HYBE has become the first entertainment company in South Korea to surpass 2 trillion won in annual sales. The significant sales and streaming achievements of BTS and Seventeen have been identified as major contributors to this success.
HYBE announced on Feb. 26 that its sales on a consolidated basis for the last year increased by 22.6% from the previous year to 2.1781 trillion won (US$1.6358 billion). Operating profit was up 24.9% to 295.8 billion won, while net profit surged by 288.5% to 186.6 billion won.
A closer look at last year’s sales by category reveals that direct participation sales rose by 51.4% to 1.4715 trillion won. Within direct participation sales, album and music streaming revenue recorded 970.5 billion won, marking a 75.8% growth from the previous year. With the pandemic coming to an end and the concert market recovering, concert revenues also increased by 39.1% to 359.1 billion won.
Album sales (according to Circle Chart) of artists under HYBE nearly doubled last year from 22.2 million copies in 2022 to 43.6 million copies. By team, Seventeen sold 15.94 million copies, Tomorrow X Together (TXT) 6.51 million, New Jeans 4.26 million, Enhypen 3.88 million, BTS Jungkook 2.71 million, and BTS V 2.25 million. Notably, despite the military enlistment of the members of BTS halting team activities, Jimin and Jungkook still achieved the feat of reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.
The number of artists who performed concerts increased from four teams in the previous year to seven teams last year, and the total number of concerts held rose from 78 to 125, significantly boosting concert revenues. HYBE also disclosed a cash dividend plan to enhance shareholder value on the same day.