NewJeans Helps HYBE Explode Sales Before Leaving, Creating an Unprecedented Record

According to Korean media, HYBE announced, "After the breakthrough of becoming the first Korean entertainment company to surpass 2 trillion won in revenue in 2023, we will set a record again in 2024 with continuous growth in performance."

In 2024, HYBE's consolidated revenue reached over 2.2 trillion won (approximately $1.6 billion), up 4% year-on-year and setting a new record for the company. Direct participation revenue decreased slightly by 1.8% to over 1.4 trillion won (approximately $1.01 billion), while indirect participation revenue increased by 14.5% to 809.3 billion won (approximately $566 million). Although album sales decreased by 11.3%, concert sales increased significantly by 25.6%, offsetting the decrease in album sales.

NewJeans is the group that brought in huge revenue for HYPE in 2024, despite leaving in a noisy manner, consuming a lot of ink in the Korean media.

HYBE artists continue to dominate the album charts, with their share of the annual "Circle Chart" increasing from 38% in 2023 to 40% in 2024. Seventeen became a "ten million seller" for the second consecutive year, recording album sales of over 10 million copies.

TXT has placed two albums in the annual top 10 of the "Circle Chart" and had three releases ranked on the "Oricon Year-End Chart" in Japan. ENHYPEN sold 5.45 million albums in 2024, ranking 8th on the US annual album chart and 9th on the Japanese annual album chart, proving their global appeal.

Despite the HYBE controversy, NewJeans has surpassed 3 million album sales, becoming the best-selling female K-pop artist. HYBE's digital achievements are equally impressive. The company has dominated the "Circle Chart Global K-pop Chart", with 15 of its artists' songs entering the top 20.

BTS members Jin, Jimin, V, and Jungkook have had solo songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100, as has RM with his feature on Megan Thee Stallion's "Neva Play." HYBE artists held 147 concerts and 25 fan meetings in 2024, setting a new record for concert revenue. Seventeen, ENHYPEN, and TXT topped Billboard's "2024 K-pop Concert Revenue Chart." In the fourth quarter alone, concert revenue reached 188.9 billion won (approximately $132 million), double that of the same period in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Merchandising and licensing revenue, driven by concert sales, rose 29.1 percent to 420 billion won ($293.4 million) — the highest on record.

2024 was arguably HYPE's most tumultuous year, when the company's money-making band NewJeans left, followed by a series of lawsuits. By 2025, the band officially changed its name to NJZ, operated independently, and terminated its contract with HYPE.

On February 7, the Instagram accounts of the five female idols, originally created under the name "jeanzforfree", were changed to "njz_official". They officially announced the new group name as NJZ and posted promotional photos of the five members. The Instagram accounts representing the members' parents were also renamed. Producer Min Hee Jin - former CEO of ADOR - "liked" all the posts posted by NJZ on February 7.

In addition, Koreaherald said that NJZ will have its first performance under the new name at the concert event "Complex Live", part of the global street fashion and culture festival "ComplexCon Hong Kong (China)", taking place from March 21-23.

Member Minji shared, "We are excited to show a new side of ourselves as NJZ for the first time on stage. This performance is a very important moment and we look forward to sharing the new music we want to introduce to fans all over the world."

NewJeans faces a big challenge after changing its name, HYBE still holds the "tail" Đức Trí15:01:52 10/02/2025The 5 members of K-Pop girl group NewJeans announced that they have changed their name to NJZ, ready for a re-debut under the new name at the ComplexCon Hong Kong 2025 music festival on March 2123.