KPop concerts continue to grow outside Asia

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

Most of these touring acts are male groups.

While K-pop stars may seem extremely far away from U.S. fans, a recent report on the artists' concerts indicates America is increasingly becoming a priority to touring Korean acts.

Concert kickstarter website MyMusicTaste.com -- which looks at local fan demand to bring musicians to different countries and cities, doing just that for EXO's first U.S. arena tour earlier this year -- present it all in an infographic that you can check out exclusively through Billboard below.

Diving into the numbers, which examines from 2013 to present day, East Asia still holds the most K-pop concerts in the world, but the numbers appear to be slightly tapering off as about 50 less K-pop shows were performed in the territory (that includes Korea and Japan) last year compared to 2014. Meanwhile, areas like North America, South America and Europe have all had three consistent years of K-pop concert growth since 2013; with North America (including the U.S. and Canada) marking the second largest territory for K-pop acts. MyMusicTaste notes that currently Japan holds the most K-pop concerts abroad, with China in second, and the U.S. in third.

A deeper look into the artists performing these concerts spotlights most of these touring acts are male groups. Of the 1,456 counted, 1,209 shows were held by groups (versus the 249 held by solo acts) and of those 1,209 concerts, only 181 of them were performed by female groups.

When looking at a ranking of the acts with the most concerts overall, the Top 5 is dominated by boy bands with BIGBANG topping the list with 100 live shows. But the 65 concerts held by Girls' Generation, the top touring female act by far, is not far off from EXO's 74 shows. Meanwhile, XIA (of boy band JYJ) is the top solo act with 52 concerts with IU being the top female solo act with 18 shows. The Top 10 K-pop touring acts from 2013 to 2016 are as follows:

1. BIGBANG (100 concerts)
2. 2PM (94 concerts)
3. TVXQ! (87 concerts)
4. SHINee (81 concerts)
5. EXO (74 concerts)
6. Girls' Generation (65 concerts)
7. CNBLUE (52 concerts)
7. XIA (52 concerts)
9. INFINITE (47 concerts)
10. B1A4 (45 concerts)

Check out even more the eye-opening K-pop concert stats in the infographic, provided by MyMusicTaste, below:

Click here to see an enlarged pic

Since I don't really follow any girl groups, I never paid much attention to their touring. I could only name 4 girl groups that toured from the top of my head, and those 4 were in the top 5. But wow, that's a huge gap in numbers. Omona, what's your favorite KPop tour memory? I have two: 1) listening to the livestreams at three in the morning with tacos 2) seeing this opening live and making me cry:

MyMusicTaste via Billboard & Indira Yuniarti YT

Comments

[kary1591.livejournal.com]

Not being able to breathe at an INFINITE concert is my most memorable experience lol. Now I never ever get general admission tickets.

[woohyun.livejournal.com]

omg you made me remember ifnt in nyc u.u it was hell on earth

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

lmao @ england and france being the only european countries mentioned. europe is clearly not a priority at all for kpop.
also, i didn't know 2pm, infinite and b1a4 toured that much o_o.

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

i was really surprised at 2pm too!

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

between this and them selling 74k in one week in japan the other day i really don't know why are they called a flop now. they maybe don't ~slay~ melon anymore but they're still slaying in other fields.

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

they're being called flops now? wow really?

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

Yeah, because they don't chart within the top 10 on digital charts anymore and their physical sales have decreased too but i don't see how that makes them flops when they're still slaying in other ways.

[chibi-rei.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah 2PM does bunches of concerts in Japan.
Had no idea for the other two tho.

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

Infinite finished their Second World Tour three months ago. They do the usual big cities in Asia, Dubai in the Middle East, Europe (with France, UK, Germany and Poland, which is better then the usual France/UK combo for once lol), South America, Canada and the USA.

