HYBE Achieves 2 Trillion KRW in Sales for Second Consecutive Year
Feb 25, 2025
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Hive's consolidated sales in 2024 are KRW 2.2545 trillion, up about 4% from the previous year, the highest since its foundation. Direct participation sales fell 1.8% year-on-year to KRW 1.4453 trillion, while indirect participation sales rose 14.5% to KRW 809.3 billion during the same period. Direct participatory sales fell 11.3% year-on-year in the record label division, which has a large proportion, but the performance division showed a large increase of 25.6%, offsetting the decline in sales. Since the end of the pandemic, fans' consumption patterns seem to have diversified, mainly offline.
In the music sector, Hive's annual share of the circle chart was 40%, up 2%p from 38% the previous year. Seventeen recorded more than 10 million cumulative album sales last year following 2023, setting a milestone of achieving 10 million sales for the second consecutive year. TOMORROW X TOGETHER has two albums in the top 10 annual circle chart, and all three albums released last year were on Japan's Oricon year-end settlement chart. ENHYPEN has accumulated sales of 5.45 million copies and proved its global popularity by placing 8th and 9th on the annual album charts in the U.S. and Japan, respectively. Newzins sold more than 3 million albums and achieved the No. 1 sales share among K-pop female artists. Boynext Door, which is popular with the recently released 'I LOVE YOU for today only', became a million seller a year and a half after its debut.
In the music category, Hive Music Group artists also shone. Fifteen songs by Hive artists in the top 20 of the Circle Chart Global K-Pop Chart, which covers the use of domestic and foreign streaming platforms, proved their strong content competitiveness. Solo songs by BTS members Jin, Jimin, V, and Jungkook and Meghan the Stallian's 'Neva Play' featuring RM were listed on Billboard 'Hot 100', respectively, while Le Seraphim charted on Billboard 'Hot 100' with 'EASY' and 'CRAZY' in the first half and second half of the year, respectively. TWS (Tuus), which debuted last year, topped Melon's annual chart with its debut song 'First Meeting Didn't Go As Planned', and Eilit entered the U.S. Billboard 'Hot 100' and the U.K. 'Official Single Top 100' for the first time in K-pop debut song 'Magnetic'.
Last year, Hive Music Group artists held 147 concerts and 25 fan meetings, recording the largest performance sales since its foundation. According to Billboard's 「2024 K-pop Performance Sales Chart」, Seventeen, ENHYPEN, and TOMORROW X TOGETHER dominated the top three. In particular, performance sales in the fourth quarter of last year were 188.9 billion won, more than double that of the same period last year.
Looking at indirect participatory sales, sales in the performance sector and the MD and licensing sectors, which showed an upward effect, rose 29.1% year-on-year to 420 billion won, the highest performance ever. As Hive Music Group artists went on a large-scale world tour, sales of MDs and light sticks related to performances increased significantly, and character products based on members of each group such as BTS, SEVENTEEN, and TOMORROW X TOGETHER were loved a lot.
Hive America also made a remarkable achievement. Big Machine Label Group Artists, a label affiliated with Hive America, topped a total of 10 Billboard charts, of which Carly Pearce was nominated for the Grammy Awards for the second year in a row. Another hive-America label QC Music continued to feature major artists such as Quavo, Lil Baby, and Lil Yachty. Lil Baby's 'WHAM', which was released in early January this year, topped the Billboard 200 chart, and all four recently released albums reached the top of the chart. The SB Project, Hive America's management division, recently hired Cade Hudson, who has worked with famous American singers such as Britney Spears, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, and Selena Gomez, from the world's largest agency, the Creative Artists Agency (CAA), to strengthen artist management capabilities. Hive's consolidated operating profit in 2024 was KRW 184.8 billion, down 38% from the previous year. First of all, the absence of team activities due to the fulfillment of BTS's military service obligations and the change in the proportion of sales by artist due to the debut of a number of rookie groups affected the decrease in operating profit. The cost of investing in Cats Eye's debut in the U.S. and investing in manpower and infrastructure to lay the foundation for growth after the establishment of Hive Latin America also contributed to the decrease in profit margins. In addition, as new growth projects including Weverse and games began to operate in earnest, upfront investment costs to secure mid- to long-term growth engines were executed.
Hive's profitability is expected to improve this year. Above all, BTS is expected to make a comeback, economic effects of even growth of artists from Hive Music Group, strengthening artist management capabilities through the recruitment of Cade Hudson, and generating sales of Hive Latin America subsidiaries are expected to improve profitability.
The performance of the new growth business sector is also considered to be a factor in improving returns. Sales related to Weverse digital membership, which started its service in December last year, will be reflected in its performance from January this year, when the free period ends. HiveIM will strengthen its publishing lineup with 'Architect: Land of Exile', new works from Bonfire Studios, and more, which have attracted the attention of many gamers at '2024 G-Star'. It also plans to introduce a number of self-developed titles sequentially, including the mobile puzzle game 'Puzzle Seventeen'. Superton, an AI audio company, has officially released 'Superton Shift' and 'Superton Play' one after another. Supertone Shift is a service that converts users' voices into character voices, and about 350,000 people have signed up. Supertone Play supports 150 different voices in three languages by applying TTS technology that converts text into voice, and B2B delivery is underway in the form of AI chatbot.
In addition, new team projects will be carried out in regions such as the United States, Japan, and Latin this year. Hive aims to lead market innovation with a 'multi-home, multi-genre' strategy that combines K-pop system and know-how with local culture and characteristics abroad. In the U.S., he will launch a new boy group project with producer Ryan Tether, who has collaborated with world-renowned musicians such as Beyoncé, Adele and Ed Sheeran. Japan's YX LABELS (YX Labels, formerly Hive Labels Japan) presents a new generation of J-pop groups connecting &TEAM.
supremez@sportschosun.com
