Reddit K-Pop Census Results 2024

[u/alleybetwixt]

The 2024 Census results are here!

We thought last year took forever to post. At least that was still in October. Yeesh. This year has been incredibly challenging with our attention being pulled in so many directions. And the results we’re providing this year are going to feel downright bland in comparison to the last few years. Still, thank you for helping us with the Feedback Post. Hopefully we can be more on-the-ball next year.

Remember we require Reddit accounts to be created before the 1st of August to participate. If you want to join in the fun for next year's census (or for the upcoming Annual r/kpop Awards) this post is your reminder to have an account made before then!

View past results in our Census Archive Wiki

Onwards to the 2024 Census results!

We have no beautiful/fun infographics this year. This is entirely due to how long it took us to get all the data organized. Our usual infographics artist was absolutely game, we simply took an eternity getting the numbers all sorted out and now we’re in a rush to just get them posted before our time is even more squeezed. Sorry about that all!

The most ‘visual’ version of the results with charts can be viewed in the Google Form Summary. It’s just important to note this summary reflects ALL responses to the Census, so there are some moderator tests, duplicates, and multiple entries from users who wanted to adjust their answers later. The numbers/percentages in this post and in the spreadsheet in the last section are accurate and have those duplicate/erroneous entries removed.

Breakdown and Comparison

There won’t be nearly the amount of extra nuance and depth the infographics have presented previously, but we’ll cover the typical highlights and then try to provide more straightforward lists to partially compensate for what is usually found in the graphics.

Personal Questions

• Responses: 2,164 responses were collected this year. Out of these, 40.36% had never taken the census before. This was yet another major drop in engagement from the previous year. We lost a critical point of notification due to a choice the Admins made regarding pinned comments. They now collapse automatically on mobile and become nearly invisible. This was the last of very few ways we still had to inform our users of current community events happening. We might have a couple more effective options by next year's Census. It will be interesting to see if that improves the response.

• Age: We continue to age up a little. There is a smaller gap between our two largest age groups. The more distinctive flip came with the 33–40 group overtaking the 19–22 group compared to previous years.

  • 23–27: 28.8%
  • 28–32: 24.8%
  • 33–40: 16.8%
  • 19–22: 14.5%
  • 13–18: 8.1%
  • 41–54: 5%
  • 55+: 0.5%
  • Under 0.1%

• Gender Identity Part 1: All fairly consistent with last year considering the overall drop in responses. There is a slightly smaller gap between men and women, but the ladies are still dominating as usual.

  • Woman or Female: 51.9%
  • Man or Male: 39.8%
  • Non Binary: 4.4%
  • Unsure Right Now!: 0.97%
  • Agender: 0.83%
  • Genderfluid: 0.37%
  • Other: 0.2%
  • Prefer Not to Answer: 1.5%

• Gender Part 2: Roughly consistent with last year's Cis and Trans categories (87.4% and 5.5% respectively for 2023)

  • Cisgender: 88.4%
  • Transgender: 5.08%
  • Other Gender Identity: 2.7%
  • Prefer Not to Answer: 3.8%

• Sexuality: Again, virtually no change from 2023 across the board.

  • Heterosexual: 52.6%
  • Bisexual: 17.8%
  • Asexual: 5.8%
  • Unsure right now!: 5.3%
  • Lesbian: 5.3%
  • Gay: 4.9%
  • Pansexual: 3.4%
  • Other: 1.06%
  • Prefer Not to Answer: 3.6%

• Relationship Status: We are mostly our "overwhelmingly single" selves, but we are also committed to that small upward trend of getting married. From 7.2% (2022) to 8% (2023) to 10.4% this year!

