Economic impact of BTS’ No. 1 spot on Billboard amounts to 1.7 trillion won

The economic impact of BTS’ No. 1 spot on the Billboard’s single chart is estimated to be 1.7 trillion won.

According to their announcement on Monday, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute’s analyzation of the economic impact of BTS’ new song “Dynamite” ranked No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 on August 31 shows 1.2323 trillion won of production inducing effect and 480.1 billion won of value-added inducing effect. “We analyzed the revenues of BTS’ management company, BigHit Entertainment, an input-output table of the Bank of Korea, trade statistics of the Korea Customs Service, and the number of relevant searches according to Google Trends,” a member of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

According to the ministry and the institute in charge of the analysis, the direct impact of the new song’s No. 1 position, such as record sales, is 245.7 billion won. The figure is calculated based on the estimation of the direct impact from when BTS’ last year album “Map of the Soul: Persona” was ranked No. 1 in the Billboard Hot 100. Sales from untact concerts, such as “Bang Bang Con: The Live,” are estimated to account for 198.3 billion won. The direct impact alone that includes the export of consumer products, such as cosmetics, food products, and fashion items, amounts to 617.4 billion won.

In addition, the song is thought to create 7,928 jobs in the fields of cosmetics, food products, and fashion items. “Such an economic impact is the result of BTS’ accumulated performance, rather than the new single’s No. 1 position in the Billboard,” added a member of the ministry.

“The achievements made by BTS far exceeds the number we came up with based on analyzation,” said Park Yang-woo, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism. “Their music is a source of healing to people in the world suffering from COVID-19, as well as a source of cultural pride for South Korea.”


imi@donga.com