Big Hit Entertainment, the South Korean company behind BTS, had its biggest year ever in 2019, the company announced in a statement on Tuesday (March 31).
According to the statement, which referenced its 2019 auditor’s report, last year witnessed Big Hit’s best year to date, with a revenue flow of 587.2 billion South Korean won, or around US$507.9 million, and an operating profit of 98.7 billion KRW, or US$85.4 million.
Big Hit, which is headed by co-CEO’s Bang Si-hyuk and Lenzo Yoon, saw a 95% increase in revenue and 24% increase in operating profit versus 2018’s unaudited numbers that Big Hit previously reported.
The company referred to physical sales being a major factor behind its success in 2019, with 3.72 million copies of BTS’s Map of the Soul: Persona as well as sales of new act TXT’s two The Dream Chapter albums adding to a total of six million album sales. A series of new business ventures and acquisitions also helped Big Hit see its immense growth during the 12-month period.
“Big Hit pushed for optimizing its corporate structure in 2019 by transitioning into a multi-label system, while simultaneously sustaining explosive revenue expansion and high growth rate,” said a Big Hit spokesperson.
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“BTS is making unprecedented achievements as Korean artists, and both TOMORROW X TOGETHER [TXT] and GFRIEND are continuing their growth. Big Hit has also secured an impressive pipeline of trainees; such an expansion of artist IP in conjunction with various business models that are expanding through the company’s corporate enterprise of specialized business entities led Big Hit to expect even further growth.”
For Big Hit and BTS, the hits keep coming. Earlier this month, the K-pop superstars scored their fourth No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart with Map of the Soul: 7, its 422,000 equivalent album units making it the biggest opening week for any title this year in the U.S.