K-Media Wonders If Virtual Idols Will Surpass K-Pop Idols In Popularity

The popularity of virtual idols is growing day by day. With virtual idol group PLAVE, they sold more than 500,000 copies in the first week of their recent album. With this growing interest, they are now recognized as a new genre of K-Pop idols.

PLAVE’s second mini album, Asterum 134-1, recorded 569,289 copies in sales. Rookie group TWS, who recently debuted, sold 260,000 copies in the first week. This shows how difficult it is to achieve that number of sales, even for non-virtual idol groups.

This interest continued as PLAVE ranked first for the fourth-generation male idol group trend index for the first week of March. They beat idols, including TWS, ZEROBASEONE, and more. Contrary to the belief that only animation lovers enjoy virtual idols, the public also showed interest in PLAVE.

One entertainment official commented, “There have been many attempts like this over the years. Virtual humans are appearing as well through the achievements of the first generation. Virtual idols with K-Pop should be recognized as another genre, just like K-Pop.”

Some also felt that the consumption of idol content changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Music critic Lim Hee Yoon commented, “Fans have become used to online communication, closing the gap between human and virtual idols’ interaction. We live in a time where even webtoon characters have fandoms.”

The industry is keeping an eye out on virtual idols and predicting the expansion of the tech market. Lim added, “From a producer’s perspective, virtual idols are worth the investment, and with successful cases like PLAVE, there will most likely be more virtual idols in the future.”