J-pop slowly dies as K-pop takes its place

K-pop

Published: 21 Jun. 2022, 15:27 Updated: 21 Jun. 2022, 18:24

J-pop slowly dies as K-pop takes its place

Girl group NiziU [JYP ENTERTAINMENT]

The popularity of K-pop in Japan has led to the decline of its own pop industry. Missing the digital media train and a failure to see beyond the domestic market are big reasons for J-pop’s decline.

While K-pop has never been more successful around the world, sales of J-pop fell by 50 percent over the past 15 years. Japan was slow to transition to digital downloads and CD sales continue to plummet.

Meanwhile, K-pop accounts for more than a third — 37 percent — of the top-selling albums on Japan’s Oricon chart. As K-pop’s influence continues to grow, an increasing number of Japanese stars and wannabes are knocking on the doors of Korean agencies.

Miyawaki Sakura, former member of J-pop girl group HKT48, debuted as a member of Korean girl groups IZ*ONE in 2018 and Le Sserafim in May. [HYBE]

According to asset management firm Hana Financial Investment last week, sales of CDs in Japan fell by 40 percent from 460 billion yen ($3.4 billion) yen in 2006 to 283.2 billion yen in 2021. Average annual growth in J-pop sales over the past 15 years was negative three percent. The main problem was a decline in sales of CDs, which made up 70 percent of Japan’s music market in 2006.

When music lovers in the rest of the world started shifting to streaming and digital downloads in the early 2000s, Japan’s music industry didn't get it. Agencies worried that a downturn in physical CD sales would hurt their artists' revenues.

The J-pop industry was slow to find places on digital platforms like YouTube and top stars in J-pop have been averse to social media. It took two decades for Arashi, one of Japan's most popular boy bands, to open its first official YouTube account in 2019.

J-pop boy band Arashi [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Japanese agencies and artists focus on the domestic market and don't try to succeed abroad.

In the meantime, K-pop has been aggressively expanding into Japan. Only nine percent of artists who made it onto Oricon’s Top 10 in 2010 were Korean; that number increased to 37 percent last year. Even in 2005, when singer BoA hit No. 9, and in 2010 when boy band TXVQ took seventh place, they were seen as exceptional cases.

Today, the Oricon Chart is home territory to Korean acts. The best-selling album last year in Japan was “BTS, The Best" which sold 990,000 copies that year. It was the first time in 37 years that a non-Japanese artist topped Oricon’s annual albums sales charts. The last time was Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in 1984. Boy band Seventeen also got two of their albums on Oricon’s top 10 last year.

J-pop boy band INI debuted through CJ ENM’s audition program series “Produce 101 Japan,” the Japanese version of Korean audition show franchise “Produce.″ [LAPONE ENTERTAINMENT]

As a result, many Japanese singers want to debut through Korean agencies. One of them is Miyawaki Sakura, who was initially a member of Japanese girl group HKT48. She became a member of K-pop girl group IZ*ONE through Mnet’s audition show “Produce 48” (2018). She went back to Japan after IZ*ONE disbanded in 2021, but left the group and came back to Korea to join K-pop powerhouse HYBE’s girl group Le Sserafim.

J-pop groups that debut through the so-called “K-pop system” are finding success in Japan. Nine-member girl group NiziU was produced by JYP Entertainment and debuted in 2020. It became the first female group to have two songs surpass 100 million streams twice on the Oricon chart.

Boy bands JO1 and INI, which were formed through CJ ENM’s audition program series “Produce 101 Japan,” the Japanese version of Korean audition show franchise “Produce,” has each topped the Oricon charts.

BY BAE JUNG-WON [kjdculture@joongang.co.kr]