Trapital

K-Pop's Paradox: Why BTS Fans Aren’t K-Pop Fans

Published: May 19, 2026

Duration: 28:24


K-Pop is in a unique situation. The genre “feels” like it’s everywhere. BTS, Blackpink, Stray Kids, and KPop **Demon Hunters have topped Billboard and Netflix charts. But recent data shows that roughly 2% of global streams are from K-Pop, and the genre is and trending down.

We are joined by Will Page, former Chief Economist at Spotify and author of Pivot. He released a new report on Music Business Worldwide in collaboration with Jeongbeom ‘JB’ Kim, Chief Data Officer at the Korean-based KreatorsNetwork.

We discussed how K-Pop’s demand is centralized at the top, why...