South Korean music firm HYBE – formerly Big Hit Entertainment – has published its financial results for Q4 2021, as well as the full year. In 2021 as a whole, its revenues grew by 58% to KRW 1.26tn (around $1.04bn). That included strong growth for album sales, merchandising and licensing, and (unsurprisingly) concerts.
The financial report highlighted HYBE’s international success with artists including BTS, Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together and Enhyphen, noting that it accounted for 26% of total album sales in Japan’s Oricon Top 100 album chart.
The report also hailed the impact of HYBE’s acquisition of Ithaca Holdings, the management company founded by Scooter Braun, with albums from the likes of Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and Dan + Shay now contributing to HYBE’s bottom line alongside its K-Pop stars.
HYBE also saw growth from its Weverse community platform, which ended 2021 with 6.8 million monthly active users – up from 4.7 million a year before.
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