On June 23, a topic titled “The Number of People Wanting to be Idols Decrease? Alarming State for Talent Supply and Demand” was published on the Korean forum ‘theqoo’, drawing over 44,000 views and 260 comments within just a few hours.
The topic include an article from media site YTN, which pointed out the alarming state of the K-pop industry
In particular, it was stated in the article that according to data released by the Korea Creative Content Agency, the number of K-pop trainees belonging to entertainment agencies, which reached 1,895 in 2020, dropped to 1,170 as of the end of 2024, plummeting by 38.3% over 2 years.
Not only has the number of applicants trying to become a trainee decreased, but the proportion of trainees who are already affiliated with an agency voluntarily giving up has also increased. This is because the rate of trainees debuting as actual celebrities has decreased by about 20% from about 80% in 2016 to about 65% in 2024.
Additionally, according to a survey on the status of career education for elementary and middle school students published every year by the Ministry of Education, in the top 10 desired occupations for elementary school students, singer fell from 6th place in 2009 to 9th place between 2019 and 2024, and for middle school students, it dropped from 7th place to flunking out of the top 10.
Meanwhile, high school students have not included any singers in the top 10 rankings since 2009.
This means that despite the K-pop market having experienced an unprecedented boom in recent years, there will be a shortage in trainees and K-pop idols as interest continues to drop.
Below are some comments of K-netizens regarding the situation:
- It’s not that the bubble is bursting, it’s just that there are no children. This happen to the sports and games industry as well
- Hahaha, looking at the birth rate, this is a natural process.. Not only in the entertainment industry, but in all fields, there are no talented people since there are no children
- Becoming an influencer is way less work and just as much money after all
- It’s only natural since most idols, except for the big ones, don’t make money…
- It’s really hard for small and medium-sized companies to survive in K-pop nowadays…
- As long as they are handsome or pretty, people can become influencers, so there’s no longer any point to debut as an idol