BTS reclaims top spot in Star Brand Reputation Index

BTS has once again proven its superiority in the K-Pop industry. The stars topped the latest edition of the Star Brand Reputation Index. On March 30 Korea Business Research Institute published the March edition of the coveted list, which ranks Korean celebrities from across fields on the basis of their popularity.

The Korean Business Research Institute conducted a study into the brand reputation index of the most well-known Korean celebrities during the month of March, using 202,942,304 data points collected between February 28 and March 30, 2023. This represents a 2.12 percent increase when compared to February's total of 198,733,294 star brand big data.

The brand reputation rankings take into account a wide range of K-pop artists, including boy groups, female groups, solo acts, celebrities from a variety of shows, sports personalities, and stars from dramas and movies. These rankings for the month were decided on the basis of engagement and contact with consumers, media coverage of the stars, and indices of community awareness between February 28 and March 30, 2023.

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BTS reigns supreme with brand reputation score of 6,791,625

The Grammy-nominated K-Pop boy band BTS has solidified its position by surpassing all other K-Pop groups to hold the top rank in the Star Brand Reputation Index. BTS achieved a brand reputation score of 6,791,625. This marks a significant increase of 11.58% since the previous month when BTS' score was 6,005,154.825.

Following BTS on the popularity index is legendary trot artist Lim Young-woong. The My Starry Love artist held on to his position as the second most popular star for the second consecutive month with a brand reputation score of 6,494,742. There has been a slight dip in the popularity of the artist as evidenced by the fall in the score since February, which was 6,505,134.

Featuring once again in the top five of the Brand Reputation Index, is the captain of Korea’s football team Son Heung-min. The football sensation ranked in third place with a staggering band reputation score of 6,200,437. This marks a rise in one rank and an increment of 19.35% in the brand reputation score since last month.

Slipping to the fourth rank is HYBE’s rookie K-Pop girl group NewJeans, which has already made its mark in the K-pop industry. The leaders of last month’s star Brand Reputation Index witnessed a drop in their popularity this month after reigning at the top for the first two months of 2023. The girl group achieved a brand reputation score of 5,018,007. This marks a staggering decrease of 43% since February’s score of 7,176,143.

Closing off the top five is the internationally acclaimed K-pop quartet BLACKPINK. This month marked progress for the sensational girl group as they climbed up the ranks to fifth place. BLACKPINK achieved a score of 4,515,803.

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BTS members are currently occupied with their solo careers and mandatory military duties. J-Hope is set to soon enlist in the army as an active-duty soldier. The group plans to reunite in 2025, and fans can't wait to see them together again.