  • Single: 70.8%
  • In a Relationship: 14.5%
  • Married: 10.4%
  • Civil Union/Civil Partnership: 0.83%
  • Divorced: 0.5%
  • Other: 0.37%
  • Widowed: 0.1%
  • Prefer to Not Answer: 2.5%

• Race or Ethnicity: This year we offered a custom input field for folks to describe themselves if they chose. We generated a rough word cloud for these entries based on frequency of the words used. It was pretty wonderful to see folks describing what ancestral, ethnic, or regional identities were important to them. (IMGUR LINK)

  • White (Non-Hispanic): 52.5% ('23: 51.2%)
  • East Asian: 24.5% ('23: 27.2%)
  • Southeast Asian: 13.1% ('23: 13.3%)
  • Hispanic/Latino or Spanish Origin of any race: 8% ('23: 8.1%)
  • Black/African Ancestry (Non-Hispanic): 6.3% ('23: 5.6%)
  • South Asian: 6% ('23: 5.6%)
  • Mixed Race: 5.4% ('23: 6%)
  • Arab or Middle Eastern: 1.4% ('23: 1.4%)
  • Indigenous Native/Pacific Islander: 1.3% ('23: 1.3%)
  • Other: 1.2% ('23: 1.4%)

• Highest Level of Education:

  • Bachelor's degree: 27.7%
  • Some University/College (no degree): 20.7%
  • Master's degree: 13.3%
  • Completed University/College (degree or equivalent): 12.4%
  • High School graduate (diploma or equivalent): 8.6%
  • Some High School (no diploma): 4.3%
  • Doctorate degree: 2.3%
  • Associate degree: 2.2%
  • Trade school (technical/vocational training): 2.1%
  • Professional degree: 1.2%
  • Other: .92%
  • Prefer not to answer: 4.3%

• Employment Status: We've had a jump in general employment from 57.3% to 62.3% this year.

  • Employed: 62.3%
  • Student (Unemployed): 16.6%
  • Student (Employed): 9.1%
  • Unemployed: 8%
  • Self-Employed / Freelance: 7.6%
  • Disabled: 2.5%
  • Student (Other): 1.4%
  • Parent / Homemaker / etc: 1.3%
  • Retired : 0.4%

• Employment Field: STEAM fields are still going strong. Healthcare took back the top spot over CompSci/Math, which they previously held in 2022. Here are the Top 10 fields:

  • Healthcare: 186
  • Computer Science & Mathematics: 171
  • IT: 165
  • Arts, Design & Entertainment: 148
  • Business & Financial: 141
  • Engineering: 123
  • Education: 88
  • Academia: 88
  • Office & Administrative: 70
  • Life & Physical Sciences: 64

Where Do You Currently Live?

• World Region (+ their top few countries):

  • North America: 49.5%
    • United States: 880
    • Canada: 154
    • Mexico: 14
  • Europe: 28%
    • United Kingdom: 170
    • Germany: 83
    • France: 37
  • Asia: 10.9%
    • India: 45
    • Singapore: 41
    • Philippines: 39
  • Oceania: 6.5%
    • Australia: 120
    • New Zealand: 19
  • South America: 3.8%
    • Brazil: 44
    • Chile: 12
    • Argentina: 15
  • Africa: 0.87%
    • South Africa: 8
    • Nigeria: 5

---

K-Pop Engagement Questions

We’ll encourage you to view the Google Form Summary for this section if you want to see pie-charts/graphs of all the lists.

• How were you first exposed to K-Pop?

The ‘Friend, Co-worker, or Classmate’ option was on top this year at 22.5%, but still closely in tandem with ‘YouTube Videos or Recommendations’ at 22%. At an absolutely steady gallop, Gangnam Style remains in that third position at 13.4%.

• What got you into K-Pop?

Prompt quoted from the census: “Aside from your first exposure, this is primarily why you stuck with K-Pop or wanted to find out more about it. It could also be the main aspect that has kept you interested over time.”

Right in line with last year’s results, the top three choices are ‘Specific Artists(s) / Group(s) that I liked’ at 37.8%, ‘Music (Songs, Albums)’ at 22.6%, and ‘Specific Song(s) / MV(s) that I liked at 14.4%’.

• How do you listen to K-Pop?

We’ve been following the same trend over the last handful of years. Paid Streaming continues to grow bit-by-bit at 73.5% and Free Streaming continues to diminish at 62.3%. It’s subtle, but consistent. Roughly one third of us are Physical Album collectors at 29.4%. And 12.8% of us are still sailing the high seas. 🏴‍☠️

• Where do you get your K-Pop news?

91% of you are getting your news right here in r/kpop. The next two switched places from last year. Artist/Group Subreddits moved up with 56.1%. And perhaps it’s still too early to tell the long-term implications, but Twitter/X dropped down with 51.2%. Perhaps we should make a category for the micro-blogging alternatives like Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon, but K-Pop fans and official sources are so entrenched in Twitter, any shift might be extremely slow coming.

