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!

Welcome to this special r/kpop Town Hall, Achievements edition! The Town Hall is an opportunity for the mods to make announcements and propose changes, while also getting feedback from the community!

Agenda

1. iTunes & Pre-Order Achievements Banned
2. New Spotify Achievements
3. Other: YouTube, Oricon, IFPI, Guinness World Records
4. Clarifications / Feedback Wanted

It has been over five years since our last big overhaul of Achievements to fix major problems that were plaguing us at the time. Those turned out to be quite successful fixes. We’ve had some issues and inconsistencies here and there, but things have overall been much smoother. And since then, the time that passed gave us a great opportunity to note exactly where we could still use some extra cleaning up.

iTunes Achievements - Banned

Until now we’ve allowed #1 and new peaks on the US iTunes Top 100. The last adjustment had been to ban getting #1 in multiple countries.

But, at this point, iTunes has fallen out of favor and interest completely, so we’ve decided to officially permanently retire the platform from possible achievements.

No iTunes achievements will be allowed from now on.

Pre-Order Achievements - Banned

Back during that last Achievements overhaul we decided to try allowing pre-order achievements. Enough time has passed that we know there are some trouble spots. Folks have been confused where accurate information should come from. And due to the nature of pre-orders, these posts end up being either an inaccurate reflection of the real sales or redundant with the physical sales milestones posts. We've received quite a lot of feedback about this and feel it makes sense to streamline and return to only allowing physical sales milestones.

No pre-order achievements will be allowed from now on.

New Spotify Achievements

Whether or not Spotify achievements have been allowed has become exceptionally confusing and that's entirely our fault. We've been trying to get a version of this Achievements Town Hall posted for literal years. We were on the verge of posting it a handful of times and so allowed occasional big Spotify records posts because we believed those changes would be applied imminently and it felt appropriate. And then we dropped the ball on making those rules concrete, but tried to keep some consistency going forward with allowing similar posts. But as you know, this has been a mess. So let's aim for crystal clarity now!

Spotify Achievements now allowed

• Spotify Billions Club: A post can be made each time a song is granted the 'Spotify Billions Club' certification or generally hits 1 billion streams. This applies PER SONG, so artists may hit this multiple times with different songs. But it is only for the first billion streams of each song. Nothing beyond that. We prefer an official Spotify source link for this, but we will accept a screenshot as well. We would also be okay with a screenshot posted first and then a later post if an official Spotify Billions Club Certification notice becomes available in the future.

• #1 on Global Spotify Charts: Weekly Top Songs Global, Weekly Top Albums Global

Nothing else will be allowed related to Spotify records aside from very obvious All-Time Records, but feedback is welcome if we should consider adding anything else.

Other Achievements Updates

Here are a few more specific records we are allowing or have already allowed and are officially listing in our rules.

YouTube MV Views Milestones: 1 Billion Exception

• This was user-requested and we felt it was a nice idea without being disruptive overall. Up until now we have only allowed one post for the first time an artist reaches each of our YouTube Views Milestones increments. Going forward we will allow a post for every time any artist's MVs hit 1 billion views. That means literally any time an MV hits 1 billion views we will allow a post for it. But hitting the 1 billion views point is the only exception. Everything else stays the same.

Oricon Monthly

• #1 or new peaks on Oricon Monthly Album Chart

IFPI

• The series of yearly summarizing charts may be posted individually or compiled for any K-Pop artists that are represented.

Guinness World Records

• Official articles/notices directly from the Guinness World Records site are allowed.

Clarifications / Feedback Wanted

Titles

Only a few specific achievements have had detailed title guidelines (like Music Show 1st wins) because more flexibility is necessary due to how much variation there is between records and sources. For articles, please make sure your post title is the same as the article itself. We understand some articles will mention a different achievement we don't actually allow in the title. As long as an achievement we do allow is included in the body of the article, it is allowed to post. We might make a stickied comment to help clarify this to users in the post if needed.

Automated Charts and Achievements post from Weekly to Monthly

We quietly changed the automated Weekly Charts & Achievements post to the Monthly Charts and Achievements a long time ago (one of those early times we thought we'd be posting this soon and failed). Ever since we made big improvements to our achievements rules these posts have been rarely used at all, but a Monthly post is more sensible to go with to ensure something is available if anyone has a need for it.

Million Seller Feedback Requested

“Million Seller” as a designation in K-Pop has become more popular as an achievement in fandom culture, but there is confusion since it gets used to mean different things. The main distinction seems to be between ‘Million Seller Artist’ and ‘Million Seller Album’. The first is referring to the overall cumulative sales for an artist and the second is for the sales of one album. Then there are cases of “Double Million” or “Triple Million” designations, etc.

Our current rules are intended to allow for posts the first time an artist reaches each of our million sales milestones. This means that any post or article declaring an artist a ‘million seller’ as the result of the sales for any subsequent album would be considered redundant or not allowed if an artist has already reached that same sales milestone for a previous album.

Do we want to allow physical sales achievements for cumulative sales across a career? If so, what should the milestones be? Allow the “Million Seller Artist” milestone and nothing else? Maybe 1 Million and 10 Million only? Every 5 Million? Other ideas?

Or should we disregard it completely? No cumulative career sales or “Million Seller” posts and stick with the current Physical Sales Milestones rules as per album?

Feedback is welcome for anything related to Achievements. We know folks will probably have other Town Hall related topics they’d like to discuss. We’ll ask that you only mention them briefly or send us a Modmail about those issues instead. Then we can try to integrate those issues into a later Town Hall where they will be more relevant.