HYBE Hits Record 500 Billion Won Q1 Sales on Global Tours
Apr 29, 2025
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Hive announced on the 29th that it recorded sales of KRW 5006 billion in the first quarter of 2025, up 39% from the same period last year. Typically, the first quarter is the time when artists who have completed year-end activities prepare for new albums and projects with recharging, with relatively few new releases and new content. However, in the first quarter of this year, sales increased significantly as a number of Hive Music Group artists, including BTS J-Hope, Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together, ENHYPEN, and Boy Next Door, conducted world tours and solo tours. Sales have expanded as more teams have grown enough to handle the world tour.
Direct participatory sales, which include record labels, performances, and advertisements, amounted to 322.5 billion won, accounting for about 64% of the total sales. The record label division showed a slight decline compared to the same period last year, but sales in the performance division more than tripled to 155.2 billion won during the same period as artists' world tours received a hot response.
Indirect participatory sales of MD, licensing, content, and fan club sales amounted to 178.1 billion won, accounting for about 36% of the total sales. Sales in the MD and licensing sectors, which accounted for the largest portion of indirect participatory sales, increased 75% from 60.7 billion won a year earlier to about 106.4 billion won this quarter. Tour-related products were loved by fans around the world, and outside the concert hall, character products such as Seventeen's 『Minitin" with the motif of Hive Music Group Artist Intellectual Property (IP), Tomorrow X Together's 『Kornbatu"』, Le Seraphim's 『Fim's Club』, and Boy Next Door's 『Punekdo" contributed to sales.
Operating profit also rose. Operating profit in the first quarter of this year was 21.6 billion won, up about 50% from the same period last year.
The outlook for the second quarter's performance is also bright. In the second quarter, most of the Hive Music Group artists plan to resume their activities with the release of the album and start touring in earnest. BTS's Jin will make his comeback on May 16 with his second mini-album 'Echo', and will meet global fans through his first solo fan concert tour from June. Seventeen will return with its first full album in three years on May 26, the 10th anniversary of its debut. In addition, ENHYPEN, who performed overwhelmingly on the Coachella stage, plans to release a new album in June. Through its first world tour 'EASY CRAZY HOT', Le Seraphim will visit fans in Japan, Asia, and North America. Boy Next Door, which is breaking career highs with each album, continues to grow with its fourth mini album 'No Genre'. Global girl group KATSEYE will also release a new single 'Gnarly' on the 30th.
New artists are also about to debut. First of all, a seven-member boy group 'aoen(Aoen)' selected through the Japanese Nihon TV 'Cheering-High~Dream START LINE~' program is scheduled to make its official debut on June 11. Aoen has solidified its fandom base by receiving good local responses during the program's airing.
Big Hit Music will introduce a new boy group in the third quarter. This team is a next-generation creator crew that expresses itself with a completely new sense, and features music as well as choreography and video creation. Since last year, they have demonstrated their creative ability by participating in the music and performance production of Hive senior artists.
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