{"id":228545,"date":"2025-04-11T21:17:19","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T20:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=228545"},"modified":"2025-04-14T21:47:01","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T20:47:01","slug":"tae-ho-kim-hybe-coo-and-belift-lab-president-talks-enhypen-coachella-and-superfans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/tae-ho-kim-hybe-coo-and-belift-lab-president-talks-enhypen-coachella-and-superfans\/","title":{"rendered":"Taeho Kim, HYBE COO and BELIFT LAB President, talks ENHYPEN, ILLIT, Coachella, and superfans"},"content":{"rendered":"

MBW\u2019s World Leaders is a regular series in which we turn the spotlight toward some of the most influential industry figures overseeing key international markets. In this feature, we speak to Taeho Kim, Chief Operating Officer of HYBE and President of BELIFT LAB, where he leads the teams behind K-Pop groups ENHYPEN and ILLIT. World Leaders is supported by SoundExchange<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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K-Pop stars ENHYPEN<\/strong> are no strangers to big milestones.<\/p>\n

The group, which was formed through HYBE’s global audition program I-LAND and debuted via HYBE-owned BELIFT Lab in 2020, became the fastest K-Pop boy group to surpass three billion streams on Spotify, according to their label.<\/p>\n

Less than five years after their debut (during the pandemic), they’ve become a global phenomenon. HYBE says that, with nearly 10 million<\/strong> monthly listeners on Spotify and over 25 million<\/strong> followers on TikTok, they’re now the “third-most influential” K-Pop artist on social media. They’ve also claimed the position of sixth most viewed artist on TikTok globally, and third most viewed on the platform in K-pop.<\/p>\n

ENHYPEN’s<\/strong> album sales success tells an equally impressive story. ORANGE BLOOD<\/em> (2023) and ROMANCE : UNTOLD<\/em> (2024) hit No.4 and No.2 on the Billboard 200, respectively, with 1.87 million<\/strong> and 2.34 million<\/strong> first-week sales.<\/p>\n

The group’s fan engagement levels are also remarkable. ENHYPEN hosted 220 livestreams on Weverse \u2013 HYBE’s proprietary superfan platform \u2013 last year, amassing 87 million<\/strong> real-time views and 137 million<\/strong> cumulative views, the highest among all artists on the platform. They were also the most active artist on Weverse by comments last year.<\/p>\n

This weekend marks the group’s latest major achievement \u2013 their debut performance at Coachella.<\/p>\n

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For Taeho Kim<\/strong>, President of BELIFT LAB and Chief Operating Officer of South Korea-born entertainment giant HYBE<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 ENHYPEN’s Coachella appearance represents a crowning achievement that validates his artist development philosophy.<\/p>\n

“Since ENHYPEN debuted in late 2020, they’ve consistently grown, steadily expanding their global album sales and the scale of their tours,” he tells us.<\/p>\n

“I believe that Coachella will be a defining moment that shows just how far they have come in the past four years, evolving into incredible artists. For BELIFT LAB, as a team that has supported ENHYPEN’s journey throughout the years, this moment is both a celebration of how far we’ve come and a chance to think about the new goals and challenges we want to take on moving forward.”<\/p>\n

“BELIFT LAB\u2019s focus goes beyond just achieving success, as we are committed to sharing these experiences and insights across HYBE.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kim’s own journey with HYBE began in 2016 when he was appointed as an outside director for what was then Big Hit Entertainment. By 2018, he had joined forces with Chairman Bang Si-Hyuk to establish BELIFT LAB, a joint venture between Big Hit and CJ ENM that would later become a fully-owned HYBE subsidiary.<\/p>\n

“I took on the role of Chief Strategy Officer at HYBE to build a stronger organizational structure while simultaneously continuing to lead BELIFT LAB,” Kim explains.<\/p>\n

BELIFT LAB has continued to make its mark on the global music industry under Kim’s leadership. In addition to ENHYPEN, Kim leads the team behind ‘rookie’ girl group ILLIT<\/strong>, which made what he describes as “one of the most impressive debuts in K-pop history,” becoming the first and so far only K-pop girl group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 with their debut single, Magnetic<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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