The most followed K-pop group on YouTube, in terms of both subscribers and views, is BLACKPINK, often followed closely by BTS, though BTS typically leads in total video views, while BLACKPINK has a slight edge in subscribers, with both boasting tens of millions of subscribers and billions of views, according to recent data from 2025.
BLACKPINK -95.6M 2.
There isn't one single "number 1" K-pop group, as it depends on metrics like sales, streams, or current popularity, but BTS consistently ranks highest globally for record-breaking sales (40M+ albums), chart dominance (IFPI Global Artist), and massive international impact, while Blackpink leads girl groups, with others like Seventeen, Stray Kids, and TXT leading the current charts and sales for boy groups, showing immense global growth in 2024/2025.
The 7 Kings of K-pop: RM, Jin Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V, JungKook 🐨🐹🐱🐿🐥🐻🐰💜🔮
BTS is currently the Most Popular Kpop group globally. They've got 24.6% of worldwide preference according to the Overseas Korean Wave Survey, and over 81 million people follow them on Spotify.
The No. 1 spot goes to SEVENTEEN and its 13 members, with consistent performance in the U.S., global and Korean markets. SEVENTEEN's decade-long career reached new heights this year, cementing its status as one of the most powerful K-pop groups.
Holland is known as "the first openly gay K-pop idol". He is an only child. His parents found out about his sexuality after he discussed it in an interview.
BigBang (Korean: 빅뱅; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean boy band formed by YG Entertainment. The group consists of three members: G-Dragon, Taeyang, and Daesung. Originally a five-piece band, Seungri retired from the entertainment industry in March 2019 and T.O.P left the group in May 2023.
The difference between the followers of these bands on social media is less than a million. However, BTS was in the music scene 3 years before BLACKPINK. So, it can be said that BLACKPINK has truly paced up and almost caught BTS in terms of BTS. Thus, it is impossible to say who is better as a K-pop music band.
The Big Three in K-pop refers to the three South Korean entertainment companies YG Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, and SM Entertainment. These companies dominated the K-pop industry from the late 1990s to today.
While K-pop is generally a difficult industry for overt LGBTQ+ expression, pioneers like Holland (openly gay solo artist) and recent examples like Bain (of JUST B, who came out in 2025) are notable, alongside figures like Jiae (former WASUP, bisexual) and Harisu (pioneering transgender entertainer), showcasing increasing visibility despite societal challenges in South Korea. Many other idols show LGBTQ+ support or hint at fluidity, but these individuals are known for their public declarations.
Fictional K-pop band Saja Boys beat BTS, Blackpink to top US Spotify charts.
The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu.
Yes, by most recent estimates (late 2024/2025), solo artist IU is considered richer than any individual member of BTS, with an estimated net worth around $40-45 million, often placing her as the wealthiest K-pop idol overall, even surpassing top BTS members like V and Jungkook. While BTS as a group is immensely wealthy, IU's solo success in music and acting has built her a substantial fortune, making her richer than the individual members of the group.
The feat marks another billion-view moment for Blackpink
Blackpink's other megahit music videos include Ddu-Du Ddu-Du with 2.3 billion views, Kill This Love with 2.1 billion and both the performance and official versions of How You Like That at 1.8 billion and 1.3 billion views, respectively.
In November 2005, a Nike advertisement featuring Brazilian football player Ronaldinho became the first video to reach 1,000,000 views. The billion-view mark was first passed by Gangnam Style in December 2012. On January 13, 2022, Pinkfong's "Baby Shark" became the first video to hit 10,000,000,000 views.
While both are global superstars, BTS is generally considered bigger due to their unprecedented chart dominance (multiple US #1s), massive album sales (40M+), higher collective net worth (around $200M+), and deeper cultural penetration in the West, though Blackpink holds records as the biggest girl group (most followed on Spotify, Coachella headliners) with immense influence, especially in fashion. The comparison often highlights BTS's broader reach across demographics vs. Blackpink's high-fashion global impact.
But let's not forget that Blink were doing the same thing for Blackpink. Also earlier I watched a BTS versus Blackpink video where it showed that BTS sold around 40 million albums and Blackpink killed about 6 million albums. That is a huge discrepancy.
BLACKPINK defeated BTS to take the leading spot on the November idol group brand reputation rankings. This jaw-dropping success is indisputably attributed to Rosé's super-viral global collaboration with Grammy-winning artist Bruno Mars for the single “APT.”
Hwang explained that he wanted to cast someone who had stopped working due to drug-related issues, and T.O.P had retired from K-pop and left BigBang over a marijuana conviction.
For decades, K-pop fans dreaded the “seven-year curse.” Under Korea's standard entertainment contract, the maximum term for exclusive deals is capped at seven years. As groups approached that mark, breakups, member departures or label changes became common. The curse claimed some of the industry's biggest names.
— “Centers” in K-pop usually refer to the group member who is a perfect representation of the band's image due to their popularity and their looks. The title is reserved for the bandmate that, literally, appears in the middle of the group during performances, promotional activities and photo and video shoots.
Image: Photo: Instagram / @official_marykiko. K-POP star Hansol recently came out as asexual. Hansol, of the group ToppDogg, came out via an Instragram livestream, Gay Star News has reported. “I have been thinking a lot,” Hansol said.
Jungkook is very open in his support for the LGBTQ+ community - YouTube.