This photo album is designed so creatively. I love that the PCs come in silica gel packets! I'm looking for albums to collect just for their graphic design alone. Preferably without large close up photos of an idol's face.

Please also link any kpop album graphic designs like the profile I linked above if you know!

Its sad how her own fandom is attacking her new look with veneers when she probably made the choice herself. I think its illegal to force veneers on ur employees. Plus Minji doesnt have veneers so i dont think they forced it

I was bored the other day and started wondering how much money BTS could actually bring in during their 2026 comeback, so I tried putting together a rough estimate using publicly available information.

This isn’t meant to be a prediction or anything official—it’s just something I did out of curiosity. I’m sure some of my assumptions are wrong, so I’d genuinely like to hear what people think.

For comparison, last year’s reported revenue for the Big 3 companies was around:

SM Entertainment: USD 830 million
JYP Entertainment: USD 718 million
YG Entertainment: USD 477 million

Combined: approximately USD 2.03 billion

That’s about USD 2.03 billion combined.

Based on my assumptions, I ended up with around USD 1.53 billion in gross revenue for BTS in 2026.

Estimated Revenue Breakdown

Some of the assumptions I used:

• 5.2 million physical albums sold at an average price of USD 25
• 77 stadium shows with an average attendance of 55,000 and an average ticket price of USD 200
• Around USD 2 million in merch sales per concert
• 3 million ARMY Bombs sold
• 5 million fan club memberships

For sponsorships, I just looked at BTS’s current group deals, individual brand partnerships, and tour sponsors. For paid content, I included things like livestreams, cinema screenings, and the streaming content that’s already been announced.

I also left out quite a few things because I wanted to keep the estimate conservative.

I didn’t include digital sales and streaming revenue, TinyTAN/BT21 licensing, other Weverse Shop merchandise, BTS: THE CITY events, publishing royalties, catalog sales, or other ongoing revenue streams. So if anything, I think the actual revenue could be higher than what I estimated.

Also, I know revenue isn’t the same as profit. This doesn’t include production costs, venue rentals, staff, manufacturing, taxes, revenue sharing, or any of the expenses that come with running a tour of this size.

One thing that surprised me while doing this was how much of the estimate came from touring. Even if my assumptions are off, it really shows how valuable stadium tours have become compared to album sales alone.

I’m interested in hearing what others think.

Sources used
- HYBE financial reports
- SM/JYP/YG annual reports
- Official BTS tour announcement
- Circle Chart / IFPI album data
- Publicly announced brand partnerships

I was a NCT 127 and dream ult for 8ish years and I have a "full" Taeyong, Renjun, and Jeno collection. In addition, I have a good amount of Haechan, Jaemin, Jisung, Chenle, (and Mark) photocards too. I became a NCT wish ult like 2 years ago when they debuted and I am now more focused on building my wish collection. I realized my 127 and dream collection doesn't make me as happy as it used to. I don't plan on continuing my collection for 127 and dream besides the occasional new album pulls. I don't know if I should just store all my old photocards in a binder and put it away, or if I should sort them and only keep my favorites while trying to sell the rest. My first concern if I try to sell, one: I just feel like it would be a shame to separate my full sets of Taeyong, Renjun, and Jeno, and two: I'm not sure they will sell when they are considered "old". If I sell, is it better to sell in bulk or individually? I'm already used to using Mercari to sell some photocards but they sell really slow unless its NCT wish. Just curious on what some kpop fans' thoughts are and if someone has gone through the same dilemma. Any insight will be appreciated. Thanks for reading!

Former Idol Trainee Speaks Out on Lexi Departure

This former idol trainee’s take really put this issue into focus for me. We all know the Manon Katseye saga… but these are not the only two Western KPop departures. I never viewed them collectively until now. And of course, now that there is more diversity… race is starting to take center stage in those discussions (any time you apply the label “lazy” to a Black or Brown person it is going to get a reaction).

But, seeing this former idol trainee’s take makes the point that, it’s not just Manon and Lexi that have left groups or been put on leave. Of the Western departures, they may have been of Korean/East Asian ethnicity or they just weren’t famous enough to get as much attention.

What do you think? It’ll be interesting to see how newer groups do. If we keep seeing a pattern of Western departures, I wonder if that will raise more questions about the idol trainee system in general.

Not just based on your personal preference, but taking into account things like peak popularity, hit songs, influence, legacy, and overall impact. This has always felt like one of the closest 2nd gen girl group comparisons to me.