Also, they've been touring Japan every year since 2011, so when you take all this into account, it's not surprising. Sure, their venues are not as big as say, Big Bang's, but hey, how many groups can boast having world tours. Some groups can't even have a Korean concert. :/

[ah0000.livejournal.com]

My only kpop tour experiences would just be Kcon, Big Bang, and randomly FTIsland so I don't have much to speak about. Now, if f(x) toured at all I would be all over that, trust me

[pippopippo.livejournal.com]

Despite getting into kpop relatively late (2014), I feel pretty lucky because kpop concerts seem more accessible now and I've gotten to see most of my faves (last year - GOT7, BTS, Big Bang, this year - EXO, BAP; GOT7 & DAY6 to come). Two complaints: 1) I'd love to see more girl groups (my biggest regret is probably never getting to see 2NE1 live ;_;) and 2) KPOP CONCERTS ARE EXPENSIVE AS HELL WTF. Like, I'm paying less to see Florence and the Machine and ADELE than I am to see any kpop group here... it's ridiculous.

Oh I wish company tours happened more often too. I'd love to go to SM Town, JYP Nation, and YG Family concerts.

[921227.livejournal.com]

Yes to more girl groups! When apink came to the states I was so upset I couldn't go. I honestly think some groups could do a US tour and it do well to I companies still have doubt that their ggs could pull in enough concert goers to make anything back

[kary1591.livejournal.com]

I really want to go to a YG Family concert.

[imahurricane.livejournal.com]

is2g the price of k-pop concert is getting more ridiculously high! fans are willing to buy ticket for $300-400 and they're the ticket that gets sold out quickly! :\

[pero, like (from livejournal.com)]

Daesung's solo number is incredible because I'm pretty sure that's only in one country :o
It's interesting because you have groups like Got7, Bulletproof Boyscouts, and BAP who's fanbase is more international than domestic and they don't even rank. I don't think it's 'cause of their age because Exo is on there, nor the lack of Big 3 since Apink are on there.
Also LOL @ the US being #3 but the percentage drops from 70 to 7.
Does the phillipines not get many concerts?

[taecsex.livejournal.com]

God bless this article as I'm writing my sociology of globalization final paper about why white females love kpop boys (and a bit of yellow fever/koreaboo talk too lol)

[queenhinata.livejournal.com]

oohh sounds interesting! reminds me of a presentation i had to do this semester on this article (chogukjeok pan-east asian soft masculinity: reading boys over flowers, coffee prince, and shinhwa fanfiction (http://books.publishing.monash.edu/apps/bookworm/view/Complicated+Currents/122/xhtml/chapter8.html))

[taecsex.livejournal.com]

omg I just finished reading it, and will probably use it in my paper. <3 thank you~ I'm glad I'm not the only one who finds this whole shebang fascinating on an academic level

[queenhinata.livejournal.com]

np :D it's a fun topic imo

like i found this Thesis on the same topic. might be helpful~~ https://www.academia.edu/12115621/Transnational_Masculinities_The_Distributive_Performativity_of_Gender_in_Korean_Boy_Bands

[kashchanocchi.livejournal.com]

That paper seems intriguing! If you don't mind, I'm interested in reading it if you want to share it

[elishrae.livejournal.com]

I feel like Australia is in a really awkward spot because we're geographically pretty close to Korea but no one ever bothers to come here because we're so out of the way and we have a really tiny population. I'm SO MAD I missed BigBang and BTS because, aha, I was IN KOREA when they came here, and it's really unlikely that they'll come out here again.

I dunno, I can definitely understand why people tend to toss Australia to the wayside but it's frustrating, too. WE'RE RIGHT HERE, GUYS, PLEASE :(

[krissasaur]

Thats so weird to me. You'd think w/ the amount of Asians living there they would consider it a good place to tour?

