For the past couple of years, BTS — also known as the Bangtan Boys and Bulletproof Boy Scouts — have been the upstart K-pop boy group to dominate the K-pop stratosphere. For starters, their Most Beautiful Moment In Life series, which consists of two EPs titled The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 1 and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 , and a compilation album titled The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever , have been major best-sellers, hitting number one in sales on the Korean chart.
BTS also dominated their world tour this year. During the Asian leg of their tour known as The Most Beautiful Moment in Life On Stage: Epilogue , all 144,000 tickets in upcoming shows in China, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines sold out. Yet, BTS was able to still have fun while accomplishing their goals, such as recording the fun time they had in Dubai when they were there earlier this year for a KCON event.
BTS has been the most popular K-pop group recently, and with such a status, they are given certain perks and statuses that only the best of the best have. This includes being number one in brand value. However, that is no longer the case, as recent reports now show that BTS, the reigning champions in brand value, have been bumped down to second place by the most popular K-pop group in SM Entertainment today, EXO.
The Korea Institute of Corporate Reputation was the company responsible for finding out that EXO has surpassed BTS in brand value. According to an article written by AllKpop , they analyzed data of K-pop boy groups spanning a time period starting on August 12 to September 13 . Factors that were used for said analysis includes participation value, communication value, and an overall brand value. EXO took first place followed by BTS. And in the third place spot was Seventeen.
Other K-pop boy groups on the list, up to the top 25, include, in order, Vixx, Big Bang, Infinite, BtoB, Shinee, Beast, Block B, Sechskies, ZE:A, 2PM, Super Junior, B1A4, Monsta X, B.A.P., TVXQ/DBSK, Winner, 2AM, Teen Top, F.T. Island, Shinhwa, and JYJ.
As for the raw numbers analyzed that gave EXO the victory over BTS, they had a participation value of 1.53 million and a communication value of 4.88 million. Altogether, their total was about 6.41 million, resulting in a 348.63 percent increase from August. Take note that even though the numbers were enough for EXO to dethrone BTS in brand value, it was by a slim margin. BTS actually had a higher participation value of 2.65 million, but their communication value was lower at 3.75 million. Altogether, their brand total was 6.40 million, just 0.01 million shy of EXO. As for their percentage from August, it was higher, but not by much at 13.76 percent.
Goo Chang Hwan, the director of the Korea Institute of Corporate Reputation, provided a statement on the reasons why EXO surpassed BTS in brand value this month.
“The results of the September analysis for the brand value of boy groups show that BTS, which has protected its top ranking for a long time, has dropped down to second. EXO, which took first, are receiving good results in various music chart rankings, and while preparing the collaboration stage with Yoo Jae Suk, they grabbed a lot of attention from consumers.”
Ultimately, EXO can lose their spot in the upcoming month. As mentioned earlier, they barely got by with a sliver primarily in the form of their collaboration with Yoo Jae Suk, the Master of Ceremonies of the Nation. If EXO doesn’t have anything major going on this month, they might not be able to hold onto their newly-attained status. Maybe if the activity of individuals from K-pop groups are accounted for, EXO might have a chance to go two months in a row given that Baekhyun is part of the main cast of Scarlet Heart: Ryeo .
[Featured Image by SM Entertainment and Big Hit Entertainment]