Over the past two decades, K-Pop has grown from a largely domestic industry into a far-reaching global phenomenon. Along with this growth in popularity, live performances by Korean artists have slowly moved from South Korea, to neighboring East Asian markets, to countries all over the world. More and more markets are being reached by K-Pop artists, and numerous groups and soloists are aiming to visit fans in different locations. However, as many K-Pop fans are well aware, it always looks like our favorite groups are going to the same places, and they’re never coming to my country or my city. So, the question I want to answer here is: where do K-Pop artists actually go to perform? Which countries and cities are the most popular? And which places are constantly skipped?
This project aims to answers these questions and map live performances by K-Pop artists. Since listing thousands of events all over the world will take a long time, this project will initially focus on deep dives on selected K-Pop artists, and over time we will get a clearer picture of how the industry has expanded globally over the years, and which places are reached more often. In the end, we will have a comprehensive analysis of where, when, and how K-Pop artists perform. If you want to keep yourself updated with how this project develops and which artists have been added, you can follow the Instagram page @cosmundus and subscribe to the newsletter (see the sidebar on the right).
Along with mapping live events, there will also be a series of other statistics to help us understand how, when, and where different artists perform. We’ll see what kind of events are preferred, what months and day of the week are more popular, who performed first in a certain place, which artists are most likely to appear alongside each other in festivals and award shows, and much more.
For each artist, I did my best to list every live performance I could find. All the data has been gathered from public sources online. This includes official announcements, social media posts, and articles by agencies, organizers, and journalists. Articles on single artists will mention when the latest update has been added. These might get updated with new events every once in a while. If you see anything missing or spot any mistake, feel free to send an email with your addition or correction to support@cosmundus.com. Before writing, please read the rules below to see what events are considered.
Rules
What is a “live performance”? These are the types of events included in the database:
- Concert – Extended performance, mainly by a single artist with a full setlist. Announced guest appearances or opening act performances count as concerts.
- Joint concert – Event featuring multiple artists performing shorter sets and collaborating together, as part of a common program (ex: SMTOWN Live, JYPnation).
- Festival – Multi-artist event in which performers usually appear separately, each presenting their own set (ex: Waterbomb, KCON, university festivals).
- Fanmeeting – Event combining live performances with fan-focused activities such as games, interviews, talk segments, or Q&A sessions. These are only included if the fanmeeting featured musical performances. Events only featuring games and fan interactions are not included. Mini fanmeeting events, like those sometimes held alongside music show performances, are not included. Note that some events branded as “fanmeeting” are actually fansigns, which are not considered here.
- Award show – Ceremony held to award prizes, featuring a series of live performances by different artists. These include only shows awarding prizes related to music. Shows dedicated to other kinds of prizes are listed as “other” if they qualify.
- Showcase – Event organized primarily to introduce and promote a new release or project. Only included if the event featured musical performances. Listening parties in which the songs are played with no actual performance are not included. Listening parties featuring live performances are included. Media showcases (events held mainly for journalists) and fan showcases (events open to fans) are listed as two separate events, even when they are held to promote the same project. This category doesn’t include events that are promoted as “showcase” but are not specifically held to introduce new releases. These events will be included in other categories, according to their characteristics.
- Busking – Organized public performance, usually held in a public or informal setting and with free attendance.
- Other – Events that don’t fit the other categories but include live musical performances. These are, for example: club events, convention appearances, cultural events, non-music award shows, performances held as part of sports events, and other one-off performances. Other unique events might be evaluted case-by-case.
What’s NOT included:
- Fansigns and meet & greets – Events where fans can meet idols and briefly chat with them. They might feature live performances, but these events are not included here.
- Music shows – Weekly TV programs featuring performances by several artists are not included. However, if a music show episode is held as part of a festival or a wider public event, or is a special event held outside South Korea, then it’s included in the “Festival” category.
- Other TV shows, radio broadcasts, YouTube shows, etc. – Live performances, whether in public or a private setting, held primarily as part of a show on TV, radio, or online, are not included.
- Military shows – In South Korea, artists sometimes perform for soldiers and other personnel at military bases. Since these events are held in a controlled setting and info about them is not always easy to gather, they are not included.
- National anthem performances – Events in which an artist has performed only the national anthem, usually before sports events, are not included.
- Virtual or AI artists – Any event by AI-generated artists or artists promoting mainly through virtual avatars are not included.
- Special appearances on other artists’ events – We will not include instances in which an artist appears unannounced as a guest for a brief one-off performance during an event held mainly by another artist.
- Events without musical performances – Events in which an artist appears without performing any songs are not included.
What about online-only events? During the pandemic, many concerts, fanmeetings and festivals were held as online-only. I included these, but the venue is listed only if the event took place in an actual location that was publicly announced. If the event was held in a private or unknown setting, the venue is listed as “online”. When the venue is “online”, the event is excluded from the geographical analysis, but it’s still included in other statistics.
Artists
These are the artists analyzed so far:
LOONA (including ARTMS, Loossemble, Yves, Chuu, all members and sub-units)
Map
The first map with all events listed so far is coming soon, stay tuned!