{"id":256123,"date":"2026-04-29T14:11:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T13:11:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=256123"},"modified":"2026-04-29T14:34:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T13:34:46","slug":"hybe-posts-record-q1-revenue-of-477m-up-39-5-yoy-driven-by-bts-comeback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/hybe-posts-record-q1-revenue-of-477m-up-39-5-yoy-driven-by-bts-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"HYBE posts record Q1 revenue of $477M, up 39.5% YoY, driven by BTS comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"

HYBE<\/strong>, the South Korea-headquartered entertainment giant behind BTS<\/strong>, has posted its highest-ever first-quarter revenue.<\/p>\n

According to HYBE’s latest earnings filing, published on Wednesday (April 29), the company generated 698.3 billion South Korean won<\/strong> (approximately USD $477 million<\/strong>) in Q1 2026 revenue.<\/p>\n

That figure was up 39.5% YoY<\/strong> <\/span>from 500.6 billion won<\/strong>\u00a0in Q1 2025.<\/p>\n

Recorded music was the standout revenue line in the quarter. The segment surged 98.9% YoY<\/strong><\/span> to 271.5 billion won<\/strong> ($185m), up from 136.5 billion won<\/strong> in Q1 2025. The growth was driven by BTS<\/strong>‘s fifth studio album, ARIRANG<\/em>, which was released on March 20<\/a>, the group’s first studio album in nearly six years.<\/p>\n

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ARIRANG<\/em> debuted at No.1 on the Billboard<\/em> 200, with BTS<\/strong> becoming, according to HYBE, the first K-pop act to top that chart for three consecutive weeks. The title track SWIM<\/em> entered the Billboard<\/em> Hot 100 at No.1, marking the group’s seventh chart-topper.<\/p>\n

The vinyl edition of the album sold 208,000<\/strong> copies in a single week, which HYBE says is the highest weekly vinyl sales by a group since tracking began in 1991<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

HYBE said on Wednesday that BTS\u2019s “comeback further reinforced the group\u2019s status as one of the defining acts in global pop and demonstrated its long-term touring power, strengthening HYBE\u2019s revenue visibility through large-scale global touring and fan engagement”.<\/p>\n

Revenue from artist direct-involvement activities \u2014 which includes recorded music, concerts, and ads \u2014 rose 25.2% YoY<\/strong> <\/span>to 403.7 billion won<\/strong> ($276m), accounting for 58%<\/strong> of total revenue.<\/p>\n

Concert revenue, however, was down 42.8% YoY<\/strong> <\/span>to 88.7 billion won<\/strong> ($61m), reflecting the fact that BTS<\/strong>‘s 85<\/strong>-show world tour launched only in April \u2014 after the Q1 reporting period had closed.<\/p>\n

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Revenue from artist indirect-involvement activities, including merchandise, licensing, content, and fan club memberships, jumped 65.5% YoY<\/strong> <\/span>to 294.7 billion won<\/strong> ($201m).<\/p>\n

HYBE attributed the increase to tour-related merchandise sales, including BTS light sticks and artist-inspired character merchandise, and fan club membership revenue driven by presale access to the BTS<\/strong> world tour.<\/p>\n

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In terms of profitability, HYBE’s operating profit swung to a loss of 196.6 billion won<\/strong>, impacted by a one-time accounting expense of approximately 255 billion won<\/strong> related to a stock contribution by a major shareholder used for employee and executive compensation.<\/p>\n

HYBE said this was “a non-recurring item that had no impact on the company’s net assets.”<\/p>\n

Stripping out that charge, adjusted operating profit reached 58.5 billion won<\/strong> ($40m), up 170.3% YoY<\/strong><\/span>, with an adjusted operating margin of 8.4%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Adjusted EBITDA was 84.8 billion won<\/strong> ($58m), up 79.1% YoY<\/strong><\/span>, with an adjusted EBITDA margin of 12.1%<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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HYBE<\/strong>‘s global superfan platform Weverse<\/strong>, which turned profitable on an annual basis in 2025<\/a>, hit a record 13.37 million<\/strong> monthly active users in Q1, up 20% QoQ<\/strong> from 11.2 million<\/strong> in Q4 2025.<\/p>\n

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The Q1 result marks a step-change from 2025<\/strong>, when HYBE posted record annual revenues of $1.86 billion but saw operating profit plunge 73% YoY<\/a> as the company spent heavily on global expansion and new artist launches while its flagship act was on hiatus.<\/p>\n

Beyond BTS<\/strong>, HYBE highlighted performances across its wider artist roster. ENHYPEN<\/strong> achieved its fourth double million-seller with its seventh mini album THE SIN : VANISH<\/em>. CORTIS<\/strong>, which debuted through HYBE’s global expansion efforts last year<\/a>, saw its debut album COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES<\/em> surpass 2 million<\/strong> copies in cumulative sales \u2014 which HYBE says set a record for the highest-selling debut album by a K-pop group.<\/p>\n

In the US, KATSEYE,<\/strong>\u00a0the girl group formed through HYBE<\/strong>‘s partnership with Universal Music Group<\/strong>‘s Geffen Records,<\/strong>\u00a0surpassed 32 million<\/strong> monthly listeners on Spotify<\/strong>, which HYBE says is the highest figure among girl groups worldwide. Combined sales of the group’s first two EPs, SIS (Soft Is Strong)<\/em> and BEAUTIFUL CHAOS<\/em>, reached 1 million<\/strong> copies.<\/p>\n

HYBE AMERICA<\/strong>‘s Nashville division also featured in the results. Following the rebranding of Big Machine Label Group to Blue Highway Records<\/a> and the appointment of Jake Basden<\/strong> as CEO earlier this year, Thomas Rhett<\/strong> scored his 25th<\/strong> career No.<\/a>1 on country radio. At QC Music<\/strong>, Lil Baby<\/strong>‘s Mrs. Trendsetter<\/em> reached No.1 on the urban radio chart.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, HYBE<\/strong> said it expects continued growth momentum in Q2 2026, supported by the BTS<\/strong> world tour and comebacks from TOMORROW X TOGETHER<\/strong>, LE SSERAFIM<\/strong>, TWS<\/strong>, ILLIT<\/strong>, and CORTIS<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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All KRW-USD conversions in this article were made at the average Q1 2026 exchange rate published by the Bank of Korea.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HYBE’s latest earnings filing was published on Wednesday, April 29<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":256147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-256123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256123"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256157,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256123\/revisions\/256157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}