[elishrae.livejournal.com]

I'm actually really new to kpop (only been a fan for a year) so I never paid attention haha, but there's only ~25? million people in Australia which is about the population of Seoul, I think? So our cities are pretty tiny and even if the rich Asian fans flew out I dunno if we have the numbers to fill a venue that would be considered financially worth it. So I can totally understand why companies don't come out here but it kind of sucks too since we ARE pretty close to Asia and we DO have a lot of Asians living here. And to be fair, we have had a few groups come out here (BTS, BIGBANG, B.A.P, Boyfriend, JJCC, B1A4, and a couple of kpop conventions)

I dunno, I'm probably just salty that I'll probably never see SHINee in the flesh since it's doubtful SM would ever bring them out here again. I heard the Chicago fanmeet didn't even sell out but maybe that's changed.

It's not just kpop, as well. I had this problem with other bands I loved. They tended to be European/American and would tour Europe/America/sometimes Asia but Australia was just ~too far away for them.~ I've given up on concerts, lol.

[haixiao.livejournal.com]

i'm so glad i've been working for about two years and i don't have to pay any bills so i can spend all my money on kpop concert shit lmao. being a semi-functioning adult is great.

my favorite concert memory is probably exo's la concert as a whole. i'm convinced suho saw my sign for him specifically at one point and that's the story i will tell until i die. yunho also gave me a thumbs up at the red carpet event at the kpop masters con in 2011 and even though i don't stan dbsk that will probably be the coolest kpop-related thing to happen to me ever. also, seeing shinee at the kpop masters concert was amazing. ;__; i'd only stanned them (and kpop in general) for like six months at that point so i was super lucky to see them live

[imahurricane.livejournal.com]

yeah that's what i feel too. being a k-pop fan is so money-draining i'm so lucky that i got into it when i'm in my age now where i have a job and make my own money. my parents won't let me go to a concert/buy k-pop merch if i'm still at school!

[haixiao.livejournal.com]

it rly is, especially if you don't live in a city where kpop concerts are frequently held (like la, chicago, or the nyc area in the states). when the locations for the exo con were still undecided (lmao that was a mess) i was seriously checking my bank account like i can i afford to fly to any city i need to go to on top of paying for my ticket? and a hotel? all that shit ughhh so stressful and honestly a gargantuan waste of money, but it was still smth i wanted to drop a bunch of money on anyway haha

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

i'm about to go see my very first kpop concert/fanmeet later this month, after being into kpop for over two years!! (i only listen to girl groups so i envy u boy group fans who get so many opportunities to see shows...) i'm gonna go see gfriend in toronto and i'm really excited. it's a long bus ride but my sister lives up there so i'm staying with her.

i was unfamiliar with a lot of the stuff ("hi-touch," photo op, etc.) when i was buying a ticket. i went with the least expensive option which doesn't include anything fancy and is near the back of the balcony level but i hope i'll still be able to see pretty well. i wonder if i should bring binoculars or something! idk, i have no experience with this but i'm really excited to get to see my girls.

the first group i got into was 2ne1, in mid-2013, and i got SUPER into them. i was so mad when i found out they previously had a concert in NJ (where i live) and i didn't get to see it bc i hadn't heard of them yet. and i was also mad when they announced a "world tour" in 2014 but never left asia. when minzy left the group i was especially sad bc it meant i would never get to see my original bias on stage. :(

[fibuarymarch.livejournal.com]

congrats on going to see your first kpop concert this month! have fun!

[haixiao.livejournal.com]

congratulations! you're going to have so much fun~
in my experience even though kpop fans can be rly terrible when there are more than like ten of them in one area, most people at concerts/fanmeets are all there just to have a good time and get to the event as smoothly as possible. if you're going by yourself it's pretty easy to talk to people and make friends while you're waiting in line too!
my #1 tip is just to save your phone battery so you can take pics and vids and stuff

[hinadori.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at the # attendees by group... slaay my TVXQ kings. Their Japanese concerts are no joke; 749,000 in 16 shows vs. 750,000 in 65 shows 😂

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

actually, according to an interview on tbs and wikipedia, bigbang's 18 shows for japan leg for the made tour attendance totals to 911,000.

