Following the release of "Power Celebrity 40" rankings, people began questioning Forbes Korea's credibility. Netizens noticed some of the A-list stars either ranked really low, or worse, weren't even on the list.
On April 29, Forbes Korea unveiled the "Most Powerful Korean Celebrities" this 2024.
However, this drew divided reactions from fans due to "missing" artists in the rankings, who they think are deserving to be part of the Top 40.
BLACKPINK Tops Forbes 'Power Celebrity 40'
This year, BLACKPINK was crowned as the No. 1 most powerful Korean celebrity based on Forbes Korea.
In particular, the result was based on four categories. They ranked 8th place in media coverage, while they sat at No. 1 on both social media and highest revenue categories.
This is the fruit of their hard work of performing in 66 concerts around the world in 2023.
According to Performance Touring Data, the total reported sales of 61 of the 66 performances was $281.03 million (KRW 389.3 billion), while BLACKPINK raised 100 billion won ($73M) in performance fees alone.
Meanwhile, Son Heung Min, NewJeans, Kim Min Jae, Lim Young Woong and Lee Jung Hoo completed the top 5, respectively.
Full List of the 'Power Celebrity 40'
1. BLACKPINK
2. Son Heung Min
3. NewJeans
4. Kim Minjae
5. Lim Young Woong
6. Lee Jung Hoo
7. JIMIN
8. Lee Kang In
9. JUNGKOOK
10. IVE
11. Cha Eunwoo
12. Jang Min Ho
13. Lee Sang Min
14. DEX
15. Ahn Eun Jin
16. Lee Chan Won
17. Kim Ho Joong
18. Kian84
19. Kim Ha Seong
20. Lee Junho
21. Yoo Jaesuk
22. Son Tae Jin
23. Uhm Jung Hwa
24. LE SSERAFIM
25. YoonA
26. Son Suk Ku
27. Lee Seung Gi
28. Namgoong Min
29. Young Tak
30. IU
31. Park Eun Bin
32. Ryu Hyun Jin
33. Lim Ji Yeon
34. Lee Se Young
35. Sung Si Kyung
36. Go Youn Jung
37. Park Ji Hyun
38. Jeong Dongwon
39. Park Seo Jin
40. Shin Hye Sun
K-Netz Frustrated After IU, BTS Rankings, Forbes Korea Explains Criteria
Meanwhile, a huge number of K-netizens were disappointed with the results. They are not convinced with the credibility of the rankings, given that a lot of A-list stars ranked very low or "missing."
IU only ranked 30th place and is missing in various categories. While Jimin and Jungkook entered as soloists, BTS didn't even make it to the top 40 as a group. aespa is also nowhere to be seen.
They conveyed frustration with the comments, saying:
"Lim Young Woong ranked 5th? (I say this because it is lower than expected) Yoo Jae Seok is ranked 21st? There is no IU, what standard is that?"
"Anyway, don't you think that it is a big deal that BTS and IU aren't there?"
"I don't know what standard is this."
"There is no aespa."
"There's no even Karina?"
"How can it be possible for IU to be lower than Son Tae Jin?"
"BTS should be there regardless if they are in the military."
"What's with the rankings of Yoo Jae Seok and IU? Jeon Hyun Moo and BTS are not even on the list?"
"Where did you research this again?"
"Uhm... Forbes Korea has zero credibility. Just because it's called Forbes Korea doesn't mean you should think of it as Forbes."
In light of this, Forbes Korea provided more information about the overall rankings and released the Top 10 rankings per sector.
There are four categories in total, including (1) press, (2) social media, (3) broadcast and (4) income.
The press pertains to how often journalists cover a certain artist, while SNS depicts the influence and growth of the celebrity online.
Meanwhile, broadcast scores are evaluated and compared by creating an evaluation index based on the number of films appearing, highest viewer ratings, and additional points for awards, while the fourth is based on the source of income of the celeb.
IU ranked 10th in the press and 5th in social media but she failed to enter the top 10 for the other categories, leading to her low ranking. As for BTS, they didn't enter the Top 10 in either of the four sectors.
Meanwhile, Forbes Korea's "Power Celebrity 40" is the Korean version of the "Highest-paid Celebrity 100" selected annually by Forbes in the United States.
Targeting 100 singers, actors, broadcasters, and sports celebrities with a high number of searches on the Daum Kakao Portal between 2023 and 2024, the celebrities' annual income (50%) was quantified by media, social media, and broadcasting influence (50%), and 4 The total score was calculated by adding up the indicators.
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz
