Lim Young-woong may not have as many fans as BTS, but the trot singer is rivalling the global superstars, showing there's more to South Korean music than K-pop with his billions of streams and a sold-out stadium tour. Once dismissed and widely ridiculed as music for pensioners, trot blends traditional Korean music with elements of Western jazz, swing and Japanese Enka. But 33-year-old Lim is one of a fresh crop of younger artists breathing new life into the genre, with its melodramatic ballads and upbeat tunes finding massive audiences in the South, helped by a wave of reality television shows.
The original and most successful of these, "Mr Trot" was won by Lim in 2020, with more than a third of all South Korean viewers watching the final -- and his victory turned him into a nationwide sensation. His songs now have a record-breaking 10 billion streams on Melon, the South's largest music platform; his official fan club has more than 200,000 members; and his stadium tours sell out in minutes. Lim is also South Korea's most loved singer, according to a June Gallup poll, beating out BTS, who were ranked third favorite at home.
He also out-earns BTS members -- individually, not as a group -- with ticket sales for his recent tour raking in about $22 million, industry data shows. "Domestically, articles about him generate more traffic and gain more likes than BTS," veteran entertainment journalist Seo Byung-ki told AFP, adding this was known as "Lim Young-woong syndrome". The star's.