K-pop continues to attract the greatest global interest amid the worldwide Korean Wave boom, with BLACKPINK emerging as the most popular act.
According to the "2025 Global Hallyu Trend Analysis Report" released Wednesday by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Culture and Information Service, K-pop accounted for the largest share of Hallyu content coverage across Asia, Europe, North America, and Latin America.
By region, K-pop's share of coverage stood at 31.8% in Asia, 24.5% in Europe, 32.3% in North America, and 38.1% in Latin America.
While K-pop dominated coverage in most regions including Asia and Europe, K-literature ranked highest in Africa and K-films led in Oceania. The ministry noted that "this demonstrates Hallyu is diversifying from music-centered content to literature, films, and dramas."
Among K-pop acts, BLACKPINK commanded a 14.2% share, surpassing BTS at 7.3%. They were followed by "K-Pop Demon Hunters" at 6.7% and NewJeans at 3.0%. Among individual artists, BLACKPINK's Rosé led with 9.0%, followed by Jennie and Lisa at 5.0% each, and BTS members J-Hope at 4.6% and Jungkook at 3.4%. The animated series "K-Pop Demon Hunters," which surpassed 300 million views, was identified as having the greatest individual content impact.
K-food also demonstrated strong popularity. Alongside established Korean food terms such as kimchi, soju, ramyeon, and bibimbap, "chef" and "Squid Game" emerged as new associated keywords. Analysts attributed this to renewed attention on Korean cuisine featured naturally in Netflix cooking competition "Culinary Class Wars" and the drama series "Squid Game."
The survey analyzed approximately 1.5 million Hallyu-related materials, including foreign media articles and social media posts from 30 countries worldwide, collected between October 2024 and September 2024.
Lee Eun-bok, Director General for Overseas Promotion Policy at the ministry, stated that "Hallyu has established itself as a major strategic asset driving national branding and industrial competitiveness, transcending mere content trends."