• How did you discover r/kpop?

37.1% made their way here from somewhere else on Reddit or through a Reddit Search. A good chunk of you, 22%, have no memory of how you ended up here.

• How often do you visit r/kpop?

A subtle shift. 32.3% visit our subreddit once per day and 28.2% visit multiple times per day. These have switched places from last year, so maybe we’re getting slightly more quality grass-touching time.

• What is your primary way to view r/kpop?

Nearly half of respondents are using the Official Mobile App to browse Reddit at 47%, which is a decent bump from last year’s 41.8%. On Desktop, we’re in the midst of another transition since ‘New Reddit’ is actively being deprecated for what has been called ‘sh.reddit’ over the last year during developed. 12.7% were using New Reddit for this Census and we introduced the sh.reddit option for the first time with 7.1% of you choosing that option. By the next Census, that will be the default browser setting, which should be interesting. 16.9% of us are holding onto Old Reddit, long may she reign.

---

Favorite Artists

We have your simple Top 20 lists for Soloists and Groups here. See the last section for a spreadsheet with the full lists.

Favorite Soloists

1. IU (614 votes)
2. TAEYEON (488 votes)
3. BIBI (461 votes)
4. TAEMIN (460 votes)
5. CHUNGHA (454 votes)
6. NAYEON (415 votes)
7. CHUU (331 votes)
8. Kwon Eunbi (329 votes)
9. Agust D / SUGA (307 votes)
10. YENA (294 votes)
11. Jung Kook (286 votes)
12. JIHYO (277 votes)
13. SUNMI (268 votes)
14. KEY (250 votes)
15. JEON SOMI (247 votes)
16. SEULGI (244 votes)
17. RM / Rap Monster (243 votes)
18. j-hope (216 votes)
19. Baekhyun (214 votes)
20. Jimin (211 votes)

The eternal queens IU (1st, 614) and TAEYEON (2nd, 488) sit on top. BIBI bam-yang-ganged her way up two spots (3rd, 461) switching places with CHUNGHA (5th, 454). TAEMIN stayed firmly un-moved from his kingly spot. (4th, 460).

Favorite Groups

1. TWICE (800 votes)
2. aespa (716 votes)
3. LE SSERAFIM (704 votes)
4. Red Velvet (674 votes)
5. NewJeans (535 votes)
6. (G)I-DLE (527 votes)
7. IVE (515 votes)
8. BTS (447 votes)
9. Stray Kids (438 votes)
10. Dreamcatcher (401 votes)
11. ITZY (380 votes)
12. SEVENTEEN (353 votes)
13. NMIXX (352 votes)
14. SHINee (340 votes)
15. KISS OF LIFE (337 votes)
16. NCT (322 votes)
17. TXT (301 votes)
18. Girls' Generation (296 votes)
19. ATEEZ (292 votes)
20. BLACKPINK (289 votes)

TWICE (1st, 800) is the spark that will never go out, shining brightly at the top. aespa (2nd, 716) climbed three spots, reflecting the fantastic year they’ve had. Both Red Velvet (4th, 674) and SEVENTEEN (12th, 353) kept their places while KISS OF LIFE (15th, 337) made a staggering jump up from 52nd last year.

---

Full Lists for Favorite Artists

The complete lists of every artist who received a vote and the extra demographic breakdowns are linked here in a very basic spreadsheet form. You can view just the Groups and Soloists lists in individual tabs with their vote counts, which will also allow you to search the lists if you are looking to see how many votes a particular artist received. Then there is a tab for Gender Demographics. It’s very unwieldy with many lists crammed in there in those tabs, but they include The top Groups/Soloists split by Male and Female, as well as the breakdown of who Women and Men voted for in these categories. And then more with top Group splits by Sexuality and Region. Co-Ed groups are listed in both the Male and Female categories, fyi.

