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Manila Bulletin devider Entertainment devider Forbes Korea unveils 2025 Power Celebrity 40 ranking

Forbes Korea unveils 2025 Power Celebrity 40 ranking

Published Apr 29, 2025 11:19 am

Forbes Korea magazine unveiled its 2025 Power Celebrity 40 list, a Korean ranking equivalent to the Celebrity 100 list in the US. 

The Power Celebrity 40 list is based on a celebrity’s annual income (50 percent) while the other 50 percent is based on media, social media, broadcasting influence and voting (50 percent). 

Included this year were singers, actors, broadcasters, and sports celebrities, and 80 celebrities with a high number of searches on the Daum Kakao portal from April 2024 to March 2025 were evaluated. 

After filtering out people with legal controversies, Forbes Korea applied various criteria, research methods, and statistical techniques to calculate a comprehensive score for five indicators: annual income, media, social media, broadcasting, and voting. 

Korean singer IU is the No. 1 on the 2025 Power Celebrity 40 list with Celebrity Index score of 56.51 points, up 29 places from No. 30 last year.

Forbes Korea reported that during the survey period, IU's total annual income, which includes digital music income, performance fees, drama appearance fees, and advertisement appearance fees, was estimated to be around 32 billion won (about $22.3 million). 

The magazine said only members of BTS and not the group (due to their military service) were included in the survey. Only members of BLACKPINK, not the group, were included.  

Compared to last year’s list, only 11 people kept their positions in the 2025 Power Celebrity 40 list. A total of 29 celebrities, or 72 percent, were new on the list. 

The top 10 in Forbes Korea's 2025 Power Celebrity 40: 

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No. 1 -IU (Instagram) ForbesKorea (3).jpg

No. 2 - Son Heung-min (Instagram) 


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No. 3 - Aespa (Instagram)
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No. 4 - Jun Hyun-moo (Instagram) 
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No. 5 - Lim Young-woong (Instagram) 
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No. 6 - Faker (Lee Sang-hyeok) (Instagram) 
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No. 7 - Lee Jung-hoo (Instagram) 
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No. 8 - Seventeen (Pledis Entertainment) 
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No. 9 - Lee Kang-in (Instagram) 
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No. 10 - Yoo Jae-suk (Instagram)

 

Forbes Korea’s 2025 Power Celebrity 40 

RANK

CELEBRITY

CLASSIFICATION

CELEBRITY INDEX

1

IU

Singer (Actor)

56.61 (points)

2

Son Heung-min

Sports

53.02

3

Aespa

Singer

43.84

4

Jun Hyun-moo

Broadcaster

33.8

5

Lim Young-woong

Singer

32.28

6

Faker (Lee Sang-hyeok)

Sports

25.08

7

Lee Jung-hoo

Sports

24.88

8

Seventeen

Singer

21.67

9

Lee Kang-in

Sports

21.44

10

Yoo Jae-suk

Broadcaster

21.19

11

Jisoo (BLACKPINK)

Singer

20.16

12

Cha Eun-woo

Actor

19.55

13

Lee Byung-hun

Actor

17.87

14

Park Bo-gum

Actor

16.49

15

Gong Yoo

Actor

16.05

16

Lee Chan-won

Singer

15.64

17

Han Kang

Author

14.78

18

Byeon Woo-seok

Actor

14.12

19

Lee Je-hoon

Actor

12.43

20

Jennie

Singer

12.36

21

IVE

Singer

11.73

22

Bibi

Singer

11.52

23

Kim Ji-won

Actor

10.96

24

Rosé (BLACKPINK)

Singer

10.61

25

Go Min-si

Actor

10.4

26

Jin (BTS)

Singer

10.12

27

Ma Dong-seok

Actor

9.97

28

Song Hye-kyo

Actor

9.9

29

Jung Hae-in

Actor

9.83

30

Kim Hye-yoon

Actor

9.81

31

Jang Minho

Singer

9.53

32

Lisa (BLACKPINK)

Singer

9.4

33

Park Seo-jin

Singer

8.81

34

Young Tak

Singer

8.8

35

Park Seo-jun

Actor

8.62

36

Kim Do-yeong

Sports

8.44

37

DAY6

Singer

8.29

38

Bae Suzy

Singer (Actor)

7.54

39

An Se-young

Sports

7.38

40

Lee Se-young

Actor

6.18

 

Forbes Korea’s 2024 Power Celebrity 40 

1. BLACKPINK (girl group)

2. Son Heung-min (football player)

3. NewJeans (girl group)

4. Kim Min-Jae (football player)

5. Lim Young-woong (trot singer)

6. Lee Jung-hoo (baseball player)

7. BTS’ Jimin (singer)

8. Lee Kang-in (football player)

9. BTS’ Jungkook (singer)

10. IVE (girl group)

11. Cha Eun-woo (singer, actor) 

12. Jang Minho (trot singer) 

13. Lee Sang-min (TV personality) 

14. Dex (TV personality) 

15. Ahn Eun-jin (actress) 

16. Lee Chan-won (trot singer) 

17. Kim Ho-joong (trot singer) 

18. Kian84 (TV personality) 

20. 2PM’s Lee Jun-ho (K-pop idol, actor) 

21. Yoo Jae-seok (entertainer, comedian) 

22. Son Tae-jin (singer) 

23. Uhm Jung-hwa (actress) 

24. Le Sserafim (girl group) 

25. Yoona (K-pop idol, actress) 

26. Son Suk-ku (actor) 

27. Lee Seung-gi (singer, actor) 

28. Namkoong Min (actor) 

29. Young Tak (trot singer) 

30. IU (singer) 

31. Park Eun-bin (actress) 

32. Ryu Hyun-jin (baseball player) 

33. Lim Ji-yeon (actress) 

34. Lee Se-young (actress) 

35. Sung Si-kyung (singer) 

36. Go Youn-jung (actress) 

37. Park Ji-hyun (actress) 

38. Jung Dong-won (trot singer) 

39. Park Seo-jin (trot singer) 

40. Shin Hye-sun (actress) 

 

Related Tags

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