Exports of K-pop albums, videos soar 94.9% to $170 million

South Korea’s exports of music albums and videos reached an all-time high this year, surging by 94.9 percent on-year to $170 million for the January to November period.

The data was provided by the Korea Customs Service, which was based on the export declaration data of physical CDs and DVDs.

Records of online music downloads and streaming services were not included.

Album exports, which jumped from $40 million in 2017 to $70 million in 2019, soared 78.2 percent on-year to $123 million this year.

On the other hand, video exports soared by 157.4 percent from $20 million in 2019 to $48 million this year.

Japan has been the biggest customer, importing $60 million worth of South Korean music products, accounting for nearly 48.6 percent.

The US was second with $17 million, followed by China with $16 million.

The number of countries that are exported also increased since 2017 from 78 to 114 for albums and 12 to 39 for videos.