HYBE CEO on K-Pop’s Global Rise and Fan Power Boost

• HYBE links K-pop’s rise to a fan-led “virtuous cycle.”
• Lee pushes for a glocalized “K-pop Approach" to widen their popularity.
• Weverse’s Gen Z base grows as HYBE targets Gen Alpha next.

Lee Jae-sang, CEO of HYBE, recently spoke at a webinar organized by the American entertainment analytics company Luminate, that provides information for the Billboard charts. He credited a fan-driven “virtuous cycle," where “word of mouth through social media and communities quickly leads to streaming, establishing a rapid and potent feedback loop.”

Additionally, the increased visibility and ongoing social momentum, is a prime reason for K-pop's global success. “Fans are more than just listeners,” said Lee. They actively participate in the artist’s entire scope of activities.”

HYBE’s Localized K-Pop Strategy Explained by CEO Lee

Lee credited HYBE's consistent popularity worldwide to a regionalization of its signature "K-pop Approach." This strategy is an integrated paradigm that includes frameworks for community growth, production, promotion, and artist development that are specific to each area.

In other words, it's “glocalization;” HYBE’s model puts fan engagement at the center of its global approach rather than as an add-on, by tailoring K-pop's structural framework for local markets. This is also the reason why HYBE wants to create an India office, which not only develops and caters to the K-Pop industry but also produces content for other global and domestic markets. 

Along with that, India’s music streaming market is huge, and HYBE is hoping to tap into it. According to data from Luminate's year-end report for 2023, India may surpass the U.S. as the biggest music streaming market by volume pretty soon.

HYBE Artists Jungkook, Katseye Provide Global Proof Points

To illustrate this “glocalized” model's effectiveness, Lee also provided the example of Jungkook. The youngest member of BTS has reportedly garnered over 1 billion Spotify streams for his solo track release Seven (2023), within roughly 108 days of its release, thus setting a milestone. Seven belongs to his album Golden (2023), which is one of the key contributors of his 10B Spotify streaming record, that he achieved recently.

According to industry data, the percentage of English-language songs in the top 10,000 has declined from 67% in 2021 to 54.9% in 2023. This indicates an apparent shift towards non-English music, such as K-pop.

Lee also mentioned HYBE's American girl group Katseye, which recently surpassed 33M monthly Spotify listeners, a significant accomplishment for a group just out of the debut phase. These examples and data collectively suggest how HYBE combines data, platform analytics, and community activity to produce "super fans" around the world, who influence artist pathways.

Weverse and the Rise of the Super Fan

Lee emphasized that a large portion of this involvement is driven by Gen Z, who have been raised in interactive digital ecosystems. HYBE's "virtuous cycle" is therefore also fueled by its app, Weverse, which provides centralized fandom spaces and real-time artist interaction.

With 9M to 10M monthly active users, fans in this case are more than 100M downloads. HYBE's fan platform, Weverse, has grown into a global hotspot that promotes such participatory culture where people create and share content. Notably, almost 90% of Weverse users hail from regions that are not in Korea.

Targeting Generation Alpha: HYBE’s Next Frontier

In the not-too-distant future, HYBE reportedly will focus on Generation Alpha, an audience whose cultural tastes are still developing. "They will embrace and support not only K-pop but also many artists debuting in local markets using the K-pop mechanisms as content they grew up with, without any biases," he said.

HYBE's rise, fueled by BTS's global effect, corresponds to the broader streaming boom of the industry. K-pop streaming has increased dramatically during the past five years on a variety of platforms, including Spotify. As per industry analysts, K-Pop streaming has reached around 4.8 trillion in 2024. Such actions depict a trend that will continue in the future and foster fan-driven breakout hits.