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On May 10, 2025, GP Korea reported that according to the Korea Brand Reputation Index, BTS has topped the K-pop brand value for May. BTS is ranked first, followed by SEVENTEEN in second place and Big Bang in third.
The Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute analysed the participation index, media index, communication index, and community index of the boy group brand using big data measured from April 10, 2025, to May 10, 2025. This represented a 9.33% decrease from the 63,170,845 pieces measured in April to 57,279,872 pieces.
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Fans took to the internet and expressed their excitement about the announcement. One fan said that this is how "we do it".
"Yes and that is how we do it .... Congratulations @BTS_twt," commented a fan on X.
Similar fan reactions continued on X, where they noted that the group's hiatus due to military enlistment hasn't affected their popularity.
"3rd consecutive week!!! Gearing for returning from military !!!" another fan said.
"Of course.Never before has anything like this been seen in that country. We're talking about a group that's been around for more than 10 years, whose popularity and influence haven't been diminished even by military service. Once in a lifetime band," wrote another fan on X.
"3 months before their return, they already took their throne back. The way bangtan is returning and the other kpop groups are losing their members one by one. The only group who managed to survive the enlistment hiatus curse is bangtan," added another fan.
More fan reactions called them "King" and said that they are keeping the "top".
"After all, The KING IS KING. Congratulations," wrote a fan on X.
"Heh. BTS keeping the top. Jin and Jhope said they are not spine breaking their way to group comeback without results," a fan reacted.
"As expected, BTS," said a fan on X.
More about BTS topping the May brand reputation rankings for male idol groups
The brand reputation index is derived through brand big data analysis, which reveals the online habits of consumers which has a great influence on brand consumption. Boy group brand reputation analysis measures both positive and negative evaluations of the groups, media interest, consumer interest, and communication volume.
Brand reputation recommendation data also gives importance to data where consumers participated.
BTS ranked first in boy group brand reputation, achieving a brand reputation index of 7811108 and a participation index of 133,301. Other metrics included a communication index of 2,546861 and a community index of 3,698,776. Notably, compared to the brand reputation index of 7,617,606 in April, this represented an increase of 2.54%.
SEVENTEEN came in second and saw a drop of 7.67% in the brand reputation index from 6205121 in April to 5,729,258 in May. Big Bang took third place with a 0.80% decrease from April's index of 3,408197, to 3,381,072 in May.
Boyband TWS secured fourth position with an 85.77% increase from 1,687676 index in April to 3,135,194. Lastly, The Boyz ranked fifth with a drop of 7.53% from 3,048,818 in April to 2,819,185 in May.
Koo Chang-Hwan, Director of the Korea Enterprise Research Institute, analysed and noted that BTS ranked first in May 2025, as reported by GP Korea. He said:
"The boy group brand category decreased by 9.33% compared to 63,170,845 pieces of boy group brand big data from April. A detailed analysis shows that brand consumption decreased by 12.33%, brand issues decreased by 1.38%, brand communication decreased by 15.02%, and brand diffusion decreased by 9.56%."
The analysis revealed that words like "prove", "sell-out", and "support" appeared frequently, while keyword analysis showed that the names Jin, Jimin, and Jungkook stood out the most. BTS's brand consumption decreased by 8.68%, brand issues decreased by 6.31%, brand communication increased by 7.43%, and brand diffusion increased by 3.54%.
The top 30 boy group brand reputation ranking for May 2025 is below:
- BTS
- SEVENTEEN
- Big Bang
- TWS
- The Boyz
- EXO
- SHINee
- Super Junior
- Enhypen
- NCT
- Stray Kids
- BTOB
- Zerobase One
- ATEEZ
- Astro
- Infinite
- Highlight
- Boy Next Door
- Monsta X
- Wanna One
- 2PM
- TVXQ
- RISE
- TREASURE
- B1A4
- TXT
- ONF
- FT Island
- VIXX
- Pentagon
In other news, five of the group's members, RM, V, Jimin, Jungkook, and Suga, are currently serving their mandatory military service and will be discharged in June 2025.
