Japan’s K-Pop Market Matures Amid BTS Hiatus, As Other Groups Rise

• A study reveals a slowdown hitting Japan’s K-pop market, despite an overall rise in viewership.
• Female acts gain more popularity in Japan along with other boy groups, as BTS activities pause.
• A study shows Japanese fandom favoring multiple groups and personal recommendations over platform-driven discovery.

Japan, without a doubt, is the most important international market for Korean pop music. However, new analysis shows that Japan's K-pop market is essentially saturated, with growth slowing as the industry matures. While long-standing fan groups continue to sustain consistent demand and spending, hardly any new fans are joining the sector, notes K-Pop Radar and the Korea Creative Content Agency's Japan office, who jointly prepared this report. 

K-pop YouTube views in Japan grew from 4.06 billion in 2022 to 4.57B in 2023 and then to 4.95 B in 2024, based on the new analysis. Although that translates to an average growth rate of somewhat more than 10% annually over a three-year period, the annual increase has decreased from around 12% to about 8%.

Despite an increase in total views, Japan's share of global K-pop YouTube consumption decreased from 8.77% in 2022 to 8.54% in 2024. Rapid expansion in regions like Southeast Asia, Latin America has also been identified by the study as the reason for Japan’s shrinking share of the global market. 3.59B people watched K-Pop content in Japan throughout the first three quarters of 2025. This shows a 1.06% year-over-year decline, indicating that the market might be reaching a stagnant state.

SEVENTEEN, Twice Acts Gain Traction, as BTS Activity Still Remains Paused

BTS, Japan's leading K-pop group, accounted for around 20% of total views in 2022. Due to the group's compulsory military service, a gap has been created, leading fans to focus on other artists, such as Twice and SEVENTEEN.

Currently, SEVENTEEN ranks among Japan's top five groups, and has held this position for the last four years. On the other hand, Twice has become one of the most well-known K-Pop girl groups in the country, through its Japanese subunit Misamo. 

Other newer female K-Pop groups like aespa, Ive, Le Sserafim, and NewJeans are also gaining traction on their acts, mostly through short-form video content. Additionally, Stray Kids also enjoyed a strong growth in 2025 as seen in the Oricon and Billboard Japan charts.

Personal Recommendations Beat Social Media Curation for Japanese K-Pop Fans: Study

Fandom is evolving, as noted in a survey of about 95 Japanese K-pop fans. Over 50% of those surveyed claimed to follow more than one group. It also revealed that when it comes to finding new music, recommendations from personal connections like friends and family are more significant than social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

This pattern stands slightly in contrast to the concept of a “superfan,” highlighted by HYBE CEO, which bolsters K-Pop acts mostly via participatory apps like Weverse. It highlights that K-Pop consumption in Japan follows largely a community-driven approach, indicating that increased in-person activities, such as concerts, fan events like meet-and-greets, could be able to rekindle the flame of K-Pop in Japan, as global competition heats up.