Big Hit Gets Hit Big

The company behind K-Pop sensation BTS is trying to keep COVID-19 from stopping the music.

- Grace Chung

Big Hit’s rise is due almost entirely on the mega-success of its K-Pop group BTS. In 2019, the seven-member act scored three No. 1 albums on the U.S. Billboard 200—the first band to achieve that feat in a quarter century. Last July, BTS became Asia’s highest earning band before taxes on the Forbes Celebrity 100 (and the third-highest worldwide). The band’s eight-month Love Yourself World Tour, which ended in October, reportedly pulled in over $196 million.

But now the future of live events—a major revenue driver—has been thrown into limbo. As Forbes Asia went to print, all Big Hit concerts were being rescheduled, according to a company spokesperson, and the firm had also stopped selling tickets on its site. Those tickets already sold for Big Hit’s April concerts in South Korea have been refunded; the spokesperson says Big Hit is looking to secure new dates and venues.

“Big Hit’s business will see a huge impact due to the virus,” says analyst Yoo Sung-man of Hyundai Motor Securities. Last year Big Hit earned $63 million on a record $507 million in revenue, up more than 160% since 2018. But Yoo has slashed his earlier forecast of $616 million revenue this year to a mere $277 million. A spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on Yoo’s downgrade.