In 2025, K-pop has reached a stage where it can no longer be explained solely by success in specific countries or the overseas achievements of a few teams. Virtual idols have entered large-scale venues, animation OSTs have shaken global charts, and the Middle East is rapidly establishing itself as a new market. Chapter 5 of Hanteo Chart’s annual report ‘Hanteo Rewind’ demonstrates exactly how these changes are being proven through numbers.

In the fifth chapter of the annual report ‘Hanteo Rewind’ released on the 1st, data from 2025 for PLAVE and ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ was compiled and highlighted.

What makes this chapter particularly interesting is that it does not interpret the expansion of K-pop through the familiar expression of ‘overseas expansion.’ The axis of expansion is no longer limited to countries and continents. It is simultaneously crossing boundaries between reality and virtual worlds, stage and screen, as well as established core markets and emerging markets. K-pop has become not only an industry that moves toward wider spaces, but also one that exists in more diverse ways.

While Chapters 3 and 4 previously examined the Americas and Asian markets from the perspectives of ‘dominance,’ ‘localization,’ and ‘growth structure,’ Chapter 5 takes it a step further. Rather than simply showing where K-pop is strong, it focuses on how K-pop is redefining itself across formats, platforms, and new markets.

► PLAVE, 2.35 million sales and entry into Gocheok Dome, erasing the limits of virtual

The first standout is PLAVE’s growth curve. PLAVE recorded total album sales of 2,353,570 copies in 2025. Their 3rd mini album ‘Caligo Pt.1’ and 2nd single album ‘PLBBUU’ each surpassed 1 million initial chodong sales, achieving two consecutive initial chodong million-seller records, proving that they can no longer be defined simply as a ‘virtual idol’ group. PLAVE is now evaluated as a team that has proven real consumption power and strong fandom cohesion within the mainstream idol market.

The detailed figures are clear. In 2025, the sales share was 48.6% for the 2nd single album ‘PLBBUU’ and 47.1% for the 3rd mini album ‘Caligo Pt.1.’ This essentially means that these two albums led the majority of annual sales performance. In addition, sales were recorded across 20 countries, indicating that their expansion cannot be explained by domestic fandom strength alone.

Their music performance is also impressive. In 2025, PLAVE recorded 2,969,985 points on the Hanteo annual music chart, ranking 6th among all artists. This reflects a strong fandom bond, where both new releases and previous tracks are consumed together upon new album releases. While virtual artists are often discussed in terms of buzz or storyline, PLAVE’s 2025 achievements show that they have established themselves as a ‘real consumption-based IP’ across both albums and music.

Their concert performance is even more symbolic. In 2025, PLAVE held a total of 12 concerts across six Asian cities—Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Bangkok, and Tokyo—attracting 126,018 attendees. In November, they became the first virtual artist to hold a solo concert at Gocheok Sky Dome. With approximately 33,000 attendees over two days, this concert was not just a technical experiment, but proof that virtual artists can generate strong ticket power even in large-scale venues.

Another key point is the scale of growth. Starting from approximately 4,904 seats at Olympic Hall in 2024, PLAVE expanded to 33,488 seats at Gocheok Sky Dome in 2025. This represents about a 6.8-fold increase. Such a leap signifies not just fandom growth, but a shift in how the industry itself perceives and accepts the group. Ultimately, PLAVE’s 2025 was not merely proof that ‘virtual is possible,’ but rather a declaration that virtual has already entered the core framework of the K-pop industry.

► ‘KPop Demon Hunters’, a global phenomenon of 7.83 million points beyond the stage

KPop Demon Hunters’ symbolically demonstrates that K-pop is no longer consumed solely through artists on stage. The OST’s seven tracks recorded a total of 7,836,406 points on the Hanteo annual music chart in 2025. Starting from 29,274 points at its June release, the figure surged to 1,809,674 points by August. This 61.8-fold growth shows that beyond temporary virality, global public consumption translated into real numbers.

At the center of this success was ‘Golden.’ ‘Golden’ recorded 1,827,935 points as a single track, accounting for 23% of the OST’s total score. On the United States Hanteo country-specific chart, it ranked No.1 for 10 consecutive weeks from the 2nd week of September to the 3rd week of November 2025, and charted a total of 26 times. It also recorded six consecutive weeks at No.1 on the China chart and maintained a long charting trend on the Japan chart. A single animation OST effectively reorganized the global consumption pattern of K-pop.

