South Korean music firm Hybe enjoyed a bumper Q1 this year, and no prizes for guessing one of the prime drivers of its growth: BTS.
Hybe reported revenues of KRW 698.3bn ($471.2m at current exchange rates) for the first quarter. That’s a record Q1 for the company, with the revenues up 39.5% year-on-year.
This included a near-doubling of its quarterly revenues from recorded music to KRW 271.5bn, which the company said was “largely driven by BTS’ fifth studio album, Arirang’. Note, the album was released on 20 March, although pre-orders kicked off in January.
Hybe offered a new stat for its success: 208,000 vinyl copies sold in a single week – “the highest weekly vinyl sales by a group since tracking began in 1991”.
Elsewhere in the business, revenue from ‘indirect artist activities’ – a category that includes merch, licensing, content and fanclub memberships – grew by 66% year-on-year too KRW 294.7bn. Here, too, BTS played a role – their famous light sticks were cited as one of the big sellers.
Hybe was also keen to point the spotlight on other acts in its roster, from 2m sales o fthe debut album from Cortis to the 32 million monthly Spotify listeners for Katseye. Meanwhile, Hybe’s superfan platform Weverse had 13.4 million monthly active users in Q1.
