Korean boy group BigBang has created the highest wave of the global spread of K-pop. Its music has captivated the heart of people around the world within 10 years of their career.
The number tells it all, as BigBang earned US$44 million in pretax earnings last year. According to Yonhap News Agency that quoted Forbes Celebrity 100 list, the number surpasses the highest-paid American all-male pop group, Maroon 5 which made 33.5 million. It also exceeded Dr. Dre who earned $41 million and Jimmy Buffett's $40.5 million earning.
BigBang continues to prove itself as top Asian artists with a global fandom. Recently, as Korea Times reported, the group has raked in a total of 2.8 billion YouTube views with 6 million subscribers. The highest one is its 2012 music video "Fantastic Baby" that drew 24 million views in YouTube.
Up to now, BigBang is the only K-pop group that has four music videos with more than 100 million views each on YouTube. The other three music videos that are able to gain 100 million viewers are "Bang Bang Bang," "Good Boy" and "Loser."
However, when BigBang was founded in 2006, the group selected R&B and hip hop as its genre. At that time, hip hop and R&B was considered a rarely succesful genre for K-Pop groups. The other K-Pop groups which was established in the same decade selected genre that can gather audience easily.
Super Junior that entered the stage in 2005 came out with dance-pop, while FT Island with rock ballad hits. Other groups such 2PM and SHINee were known for the handsome members.
On the other hand, BigBang had none of that. Their musical genre was a risky path to choose, and its members' physical appearance were not as impressive as other groups. Nevertheless, over the years, BigBang has become more successful in the global market than any other groups.
Its global fandom spread from United States, Europe, Latin America and even Middle East. When BigBang started the first word tour in 2012, the concert drew 800,000 attendees.
Through their hard work and tenacity, BigBang has become the group that makes the highest wave in global K-Pop.