Top ten entertainment profiles on Twitter in South Korea 2021, by number of followers

As of January 2021, the most popular entertainment profile on the social media platform Twitter in South Korea was Big Hit Entertainment with approximately 19 million followers. Big Hit Entertainment currently manages soloist Lee Hyun and idol groups Bangtan Boys (BTS) and Tomorrow X Together (TXT).

Impact of BTS

The boy band BTS’ popularity is constantly rising, making them the biggest boy group in South Korea as well as worldwide. Their economic impact during their three-day concerts in South Korea in 2019 alone was estimated at around 922 billion South Korean won. Furthermore, due to the consistent uploads of video content on BTS’ YouTube channel, they were the most popular K-Pop artist according to the number of views. Japanese viewers made up the largest share of watchers of BTS on YouTube, followed by viewers in Indonesia and India. The band’s popularity can be expected to continue to grow, especially after they placed two number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 2020. One was with their single ‘Dynamite,’ and the other number one title was ‘Life Goes On.’ Additionally, as they are the first South Korean act to be nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Pop Duo/Group, they achieved yet another milestone in the history of K-Pop.

K-Pop entertainment companies

In South Korea, the biggest known K-Pop entertainment companies were referred to as the ‘big three,’ including SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment, and JYP Entertainment. Only recently did Big Hit Entertainment join the other three agencies as one of the leading companies, evolving the term to the ‘big four.’ In 2019, Big Hit’s sales revenue almost doubled compared to the previous year. While SM’s sales proceeds steadily increased throughout the years, similar to JYP's sales, YG’s revenue has decreased since 2014. BTS’ success and rise in popularity is a key factor in Big Hit’s increasing sales.