Appearing as a witness at the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee audit on October 7, JYP Entertainment Chairman Park Jin-young, who also serves as co-chairman of the Popular Culture Exchange Committee, made a notable observation about the future of K-pop.
Recounting his experience touring 50 U.S. cities with the girl group Wonder Girls about 20 years ago, Chairman Park noted, "In October of that year, we achieved a historic milestone: the first-ever entry of кσяєαn music onto the Billboard Hot 100 chart." He added, "A decade later, topping the Billboard charts has become a frequent occurrence, and drawing crowds of 50,000 to 100,000 people to mαѕѕive venues has become commonplace."
For that reason, he said, "Both I and everyone leading the K-pop industry have come to share the view that K-pop has reached a limit in its global growth." That is why they have joined forces with the government to push forward various projects, most notably the Phenomenon Awards & Festival and plans to establish K-Culture Centers in major cities around the world.
His remarks quickly sparked heated discussion within the K-pop community, with BTS υиєχρє¢тє∂ly becoming a major point of focus. Many people argued that the claim that “K-pop has reached its limit” may be true for the industry as a whole, but does not necessarily apply to BTS.
One of the most frequently mentioned arguments was the scale of BTS’ music and influence after the group returned with ARIRANG. While BTS were away fulfilling their mandatory military service, the K-pop album market went through a period of decline after reaching a peak in 2023.
According to Yonhap, citing data from the Circle Chart, K-pop physical album sales fell to 98.9 million copies in 2024, down 21.3 million from 2023. This marked a significant reversal after years of growth. In 2025, total sales fell further to around 93.5 million copies, a decrease of roughly 5.5% from 2024 and the second consecutive year of decline. Even the best-selling albums during those years only managed to go slightly above the 3-million mark.
However, when BTS returned, the picture changed significantly. According to Hanteo, K-pop sold around 49.53 million albums in the first half of 2026, up 23.4% from 40.1 million during the same period in 2025 and surpαѕѕing the previous first-half record of 46.17 million set in 2023. ARIRANG was the best-selling album on Hanteo in the first half of 2026, with 4.713 million copies sold. According to ChartMasters, ARIRANG has currently reached around 14.46 million equivalent album sales, ranking No. 1 among albums released in 2026.
Park Jin-young’s statement that “50,000 to 100,000 people to mαѕѕive venues has become commonplace” was also quickly picked apart by ARMYs. A 50,000-capacity crowd may be achievable for some major groups, but that scale is not realistic for many 4th- and 5th-generation groups or most K-pop artists. Their concerts typically range around 30,000 tickets.
Even among the four major K-pop artists known to have held individual concerts with more than 60,000 attendees — BTS, SEVENTEEN, TWICE, and BLACKPINK — three of them, excluding BTS, have mainly reached the 60,000-plus mark in Asia. BTS, on the other hand, have reportedly held 60,000-plus concerts in both the United States and Europe.
With the ARIRANG World Tour, BTS are using a series of stadiums with capacities ranging from around 50,000 to more than 80,000, with some venues hosting multiple consecutive nights. BTS remain the only K-pop act that stands out for consistently maintaining such a mαѕѕive stadium scale across multiple international markets.
BTS’ level of recognition in the United States is another piece of data that fans have highlighted. According to Luminate’s second-quarter 2026 survey, 42% of U.S. music consumers said they were aware of BTS, significantly higher than the 24% average for all artists surveyed and nearly four times the 11% average among the 22 K-pop acts included in the study. Even more notably, BTS’ favorability among those who were aware of the group reached 46%, the highest level since Luminate began tracking the figure in 2021.
All of these figures show that BTS continue to expand their influence, with no clear ceiling to their global reach. At the same time, collaboration between different parties may be an inevitable trend, but BTS may not necessarily need it because they already have a “playing field of their own.” This has only made ARMYs even prouder of their idols’ position, with fans discussing:
- "K-pop has reached its limit" we cheer for the downfall while BTS keep thriving. The only group that can restore the au∂ιєnce faith in K-pop is BTS
- There are many industries in this world, but K-pop is the absolute worst. Everyone—from the agencies to the fans—acts like a bunch of вℓσσ∂suckers. With one hand, they latch onto BTS to leech off their success, while with the other, they spew hate and try to tear BTS down
- Kpop struggles to make good music and expand in the west, every groups outside BTS is a joke to the west. BTS ARE BEYOND KPOP - the fact
- But if the big 4 companies collaborate like wouldn’t that bury the midsize and small companies more? Promoting kpop should involve increasing visibility to midsize and small company groups or else it will remain the same or go downhill
- The comments about how BTS’s success is the reason why kpop is terrible is кιℓℓing me ( of laughter ) BTS had lyricim and music smashing since day one why would they stop now
- Maybe if you stopped obsessing over finding the “next BTS” and actually focused on making meaningful music instead of putting out albums that are just repetitive bullsнιт with endless photocards and versions just to boost sales, kpop wouldn’t be in decline
- Honestly, seeing BTS's meteoric rise, we thought you guys got a piece of the pie too, but turns out you were just sinking the whole time
- If they have plateaued and nothing new to offer, their fans got tired and left. BTS is different, I see soмєтнing new all the time. That is how they remain relevant and at the top. They grew, they matured and still looking to be better.
