Popular YouTube channels South Korea 2022, by views

As of June 2022, based on the total uploaded video views on YouTube, the channel "SMTOWN" was the most popular channel in South Korea, with around 24.74 billion views. SMTOWN is the video channel of SM Entertainment, one of the so-called “Big 4” in the K-Pop industry. It is the label of artists such as Girls’ Generation, EXO, SHINee, Red Velvet, and other successful K-Pop artists.

K-Pop popularity

Korean pop music channels occupied most of the top spots among popular Korean YouTube channels. One of the reasons for this is the growing popularity of Korean pop music worldwide. During the last few years, K-Pop has greatly expanded its reach and, despite most songs being mostly in Korean, garnered a lot of attention globally for their catchy rhythm and chorus.

 YouTube as a chance to access K-Pop

For international K-Pop enthusiasts, YouTube was also the main channel to access the music videos of Korean pop artists. K-pop fans often commit to streaming a newly released music video multiple times during the first hours and days after release to try and break the record for the most viewed video at that time to support their favorite artists.