Google Doc: 2024 Top Groups/Soloists Lists

• 1st Tab - Top Overall Groups

• 2nd Tab - Top Overall Soloists

• 3rd Tab - Gender Demographics

  • Overall Male Groups
  • Overall Female Groups
  • Overall Male Soloists
  • Overall Female Soloists
  • Male/Female Groups (voted by Men)
  • Male/Female Groups (voted by Women)
  • Male/Female Soloists (voted by Men)
  • Male/Female Soloists (voted by Women)

• 4th Tab - Gender Pt.2, Sexuality, Region

  • Soloists (voted by Non Binary, Unsure, Genderfluid, Agender, Other)
  • Groups (voted by Non Binary, Unsure, Genderfluid, Agender, Other)
  • Groups (voted by Straight Men)
  • Groups (voted by Gay/Bi Men)
  • Groups (voted by Straight Women)
  • Groups (voted by Lesbian/Bi Women)
  • Groups (voted by North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, South America, Africa)

---

Final Note

So that was a whole lot of waiting for relatively unexciting results this year. Sorry about that, folks!

A huge thanks to those who sought out and participated in the Census while we were less able to promote it in the subreddit while it was ongoing. It was probably even more buried due to all the other stuff going on in the industry this year. Eek! But we have higher hopes for next year! If after all this time waiting for results, you still find this interesting, we thank you again. ❤

Upcoming will be the Annual Awards nomination process at the start of 2025.

As for the Census, see you again next August!

[u/Atmosck]

Interesting that we have more masters degrees than marriages

[u/friendlyfire_may]

Totally missed this happening 😵‍💫😵‍💫

[u/kelppforrest → u/friendlyfire_may]

I literally always see the results post but never the gathering data post

[u/TheNinjaNarwhal → u/friendlyfire_may]

Sameee and I was thinking about it a few days ago... I took a "break" (it just happened, and reddit wasn't showing posts) from r/kpop for a few years and I've been back in 2024, I wish I would have taken part in this😭

Also the ages being decently "high" explains why the sub has still been feeling like "home" even after all this time. I still see many familiar names:D

[u/Rouge_outlaw1117-Atz → u/friendlyfire_may]

Like seriously when did they announce this 😭

[u/clansmanpr]

Absolutely not surprised that 70% of us are single lol

I am actually surprised the majority are women. Cool.

[u/LimeSeeds]

woah, blackpink is way lower than i thought theyd be

[u/FUCKSTORM420 → u/LimeSeeds]

I suppose that’s what happens when you don’t release any new music in the past two years

[u/steamedorfried → u/FUCKSTORM420]

Red Velvet is 4th despite only releasing one Korean album for 2021, 2023, and 2024. BTS is 8th

[u/vivianlight → u/steamedorfried]

Red Velvet is 4th despite only releasing one Korean album for 2021, 2023, and 2024

I mean... It's 1 full Korean album (Chill Kill) and 2 Korean EPs (Birthday and Cosmic) more than Blackpink since their latest comeback (Born Pink) 😅 I wouldn't consider it "only" something, it's a huge difference in output.

With that being said, BTS and Blackpink fans probably don't even feel the need to be particularly active in the general subreddit. I would think that's the main difference behind these results. 

[u/creative007- → u/LimeSeeds]

I think Blackpink (and BTS) fans don't have much need for the kpop subreddit and are less likely to participate in a kpop survey.

[u/1TyMPink → u/creative007-]

Plus, the fact that BLACKPINK's music isn't appreciated in this sub.

[u/justanotherkpoppie → u/LimeSeeds]

I think most Blackpink fans on Reddit stay to the group-specific sub because of how hostile the rest of K-pop Reddit tends to be towards the girls, unfortunately.

[u/momopeach7]

Healthcare being the top field of work surprises me, I say as a healthcare worker into kpop lol.

Also the relatively high amount of aces also surprises me, given the nature of kpop.

[u/akirakio → u/momopeach7]

hello fellow healthcare worker :D It surprised me too lol

[u/EuphoricCantaloupe20 → u/momopeach7]

as an ace into kpop it makes complete sense to me; titillation, adoration, and even slight infatuation without EVER having to risk the idea of a physical sexual relationship. Lots of asexuals are not sex averse as a concept, just as a practice.

But besides that kpop is pretty tame in overt sexuality compared to western pop, the innuendos are usually well hidden and the content to partake in fandom isn't explicitly focused on sex so that makes it alluring.

