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Obviously, Japan isn’t as insular as it once was, but it’s times like these that make me feel it still has a ways to go. But it’s a fact that may stop them from becoming incredibly popular overseas. It’s not even necessarily a bad thing, especially if the artists are performing the music they love. Go onto youtube and search through a few J-Pop songs from different artists.ĩ9% of them sound so similar, and it’s because virtually no one is willing to adapt to what’s being produced (and is popular) elsewhere in the world.Īhhh, that classic stubborn Japanese attitude! Instead of reinventing themselves and finding other ways to push the boundaries of the J-Pop music scene, most managers and producers have stayed with what they know and failed to adapt. Many bands have adopted the same style of ‘Advertising’ and that’s led to J-Pop losing its sense of mystery and what once made it unique is now just expected by everyone. Especially when bands like AKB48 put on regular shows at their theatre in Akihabara and did meet and greets, photos with fans, and generally did a lot to be inclusive of their fanbase.Īt the time, it was something no other bands or types of music did but now times have changed. Whilst J-Pop is popular in Japan, it’s nowhere near like it once was. Mega K-Pop Idols ‘BTS’ have been on pretty much every talk show known to man, penetrated global music markets, and have worldwide fame for more than just their music.ĭon’t get me wrong, there are some Japanese pop groups you’ll probably have heard of (AKB48, Babymetal) but their fame is almost entirely constricted to Japan.Īlthough saying that, we’ve already seen from some of the above graphs that J-Pop has been steadily declining in popularity (in both Japan and worldwide) since 2009. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ve never actively searched for K-Pop music but still seen it on TV. One of the biggest reasons that J-Pop is nowhere near as popular as K-Pop is that the Japanese music industry as a whole has little to no international investment. The industry isn’t targeted to an international audience So we’ve seen the facts, now let’s find out what’s led to the ‘downfall’ of J-Pop and the widespread popularity of K-Pop: 1. Is there even any blue?… Reasons J-Pop isn’t as popular as K-Pop

The map above shows how much more popular K-Pop is around the world. Google Trends graph comparing J-Pop and K-Pop This time, however, their popularity has soared far higher than it did in Japan. Looking at the graph above we can see that K-Pop overtook J-Pop in terms of popularity around the world at roughly the same time as Japan. Is K-Pop currently more popular than J-Pop worldwide? If this isn’t a sign that J-pop needs to reinvent itself, I don’t know what is… J-Pop vs K-Pop: Interest worldwide Google Trends graph comparing J-Pop and K-Pop In every prefecture, K-Pop’s popularity sits at around 65% or over making it a clear victor. If I delve a little deeper and compare the two genres of pop music by sub-region in Japan I can see just how widespread K-Pop’s popularity is in comparison. J-Pop on the other hand had been steadily declining for around 2 years before this date, adding to the clear and decisive win by Korea. We can see from the graph that in around May of 2011, K-Pop overtook J-Pop and has stayed that way ever since. One of the more interesting revelations I discovered through my research is that K-Pop is vastly more popular in Japan than its own domestic music. J-Pop vs K-Pop: Interest in Japan Google Trends graph comparing J-Pop and K-Pop