K-indie thrives as K-pop's popularity fuels growth across different genres

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K-indie thrives as K-pop's popularity fuels growth across different genres

Published: 14 Apr. 2026, 13:39

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

A scene from Indian film, titled ″Made in Korea″ [NETFLIX]

One question has always been on Koreans' minds as the country hails the success of BTS, Blackpink and "Golden" (2025): If one K-pop song takes over the global market, does it actually help the K-content industry as a whole? It turns out, the answer is yes.

According to the latest industry data, Korean indie music and broadcasting content are gaining global traction as interest in K-pop has spilled over — and concrete numbers prove it.

Songs categorized under the K-indie genre on Spotify were streamed 161 million times between January and November last year, a 68 percent jump compared to the same period in 2024, according to statistics from Spotify Wrapped 2025, which was provided to the JoongAng Ilbo on Sunday.

The proportional rise in the K-indie genre was found to be steeper than that of the K-pop category, which had a 16 percent jump from 52 billion streams to 60.4 billion.

Excluding Korea, the K-indie genre was the most listened to in the United States with 14.84 million streams, Taiwan with 6.43 million streams and Indonesia with 4.97 million streams. Canada followed at 2.81 million streams, with the Philippines close behind at 2.79 million streams.

Globally most streamed K-indie artists [SPOTIFY/CHUN YU-JIN]

Music listeners around the globe also recognized lesser-known Korean indie artists.

Korean project band The Black Skirts became the most-streamed artist in the K-indie category with their stream counts tallied at 21.98 million from January to November last year. Redoor and Adoy, indie bands whose songs failed to make it onto Korea’s domestic streaming charts, secured fourth and seventh place in the category, respectively.

By songs, Car, the Garden's “Closely Far Away” (2021) was the most streamed song with 6.12 million streams. Redoor’s “Forever Has Always Been” (2021) followed with 4.36 million streams. The second runner-up song was The Black Skirts’s “1:05” (2017).

“Interest in K-pop has expanded into indie music through algorithms that reflect listeners’ streaming patterns and preferred genres,” a representative for Spotify said.

Music shows featuring K-pop artists are also gaining global popularity alongside K-pop itself.

The total views of content on the global K-pop content platform Mnet Plus reached over a million from January last year to March this year. The service offers streaming services of exclusive K-pop content and interactive activities with K-pop artists. The service is available in 250 regions worldwide.

A flock of crowd gathers at an in-person event for K-pop idol audition program ″Boys II Planet″ (2025) in June 2025 in Sangam-dong, western Seoul. [MNET PLUS]

During this period, the most watched programs on Mnet Plus were the audition program “Boys II Planet” (2025), the “2025 MAMA Awards” (2025) and the weekly music show “M Countdown" (2004-). In particular, programs such as “Boys II Planet” and “M Countdown” were found to be watched the most in Japan, not Korea.

“Currently, global users account for about 80 percent of Mnet Plus users, and we expect their share to increase further this year,” an Mnet Plus spokesperson said. “Korea is perceived to be a hub of music in Asia, and participants across the globe are throwing their hats into audition programs held in Korea. This phenomenon creates synergy with [fans’] desires to directly partake in selecting talents,” the spokesperson added.

“Users in China, Japan and Indonesia actively participate in voting and fan-interactive activities, while users in the Americas tend to explore and consume a wide range of content and be less focused on specific artists.”

Foreign films and dramas based on or reinterpreting K-pop are also consistently being released.

Indie singer Car, the Garden performs during a Spotify's event held in western Seoul in November 2025. [SPOTIFY]

An Indian film, titled “Made in Korea," which was released on Netflix last month, recorded 6.7 million views between March 16 and 22. It topped the viewers’ chart in the non-English movie category.

The film’s leading character, Shenba, an Indian woman from a small village in Tamil Nadu, has her room filled with K-pop posters and merchandise. In the movie, she heads to the buildings of K-pop agencies and music video filming locations in Seoul upon her arrival in Korea’s capital city.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that neighborhoods housing various entertainment agencies, such as Cheongdam-dong and Apgujeong-dong, are practically sustained by K-pop fans making ‘pilgrimages,’” a source from a major entertainment agency representing global K-pop figures said.

“It’s common to see overseas fans with BTS key chains on their bags waiting until dawn and eating yukhoe (raw meat) bibimbap.”

Program description of Japanese drama series, ″Dream Stage″ [SCREEN CAPTURE]

U.S.-based television network HBO began airing the drama “Dream Stage” on Friday, which was originally broadcast by Japanese broadcaster TBS in January. The series revolves around a once-disgraced producer Jun Azuma, who manages a septet K-pop group called NAZE. Korean actors, such as Ha Yeon-soo and Lee Yi-kyung, also appeared on the show as characters running a K-pop agency. The story naturally incorporates various aspects of the K-pop industry.

“Just as global fans once enthusiastically ‘studied’ music that made it onto the Billboard charts decades ago, highly dedicated fans are now paying attention to Korean music charts and helping K-indie music be recognized as a distinct genre among global audiences,” critic Lim Hee-yoon said.

"As K-pop’s success grows, interest in K-indie music and Korean music programs will inevitably increase," Lim said.

However, another culture critic, Bae Guk-nam, pointed out that K-pop scenes need to improve in areas, citing “violations of trainees’ rights and privacy, standardized music production and excessive fandom-oriented marketing that strays from the essence of music.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHOI MIN-JI [[email protected]]