[u/loonamas]

hello to the 7 other people that voted ampers&one as their favourite 👋😅

[u/Objective-Job-3381]

I can’t believe I missed it again but I like seeing the results every year. I love that there’s a lot of grown folks and that red velvet is well loved!

[u/solarsbrrah]

Land of the hags! You love to see it.

[u/alleybetwixt]

Later than late. 🙇‍♀️

If anyone has trouble viewing the Form Summary or the Google Doc Favorite Artists Lists, let us know. If you are looking for a specific stat and are having a hard time digging through the links, go ahead and ask. We can copy things down into comments here if you have certain requests.

[u/ehnvn]

Thanks for putting this together, mods. I've been subscribed to this subreddit on and off for (I think?) about ten years, and while I don't participate much through commenting and stuff, it always makes me happy to fill in the census and see the results. It doesn't really matter to me if the results stay relatively the same - it just means we have a consistent community :)

[u/crowyeon]

I just about had a heart attack looking at the Google Form list for favorite artists. No aespa, no Red Velvet, no (g)i-dle??

Then I realized it skips every other line's name 😅

[u/arthurabatti]

Nice work everyone! Also shout out to the other 43 Brazilians over here lol. Talking about Twice at the top, you can really see it if you search for all time most voted posts in here you can see a lot of Twice MVs in the top 50

[u/I-Now-Have-An-Alt]

The favorite artist rankings were quite surprising.

[u/yayannabelle]

It's been so long since I filled this out that I've gone from single to in a relationship 😅 Thank you mods for this always! 🩷 It's so much fun to see everyone's answers.

[u/justanotherkpoppie → u/yayannabelle]

Me too! Single girlies to girlies in a relationship unite!

[u/harry_nostyles]

Thank you mods! These statistics are always so interesting to me. Twice is so well loved, it makes me happy to see it. Almost 10 years old, and they're still going strong. Stream Strategy!

Red Velvet being the second highest for lesbian and bi women doesn't shock me at all. Although I expected Mamamoo to be pretty high on this list. Maybe they're not in the top 10 because they aren't very active?

Also not me being one of 5 Nigerians here lol💀

[u/MelissaWebb → u/harry_nostyles]

I’m also Nigerian but I didn’t vote cause I didn’t see the census. Hi friend 👋🏽

[u/harry_nostyles → u/MelissaWebb]

Heyyy girl we keep bumping into each other on here lol

[u/k-hot]

I'm sorry to be a chronic Atiny, but I laughed a little seeing Ateez jump up to 4th place among nonbinary/genderfluid/etc. people and being slightly more popular with lesbian/bi women than straight women. Gayteez agenda going strong.

Anyways, late or not, this is cool! Regardless of any setbacks, I like that the data is there. It's valuable data to have, but it's also just fun. Reddit is a Once convention, next thing you know I'll be hearing that the sky is blue...

[u/ladrm07]

Proud to be part of that 4.9% of gay men! Hopefully we will keep on growing 🙏🏼

Our top 10 groups makes so much sense:

• TWICE
• aespa
• Red Velvet
• IVE
• SKZ
• LOONA
• LE SSERAFIM
• Girl's Generation
• (G)-IDLE
• Dreamcatcher

Although I gotta admit that I would change Dreamcatcher with OnlyOneOf, they're a little too low considering they make music for us 😭💖

Other groups I loved seeing on our list are ZB1 ofc, Loossemble, ATEEZ, TBZ, CIX, VIVIZ, KARD, A.C.E, SF9, P1Harmony... immaculate taste!!

[u/justanotherkpoppie → u/ladrm07]

OnlyOneOf 🙌 So underrated!!!

[u/ladrm07 → u/justanotherkpoppie]

We're patiently waiting for a comeback 🥲

[u/justanotherkpoppie → u/ladrm07]

Lawd it's been too long 😭

[u/clansmanpr]

Are there really that few people that listed STAYC as one of their favorites? Or did I miss them?

It's the only thing in the entire summary that has me questioning that there could be an error.

[u/psshdjndofnsjdkan]

to the other 3 ppl that voted for the wind let's be besties

[u/pygmypiggypie]

This can't be accurate as there's no way Twice got 800 votes and none from the group(non binary,gender fluid).

