Bangtan Boys Boost Korean Economy by W5.5 Trillion a Year
19 December, 2018
Boy band Bangtan Boys, also known as BTS, are worth W5.56 trillion a year to Korea's economy (US$1=W1,130).
The annual knock-on effects of their success are estimated at W5.56 trillion, according to a report by the Hyundai Research Institute on Tuesday.
About 796,000 foreigners visit Korea annually purely or mainly because of BTS, accounting for 7.6 percent of all 10.41 million foreign tourists.
Bangtan Boys
Meanwhile, the group's "Love Yourself: Tear" ranked 13th on Rolling Stone's list of the 20 best pop albums of 2018, and "Fake Love" 38th on its 50 best songs list on Friday.
"BTS conquered new territory for K-pop this year," the magazine said. "They show off everything they can do without watering down their style or abandoning their language, making a chump out of anyone who claimed U.S. fans weren't ready to embrace the sound of Seoul."