Here’s How Much The Top 1% Of Korean Actors, Singers, And Models Earn, According To Government Survey

A recent survey across the Korean entertainment industry has revealed some interesting figures in terms of how much top celebrities can earn based on their line of work.

BTS, one of the most popular K-Pop groups globally | Weverse

The data was revealed by the “2017-2021 Celebrity Income Status By Industry” report received by Kang Joo Hyun of the Democratic Party of Korea and a member of the National Assembly’s Strategy and Finance Committee.

The report included the annual income of 7720 singers in 2021, which totaled ₩516 billion KRW (about $381 million USD). The average annual income per capita turned out to be ₩66.8 million KRW (about $49,400 USD).

Lim Young Woong is one of the highest-earning singers in Korea | The Korea Herald

But the top 1% of these 7720 singers earned more than 50% of the total income reported. Their earnings in 2021 totals up to ₩356 billion KRW (about $263 million USD), which is equivalent to 68.9% of total industry income recorded in the report. The average income of each singer among the top 77 was ₩4.62 billion KRW (about $3.41 million USD).

Song Hye Kyo, one of the top-earning actors in Korea | @kyo1122/Instagram

Coming to actors, the top 1% of their group consisted of 160 individuals. Their total income in 2021 rounded up to a ₩383 billion KRW (about $283 million USD), making up 48.6% of the earnings of the entire group. Each actor in the top 1% earned an average of ₩2.27 billion KRW (about $1.67 million USD) in 2021.

Kim Soo Hyun, another one of Korea’s highest-paid actors | @soohyun_k216/Instagram

In the case of models, the income of a total of 9536 professionals was reported to be ₩108 billion KRW (about $79.5 million USD) in 2021. That made the per capita income of models in that year ₩11.3 billion KRW (about $8.34 million USD). The top 1% of these models earned a total of ₩43.4 billion KRW (about $32.1 million USD), averaging at ₩453 million KRW (about $335,000 USD) in 2021.

Irene Kim, one of the top Korean models | @ireneisgood/Instagram Sora Choi, another in-demand Korean model | @sola5532/Instagram