Each Blackpink member earns hundreds of millions of dollars from music products, tour ticket sales, and being the face of brands.
When speaking before the US Congress in May, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said: "Even if you don't know my name, you will still know BTS and Blackpink." Today, Korean music groups are not only cultural icons but also money-making machines for large companies, contributing to boosting the GDP of the Korean economy . Forbes commented that Kpop is a way to demonstrate Korea's soft power. While BTS is slowing down due to military regulations, Blackpink continues to be active, becoming a typical representative of the music industry.
According to WealthyPresence, Blackpink has quickly earned hundreds of millions of dollars since their debut in 2016. The group's money comes from selling records, streaming music, and touring. In 2022, the group sold 2.8 million albums. During the period from 2018-2022, they sold a total of 5.25 million albums in the Korean market alone. Each album costs about 18-35 USD (depending on different versions). In addition to the two joint albums, each member's individual products also set a series of records.
In 2021, despite the effects of the pandemic, YG Entertainment announced that it had achieved an operating profit of $7.1 million in the first quarter, mainly due to the sale of music albums and online show tickets. Blackpink and its junior boy band Treasure sold 620,000 and 310,000 copies, respectively. Blackpink's online shows also sold about 280,000 tickets, earning about $6.8 million, not including YouTube's commission.
Two world tours brought YG huge profits. In Your Area World Tour (2018) with 36 performances in Asia, Europe, North America, earned 56.7 million USD. Born Pink, which started at the end of last year, has so far earned about 163.8 million USD, with more than 900,000 tickets sold. On average, each show, this group earns more than 4 million USD with about 22,600 audiences. The above figures do not include 24 shows that have not been counted. The achievement helps Blackpink become the girl group with the highest revenue tour, surpassing the records of Spice Girls (78.2 million USD), TCL (72.8 million USD), Destiny's Child (70.8 million USD). The group will bring a concert to Vietnam at the end of July.
From left to right: Four group members including Lisa, Jisoo, Jennie, Rose. Photo: ABC
Thanks to building a beautiful image and unique personal style, Blackpink stars earn millions of dollars through advertising contracts for luxury brands. Jisoo has a multi-year contract with Dior and is also the brand representative of Cartier and Kiss Me. Jennie is associated with many big brands such as Chanel, Saumsung, Adidas, Hera, Calvin Klein. Rose is the "muse" of Saint Laurent, Tiffany, Omega and the youngest member Lisa is the representative face of Celine and Bvlgari.
The group's members also make a lot of money through social media. Lisa - known as the "Queen of Instagram" - has 95.4 million followers on the social network. Jennie, Jisoo and Rose follow with 80, 74 and 72 million, respectively. In 2020, the Korean program Smart Consumer revealed that one of Jennie's promotional posts cost about 600 million won ($454,000). At that time, her personal page had only 30.4 million followers.
Forbes believes that in addition to the money that Blackpink members directly earn, they also contribute to boosting the economy, contributing billions of dollars through tourism and shopping activities. For example, the Tourism Authority of Thailand recorded a spike in the number of visitors to an ancient city near Bangkok after Lisa checked in at this location. Or the items from luxury to affordable that Jennie wears quickly "sell out" .
Despite the large sums of money they earn, the four girls are not as wealthy as many international stars, as they have to share half of their profits with their management companies. Before becoming idols, like all other K-pop stars, they underwent an average two-year trainee period, which cost about $40,000, paid for by the company.
Being able to debut means they sign a binding contract with their management agency for about 5-10 years, to compensate for initial investments and production and promotion costs. According to the South China Morning Post, Jisoo currently has a net worth of 20 million USD. Rose, Lisa, Jennie have 18, 14 and 10 million USD respectively.
Vnexpress.net
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