It’s that time of year again! While December is filled with year-end countdowns, I like to take a look back at some of K-pop’s biggest agencies during November. Before reading (especially if you’re new to the blog), it’s helpful to know that my grading focuses most heavily on music releases and how comebacks are managed and delivered to fans. Scandals and non-musical factors can certainly impact an agency’s grade, but the biggest criteria will always be the music itself. Following SM Entertainment and HYBE‘s analysis, it’s time to dive into YG Entertainment.
As usual, the thoughts below are my own and aren’t privy to any insider information. There will be plenty of subjective critique.
The Good
Though BLACKPINK’s solo efforts didn’t actually fall under YG Entertainment (more on that later), the buzz they created cycled right back to the group themselves. BLACKPINK only released one song this year but it was a biggie, charting well and continuing their streak of incredible global success. It was also… pretty good! Add to that a huge tour that’s still going on and you have one of the industry’s undisputed heavyweights.
Absent a new BLACKPINK album, YG Entertainment threw much of their support behind rookie group BABYMONSTER. Promotion for their first full album spilled over to this year along with several comebacks. They’ve yet to match the success of their agency seniors, but a global tour and plenty of buzz certainly point toward potential.
Boy group Treasure continue to perform better than most people seem to think. It’s crazy that at the moment they’re the agency’s only active boy group, but their investment in global markets (particularly Japan) seems to be paying off in the form of strong sales. They became million-sellers for the second time with their most recent mini album. Both their and BABYMONSTER’s tours resulted in a profitable year for the agency.
Elsewhere, YG focused mainly on solos. Albums from AKMU’s Lee Chanhyuk and Winner’s Kang Seungyoon came and went without much fanfare but did what they had to do by targeted their respective fan bases.
The Bad
About that BLACKPINK solo success…
The ladies have seen a lot of it this year, but none of these releases came under YG Entertainment. So while the agency might be benefiting secondhand from the buzz, most of BLACKPINK’s most successful 2025 moments can’t be attributed to YG itself.
YG continues to release far less material than their “big 4” peers, making their inclusion in that club less and less convincing each year. The vast majority of their most popular legacy acts have left the agency and when they do come back (2NE1), it’s usually just for a tour or some other special celebration.
Though Treasure continue to perform well, YG is lacking in male groups at the moment. Winner is on hiatus, iKON and BIGBANG left years ago and there doesn’t seem to be anyone else waiting in the wings. BABYMONSTER shows a lot of promise, but other than that it’s hard to predict the future of YG. BLACKPINK can only maintain their huge popularity for so long and the chance for Treasure to breakout beyond their (admittedly large) fan base seems to have passed. The agency has to be asking themselves when and how their next BIGBANG will materialize. It doesn’t feel like they’re doing much to speed that process along.
To be honest, former YG subsidiary The Black Label garnered more cultural buzz this year with acts like Allday Project, but given their role as an “associate company,” I’m no longer including them as part of YG’s grading so all that great 2025 activity can’t be counted here.
What I’d like to see in 2026:
- A new boy group with a public-friendly sound
- An iconic, chart-conquering hit from BABYMONSTER
- More albums/singles in general
Previous years: 2024 // 2023 // 2022 // 2021 // 2020 // 2019 // 2018 // 2017 // 2016
