn't the lone live phenomenon. Five K-pop acts made the all-genre Top 50 ranking for Billboard Boxscore, up from three in 2023 and two in 2022. Fellow boy band ATEEZ, as well as J-Hope of BTS, follow SEVENTEEN with $28.4 million and $28.1 million grossed, respectively, with J-Hope noted as the first K-pop soloist ever to land on the midyear overall Top Tours chart. Rounding out this top five are ENHYPEN and Tomorrow X Together, grossing $25.6 million and $25.1 million, respectively. Overall, K-pop acts on the midyear Top Tours chart generated $228 million while selling 1.6 million tickets from 78 reported shows. Billboard reports that the scene's 2025 showing is a 79% increase over the 2024 total, which had already jumped 93% from 2023. In just two years' time, K-pop's presence on the midyear Boxscore has more than tripled. All artists appear for SMTOWN Live 2025 in Los Angeles, California These touring triumphs highlight a strategic pivot among South Korea's entertainment giants. As the industry's reliably massive album sales have softened, live performances have become the primary driver of growth. Major players, including HYBE, SM Entertainment, and YG Entertainment, reported first-quarter revenue surges, primarily driven by concert earnings. Check out a breakdown of the year-over-year first-quarter numbers for each of the 'big four' Korean-pop agencies below, with data provided by The Chosun Daily. Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, Han, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N. of Stray Kids perform at the ... More 2024 Billboard Music Awards. (Photo by JYP Entertainment/Penske Media via Getty Images) With still a month to go until July, the remainder of 2025 appears to be shaping up as a landmark period for further live and touring growth. As further evidence, HYBE CEO Park Jiwon noted in a recent earnings call that the conglomerate has more than 150 concerts confirmed for 2025 from its artists, with additional announcements to follow. 'Both the scale and audience size will expand further in the second half,' Park said, per Chosun Daily. Once again, peep the 2025 preview for the four major agencies. With unprecedented midyear grosses and Korean agencies realigning and diverting resources toward lucrative global tours, the K-pop industry's blockbuster second half indicates its revenue mix is likely shifting even more toward live performances and, with that, setting new records around the world.
