Forbes Korea released their 2021 list of the highest income-earning Korean celebrities' YouTube channels. 15 out of 20 were K-Pop artists' YouTube channels. Here, BTS came in 1st place, followed by BLACKPINK, NCT Dream, Seventeen, BamBam, MAMAMOO, and more.

Here are the rankings for the K-Pop artists that made the top 20 (Updates were made to the subscriber counts, from the ranking chart released by Forbes):

1. BTS

BTS came in 1st place with their channel 'BANGTANTV'. Their channel currently has 57 million subscribers, with around 12 billion views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, BTS's YouTube channel brought in an income of around 19.1 billion KRW (~$16.4 million USD). 

2. BLACKPINK

BLACKPINK came in 2nd place with their YouTube channel 'BLACKPINK'. Their channel currently has 64.5 million subscribers, with around 19 billion views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, BLACKPINK's channel brought in an income of around 13.5 billion KRW (~$11.6 million USD).

3. NCT Dream

NCT Dream ranked #3 with their YouTube channel 'NCT DREAM'. Their channel currently has 3.94 million subscribers, with around 394.8 million views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, NCT Dream's channel brought in an income of around 2.10 billion KRW (~$1.81 million USD). 

4. Seventeen

Seventeen came in 4th place with their YouTube channel 'SEVENTEEN'. Their channel currently has 6.85 million subscribers, with around 2.1 billion views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, Seventeen's channel brought in an income of around 1.92 billion KRW (~$1.65 million USD). 


5. BamBam

BamBam came in 5th place with his YouTube channel 'BamBam'. His channel currently has 1.07 million subscribers, with around 75 million views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, Bambam's channel brought in an income of around 1.69 billion KRW (~$1.45 million USD). 

6. MAMAMOO

MAMAMOO came in 6th place with their YouTube channel 'MAMAMOO'. Their channel currently has 6.07 million subscribers, with around 1.6 billion views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, their channel brought in an income of around 1.69 billion KRW (~$1.45 million USD). 

7. EXO

EXO came in 7th place with their YouTube channel 'EXO'. Their channel currently has 8.31 million subscribers, with around 471.4 million views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, their channel brought in an income of around 1.69 billion KRW (~$1.45 million USD).


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8. IU

IU came in 8th place with her YouTube channel 'IU Official'. Her channel currently has 6.69 million subscribers, with around 950.8 million views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, her channel brought in an income of around 1.56 billion KRW (~$1.34 million USD).



9. aespa

aespa ranked #9 with their YouTube channel 'aespa'. Their channel currently has 2.35 million subscribers, with around 282.3 million views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, their channel brought in an income of around 1.44 billion KRW (~$1.24 million USD).

10. TOMORROW X TOGETHER

TXT ranked #10 with their YouTube channel 'TOMORROW X TOGETHER OFFICIAL'. Their channel currently has 7.54 million subscribers, with around 465.2 million views. Forbes estimates that in 2021, their channel brought in an income of around 1.14 billion KRW (~$981,000 USD)

Red Velvet's channel 'Red Velvet' ranked #13 with a YouTube income of 782 million KRW (~$673,000 USD), LOONA's channel 'lonnatheworld' ranked #14 with an income of 782 million KRW (~$672,000 USD), NCT's channel 'NCT Daily' ranked #16 with an income of 501 million KRW (~$431,000 USD), AKMU's channel 'AKMU' ranked #19 with an income of 374 million KRW (~$322,000 USD), and NCT's channel 'NCT' ranked #20 with an income of 364 million KRW (~$313,000 USD).

In response, some of the netizens' comments included:

"Our BamBam is 5th place <3"

"What is BLACKPINK's subcribers count? It makes my eyes suspicious."
"It's been a long time since seeing NCT Daily Lolll."
"Other YouTube channels are busy trying to increase views and use ads, but Big Hit idols don't use ads."
"But I think BTS doesn't put too much attention on the income from BANGTANTV."
"I think this is wrong...BLACKPINK has way more views than BTS, but why are they 2nd place?"
"BTS uploaded over 1,500 videos wow...they really uploaded a lot."

"Despite their [low] subscribers, NCT Dream earns a lot."
"Wow BLACKPINK."

"Wow they make a lot."

"I wish BANGTANTV would upload music videos, not through HYBE."