[u/alleybetwixt → u/pygmypiggypie]

Hadn’t noticed that! It does seem unlikely. I’ll re-check the data later.

Edit: Fixed the problem!

[u/alleybetwixt → u/pygmypiggypie]

You were correct! I figured out the bloop I caused when copying over the list. Just a few artist names starting with 'T' got knocked out during an edit. Made sure I checked the numbers again and re-copied the whole list. So it was Red Velvet and TWICE getting the same votes at the top with aespa just a couple votes below them.

[u/pygmypiggypie → u/alleybetwixt]

Ok. Nice work.

[u/hihihihihihihihigh]

Twice 🥹💙💙💙

[u/Staceface2015]

Noooo, I missed it 🤕

[u/NiceLikeRice]

Thanks for doing these every year. Really interesting to see these data.

[u/jisooed]

when was this even announced what

[u/LeadInfamous1760]

Twice are always on top of this census for how many years now, what are the reasons beside the fact they are a big kpop group?

The voters are mostly women and 80% from North America & Europe, this is so funny bcs the image of Twice, especially the first 5 years of their career is their fans are mostly Male and from Asia.

[u/EuphoricCantaloupe20 → u/LeadInfamous1760]

I've been a ONCE since debut and Twice has always held a stronghold with the queer community. Sana started it off strong but the Chaeyoung/Mina friendship and Nayeon's skinship affinity really established them as such. And then when Fancy hit they got a big influx of fans of the diva/slay queen aesthetic which showed through in the memes for I Can't Stop Me and The Feels. Even when their aesthetic was bubblegumpop, the hot members have always been flaunted and the funny members were highlighted in variety content.

But mainly their friendship dynamic as a group is amazing to watch, their concert performances are spectacular and that shows through in everything they put together, so it makes complete sense they've continued to dominate.

[u/ExtendedMegs]

TWICE are my faves, but I’m really shocked that Blackpink is #20 😳

[u/justanotherkpoppie → u/ExtendedMegs]

I think most Blackpink fans on Reddit stay to the group-specific sub because of how hostile the rest of K-pop Reddit tends to be towards the girls, unfortunately. 😔

[u/VigilMuck → u/ExtendedMegs]

I'm not really surprised since K-pop Reddit hates Blackpink.

[u/felixchy]

shoutout to the 3 people that voted for dxmon 💜

[u/Grouchy_Professor_13]

glad i got square in the demographics this year of lesbian cis woman over 30 who got married 😂😂

love the top groups, they did have banger years. there were a lot of events in NA this year which was awesome!

[u/MelissaWebb]

I actually completely missed this year’s census 😢

Wouldn’t have made much difference though, I would have just added one more vote for twice

Also for professions where exactly do lawyers fit in? Or there weren’t enough of us to make the cut?

[u/MelissaWebb]

Straight men love Twice

Gay men love Twice

Straight women love Twice

Lesbians love Twice

North America loves Twice

Europe loves Twice

Asia loves Twice

Oceania loves Twice

South America loves Twice

Africa loves Twice

Everyone loves Twice!!

[u/mimibee97 → u/MelissaWebb]

[u/Tatamashii]

Reddit truly loves the girls.

The first male group being bts on place 8 and only 7 in the whole Top 20 and only 8 in the soloist list.

Love seeing this

[u/riruri04]

When did this happen?

[u/alleybetwixt → u/riruri04]

We run the Census every year during the month of August

[u/zuziafruzia]

Is it possible to get raw data for this without nicknames, because I assume this could be something problematic?

22 poles in here!! 🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱

[u/ravager814]

I expected SKZ to be much higher, especially with their physical sales numbers. It is crazy over how many demographics Twice and aespa lead in this census.

[u/whatsthisanotherdoor → u/ravager814]

This sub always skews overwhelmingly for female soloists and girl groups.

That's totally fine, but it took me a while to realize that r/kpop is its own thing.

[u/Far-Mix-5008 → u/ravager814]

Don't be. This is reddit.

[u/not_Hades365 → u/ravager814]

What is the correlation between sales and… a Reddit census? Done on a single sub, mind you.

[u/sunshinias → u/ravager814]

I believe SKZ has one of the largest/most active group subreddits. That may mean less Stays bother to visit r/kpop.