[hinadori.livejournal.com]

Ok that makes sense since Big Bang is pretty popular in Japan and they're doing dome tours (in terms of venue size) like TVXQ. Now I wonder what and when these numbers/stats are based on?

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

Yeah I didn't even notice the numbers until you mentioned it, I was focused on the lack of the girl groups =/

I know that there have been other groups who've done dome shows, but I think TVXQ and BigBang are the only ones who do the big dome tours. Maybe I'm wrong? It makes total sense that those two would bring in the biggest numbers.

[psharp10.livejournal.com]

i knew that number seemed iffy, bc bigbang did quite a few domes with made too and it wouldn't make sense for them to only have 750k with 65 shows if you add up the domes...

[hinadori.livejournal.com]

Since someone already replied to me and I can't edit my original comment...

My favorite memory has to be seeing TVXQ in Osaka last year. The concert was great and I was again reminded by Yunho that he can deliver live vocals. But I was most impressed by how the venue handled the logistics. It was at the dome and it was a packed house; do you know how fast that place emptied after the concert? I've never been de-concerted so quickly and efficiently. I was late getting to the venue so I can't attest how quickly people were seated, queuing, merch, etc. But is no joke when people talk about the Japanese concert culture, they got their shit down.

[smyers92.livejournal.com]

I've only ever been to 2 kpop concerts and both were for bap. I just loved that I got to see them live

[existingisfunny.livejournal.com]

Being a girl group stan (on top of being a rookie/nugu stan), this hardly even matters because the above mentioned- boy groups having the most out-of-SK concerts and rising boy groups at that. And even when they do make their way to the U.S., they usually don't have a Midwest stop. Though I did see EXO, I can't just make a trip to Chicago every time.

I wish there was just a straight up Kcon type TOUR branch instead of convention shows, but if it can be up to $250 just for one kpop group, I don't know how much it would be for like 5 groups at one show. I have a feeling the profit dividing would be drama.

*Sigh* Consistent U.S. touring is still so new, it still seems more convenient to just go to Korea

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

I have never been to a Big Bang concert because it's really super expensive compared to other groups, but I would love to go to one of theirs some day. Seeing fancams and stuff, they know how to set the stage on fire. My personal preferences are group that have awesome choreos and are synchronised, but big Bang seem so fun to watch and they have so many jams that are perfect for concerts.

[psharp10.livejournal.com]

seeing daesung and junsu up there though :')))

and just today i was reminiscing about the yg family concert i went to back in 2014 in shanghai :'(( gosh i wish i could relive that day again...being able to see bb perform 2ne1's i love you live, seeing 2ne1 as 4 live...bom with the green ends in her hair, epik high, singing haru haru n lies in the yellow ocean, winner, psy..it was amazing honestly

[aki-san.livejournal.com]

I'm lucky in that I got into Kpop 1.) when I was an adult with a real job and 2.) when a ton of groups started coming to the US every year. I only started going to concerts in 2014 but I've already been to 12 concerts/fanmeetings and have tickets to 2 more coming up (seeing Shinee this weekend, aaaaaaaaa). Best memory would be being in the middle of the pit for the Las Vegas BigBang concert. When Bx3 started, the entire venue shook from the crowd energy. I spent more $$ on attending 3 MADE concerts than I've ever spent on anything else in life except for my car, but I regret nothing.

[kyokomurasaki.livejournal.com]

I'm actually surprised at how many kpop concerts I've been to considering I've only been into kpop for about 3 years? I've seen Big Bang (3 times lol,) BTS, ToppDogg, GOT7 (about to be twice since they're about to do their US tour,) Epik High, Amoeba Culture... I think that's it but I may be forgetting someone.

Part of the reason all the top acts are male groups is because they hardly ever give GGs concerts :/ If they ever came here I would go.

Also I really wish they'd get better US promoters but I doubt companies are going to stop being cheap anytime soon so

[jazzy4heard.livejournal.com]

SJ Super Show 2 in KL was the most memorable for me because it was my first one.
Dont know why SJ's statistics are excluded from the charts.