The buzzword in K-entertainment for the New Year of the Year of the Horse can be summarized as ‘all-out war’. K-pop, broadcasting, and movies have all pulled out their ‘sure cards’ and vowed to leap higher or relive their glory. Broadcasting is releasing a series of ‘sequels’ in dramas and entertainment programs that have the closest contact with the public, with a certain degree of success guaranteed. In Chungmuro, the rush of masters representing K-movies is noticeable. Na Hong-jin and Yeon Sang-ho, who are considered box office guarantees, and above all, the two leading figures of Korean cinema, Park Chan-wook and Bong Joon-ho, are returning. K-pop is no exception. With the revival of K-pop, which has now become ‘a genre’, the return of Blackpink and BTS is expected.

This year, the K-pop stage is expected to be more competitive than ever as the ‘global top tiers’ enter active mode.

Following BTS and BLACKPINK, who are resuming group activities, Stray Kids, Seventeen, and ATEEZ, which have grown K-pop‘s influence in the North American market last year despite their absence, are planning to expand their reach to Europe and South America. There are growing expectations both inside and outside the music industry that the ‘hard work’ of these global powerhouses will further fuel the K-pop boom.

Based on their success in becoming the first group in Billboard’s 69-year history to top the Billboard 200 main album chart for six consecutive weeks last month, Stray Kids are set to expand the scale of their world tour to a “stadium level.” The second leg of “Dominate,” which began in August of last year, will begin in March of next year, and for the first time since their debut, in addition to the 10 regions in North America, they have added five regions in Latin America and five regions in Europe.

The concerts at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles (70,000 seats) and Citi Field in New York (40,000 seats) have already been sold out. They will be the first K-pop artists to perform at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in England (60,000 seats). They are expected to gather an average of 50,000 viewers per concert, and a total of close to 1 million viewers for this tour.

SEVENTEEN will continue to move forward this year as well, overcoming the limitations of their ‘Gunbaekgi’ (gap due to military service). As a group with 13 members, they decided to continue full group activities despite some of the members‘ military service. They will continue the ongoing ‘Seventeen Right Here’ concerts until the first half of the year, and in April, they will be the first K-pop group to appear in the large-scale Latin American festival ‘Tecate Pal Norte’.

In line with this, attention is also focused on whether they will be able to regain the top spot in ‘K-pop tour revenue’. According to Billboard estimates, SEVENTEEN earned the most K-pop tour revenue last year by selling 865,000 tickets for 24 overseas concerts, earning a total of $98.4 million (KRW 144.825 billion).

ATEEZ, who have risen as a new powerhouse by topping the ‘Billboard 200’ twice, are targeting the European stage through ‘Towards the Light: Will to Power in Europe’, which begins on the 18th. They will visit Lyon, France; Manchester, England; and Cologne, Germany for the first time through this tour. They will also have the honor of being the first K-pop group to hold a solo concert at the ‘La Défense Arena’, which can accommodate 40,000 people in Paris, France.



Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com