I know we all rant about horrible fandom experiences and how nasty things get within the kpop sphere but honestly, I also really enjoy certain fandoms and how they have operated and I wanted to give them a little shoutout!

First up, stays! I’m a casual fan of SKZ but there was a period where I was intensely stanning them and the subreddit on here as well as their fandom on twitter was always just super fun and hilarious! Lots of quality discussion about their music, level-headed take on their songs and choreo, fun discussions about their variety content. As a Lee Know bias, I really enjoyed talking to other Lee Know biases and perhaps, I was just sticking to the good corners of the fandom but there was minimal solo-shenanigans or excessive critique. I’m sure there were fanwars and such, but for the most part, the in-fandom drama was negligible and never noticeable to me!

Second up, onedoors! This fandom I think has a “wholesome” rep but even though, lately, there has been more friction and drama, I really enjoy the fandom on basically all social media. The most enjoyable, however, is their korean fandom! Everyone is just so gushy and sweet and emotional about the members. I suspect it is because of some of the heaviness and vulnerability BND shared through this comeback, but whenever I go on twitter, I am always met with a few very detailed posts about their music, performance and friendship dynamics from the k-onedoors and I enjoy just lurking in their spaces. There is definitely fandom drama and tackling-of-hate, but there is a base level respect always maintained for all discourse topics.

Third up, bit of an odd choice, but allyz — specifically the Japanese fans! This poor fandom is marred with drama since the get-go and I get the sense that the group isn’t very well-liked here on reddit but I find them intriguing and am a casual fan! I like hanging out with the Japanese fandom. They are very invested in the group, mostly stay out of drama, love to ship unseriously and make lots of wholesome posts about the members but are also very observant about everything! Their energy and love are infectious and I credit them fully for making me fonder of the members.

That’s all for me! I have, ofcourse, had positive experiences in basically all fandoms I have been in but for these three, specifically, the positives have always outweighed the negatives while for the others, that has not always consistently been the case. I do know carats are also another chill, fun fandom or so is their rep, and any encounter with them that I’ve had has been in line with that — so they are the honourable mention!

Share your appreciation for any fandoms/sub-fandoms if you feel so inclined!

For clarity purposes this isn't a hate/shit post it's just a thought.

Idk if u guys have seen enhypen's new videos where they're letting sunghoon dance to Brazilian songs and whatnot and also changing their logo on Instagram to have yellow and green colors (similar to Brazilian flag colors)

It's just that I feel like they're trying to exploit Brazilian dances by taking advantage of Brazilian fans being dedicated passionate fans who love their country.

If you're still a bit lost in what I'm talking abt, remember when people made vids abt how influencers visit India when they're low on views to take advantage of Indian fans' love for their country to get engagement? Same logic.

I'm not saying that Enhypen's impact is low infact they're doing really well but... they maybe want more views and engagement.

Not to mention Brazil having the most kpop fans worldwide.

I feel that Enhypen's marketing rn is similar to koreaboos' doing except the acts are towards Brazil and not Korea.

I'm not saying I'm right, this is more of a hypothesis I came up with idk if it's correct. Correct me where I go wrong.

Tell me below in the comments 👇🏻

Edit: I think someone made a similar post but I tried to find it and couldn't.

Edit 2: okay I might've hypothesized a bit too far.

I was thinking about this the other day and realized newer K-pop fans probably never had to experience it.

Back then, if a variety show, interview, or behind the scenes video came out, you couldn't just watch it right away unless you understood Korean. You'd wait days, sometimes even longer, for a fansub team to translate and upload it. Then everyone would rush to watch it once it finally dropped.

Looking back, it almost made everything feel more exciting. It also made me appreciate how much time those fansub teams put into making K-pop accessible before official subtitles became the norm.

I knew about him ever since Produce 202 but I only became a fan after watching whc and king's warden. I'm not too sure but I definitely feel like there was a period of slump where he didn't receive that much attention, or at least he wasn't on my radar at all since Wanna One. I think it's impressive that he persevered despite that, acting and being an idol, and now all his experience has manifested this success. I'm also very envious because I wish I was as passionate as he is and willing to put in the work.

Bit random lol but anyone else hear the similarity in Kyujins lines in the first Verse, and the intro to Invitation by JUNNY?

the melody sounds very similar to my ears and was wondering if anyone else felt the same.