The importance of these figures lies in the fact that the success of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ cannot be explained by the popularity of a single song. It reveals the immense impact created when a content IP, combining characters, world-building, storytelling, and platform distribution, aligns with K-pop sensibilities. K-pop is no longer just a stage-centered industry where artists and fans meet directly. It has evolved into an industry capable of generating the same level of immersion and consumption through screens, narratives, and characters.

This success is also reflected in award recognition. ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ gained attention at the Korean Association of Film Critics Awards and the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, and later achieved meaningful results at major ceremonies such as the Golden Globe Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Academy Awards, and iHeartRadio Music Awards. This demonstrates that K-pop holds global competitiveness not only within the music market, but also when combined with the audiovisual content industry.

Ultimately, the case of ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ raises a question: is the essence of K-pop the stage, or is it any content capable of carrying that sensibility? The data from 2025 leans much closer to the latter. If even stories that begin outside the stage can shake global charts and award ceremonies, then K-pop has already expanded beyond the boundaries of a single genre.

► The Middle East is no longer a periphery… K-pop’s ‘Next Destination’

Another key keyword presented in Chapter 5 in terms of regional expansion is the Middle East. The report points out that markets centered around Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are emerging as both the ‘next destination’ and a ‘major growth hub’ for K-pop. Scenes that once appeared as symbolic visits by top artists are now forming a repeatable ecosystem of concerts and events.

The starting point of this trend was 2019. In July of that year, SUPER JUNIOR held the first solo concert in Saudi Arabia by an Asian artist, and in November, BTS also performed a solo concert in Saudi Arabia. As major artists paved the way, the nature of the market began to change rapidly. The Middle East is no longer an unfamiliar experimental stage, but a new region where K-pop is preparing its next phase of growth.

The pace of expansion accelerated further after the pandemic. ‘KCON 2022 SAUDI ARABIA’ featured 12 teams including ATEEZ and NEWJEANS, while ‘KCON SAUDI ARABIA 2023’ included 10 teams such as RIIZE and OH MY GIRL. The same year’s ‘2023 Hyperound K-Fest’ also featured seven teams including ENHYPEN and SUNMI. What matters is that this is not a single large-scale event, but a continuous chain of diverse K-pop events.

In 2025, the trend became even more pronounced. The ‘KOREA360’ promotional center opened in Dubai, followed by events such as ‘2025 K-EXPO UAE’ and ‘DREAM CONCERT 2025’ in Abu Dhabi. Various artists including SEVENTEEN, ATEEZ, i-dle, members of RED VELVET, BILLIE, and CHEN connected with the Middle Eastern stage. This shows that the region is no longer a symbolic stage for only top-tier artists, but a realistic market strategically considered by many groups.

The significance of the Middle Eastern market cannot be reduced to a single number, which is precisely why it is important. The region simultaneously holds geographical connectivity linking Asia, Europe, and Africa, infrastructure suited for large-scale events, and the role of a gathering point for new global fandoms. This is why Chapter 5 of Hanteo Rewind treats the Middle East as a separate axis. K-pop is already moving beyond dominance in core markets and is establishing industrial frameworks even in newly emerging regions that are not yet fully defined.

► K-pop in 2025, redefining formats beyond crossing borders

Ultimately, the conclusion presented by Chapter 5 of Hanteo Rewind is clear. PLAVE broke the boundary between reality and virtual, ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ erased the line between stage and screen, and the Middle East proved that K-pop’s industrial framework remains valid beyond traditional core regions. Although these may appear to be separate cases, they all point in the same direction. K-pop is no longer an industry that repeats familiar success formulas, but one that creates entirely new paradigms on its own.

K-pop in 2025 has not simply expanded to wider spaces. It has begun to exist in more diverse ways. The large-scale growth of virtual idols, the global success of content IP-based music, and the exploration of the Middle Eastern market show that the future of K-pop lies not in a single path, but in multi-layered expansion.

The next phase of K-pop can no longer be explained by which country it reaches. What matters more is how it expands across dimensions, which platforms it uses to create fandom and consumption, and in which markets it establishes new orders. And the data from 2025 shows that this transformation has already begun—or perhaps has already progressed quite far.