ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Entertainment devider Hallyuwood devider BTS, G-Dragon, BLACKPINK lead Forbes Korea's 2026 Power Celebrity 40

BTS, G-Dragon, BLACKPINK lead Forbes Korea's 2026 Power Celebrity 40

Published May 27, 2026 02:26 pm
(Clockwise from top) BTS, G-Dragon and BLACKPINK (X, Instagram)
(Clockwise from top) BTS, G-Dragon and BLACKPINK (X, Instagram)

K-pop stars BTS, G-Dragon and BLACKPINK, soccer player Son Heung-min and trot singer Lim Young-woong led Forbes Korea's 2026 Power Celebrity 40 list.

The Power Celebrity 40 rankings were based on income (50 percent), media mentions (15 percent), social media influence (15 percent), and fan votes (20 percent) among the top 70 candidates based on portal search volume.

BTS topped the list this year after being excluded from last year’s list due to their military service. Only individual BTS members were ranked in 2025. 

Occupying the second to 10th spots are G-Dragon of Big Bang,  BLACKPINK, Son Heung-min,  Lim Young-woong, BTS’ Jin, BTS’ V, BTS’ Jungkook, baseball player Lee Jung-ho and BTS’ J-Hope.

In 2025, IU ranked first in the Power Celebrity 40 list followed by Son Heung-min, Aespa, Jun Hyun-moo and Lim Young-woong. 

(Clockwise from top) The top 10 in Forbes Korea's 2026 Power Celebrity 40 list are BTS, BLACKPINK, Son Heung-min, Lim Young-woong, BTS’ Jin, G-Dragon, BTS’ V, BTS’ Jungkook, Lee Jung-ho and BTS’ J-Hope (Photos from Instagram, X)
(Clockwise from top) The top 10 in Forbes Korea's 2026 Power Celebrity 40 list are BTS, BLACKPINK, Son Heung-min, Lim Young-woong, BTS’ Jin, G-Dragon, BTS’ V, BTS’ Jungkook, Lee Jung-ho and BTS’ J-Hope (Photos from Instagram, X)

BTS topped the estimated earnings criteria in the 2026 Power Celebrity 40 list with 334 billion won (about $222.75 million). 

Forbes Korea calculated the estimated earnings (pre-tax) for 2025 and 2026 based on music sales, performances, appearances in broadcasts, movies, and dramas, annual salaries, and advertising activities.

BLACKPINK ranked second with 151.8 billion won (about $101.2 million in earnings followed by G-Dragon with 92.6 billion won (about $61.74 million). 

Individual members of BTS and BLACKPINK swept the remaining top 10 income rankings. 

BTS’ Jin is fourth followed by Jungkook (fifth), V (sixth), Jimin (seventh), J-Hope (eighth), RM (ninth), and Jennie (10th). 

In the top 10 for media mentions, BTS came first with a total of 371,943 mentions, followed by Son Heung-min with 366,245 mentions. 

Placing third and fourth are TV show hosts and entertainers Jun Hyun-moo (161,000 reports) and Yoo Jae-suk (160,000 reports). 

Baseball player Lee Jung-hoo came fifth (116,000 reports), followed by Lee Kang-in (113,000 reports), BLACKPINK (112,000 reports), IU, Lee Byung-hun and Kim Hye-sung. 

In social media buzz, trot star Lim Young-woong dominated Instagram, X and YouTube to rank No. 1 with 1,156,423 mentions. 

BTS ranked second with 577,643 mentions followed by Park Bogum (165,000 views), Son Heung-min (fourth), Lee Chan-won (fifth), IU (sixth), BTS’ Jin (seventh), BTS’ Jungkook (eighth), BTS’ V (ninth), and BLACKPINK (10th).

The fandom vote for the Power Celebrity 40 was held on Mnet Plus from April 20 to May 10. 

G-Dragon took first place with 13,628,842 votes, 528,481 votes ahead of second-place BTS (13,100,361 votes). 

Actor Cha Eun-woo ranked third (69,762 votes), followed by BTS members Jimin, Jin, V, Jungkook, IVE’s Jang Won-young and BTS’ J-Hope. 

Forbes Korea's list of Power Celebrity 40:

1. BTS (singer) 

2. G-Dragon of Big Bang (singer) 

3. BLACKPINK (singer) 

4. Son Heung-min (football player) 

5. Lim Young-woong (trot singer) 

6. BTS’ Jin (singer) 

7. BTS’ V (singer) 

8. BTS’ Jungkook (singer) 

9. Lee Jung-ho (baseball player) 

10. BTS’ J-Hope (singer) 

11. BTS’ RM (singer) 

12. BTS’ Jimin (singer) 

13. Yoo Jae-suk (entertainer, TV host) 

14. Park Bogum (actor) 

15. Jun Hyun-moo (entertainer, TV host) 

16. BLACKPINK’s Jennie (singer) 

17. Byeon Woo-seok (actor) 

18. BTS’ Suga (singer) 

19. IU (singer, actress) 

20. BLACKPINK’s Lisa (singer) 

21. Cha Eun-woo (singer, actor) 

22. Lee Kang-in (football player)

23. BLACKPINK’s Rose (singer)

24. BLACKPINK’s Jisoo (singer, actress) 

25. Ahn Se-young (badminton player) 

26. Lee Byung-hun (actor) 

27. Lee Chan-won (trot singer) 

28. Kim Hye-sung (baseball player) 

29. IVE’s Jang Won-young (singer) 

30. Park Seo-jin (trot singer) 

31. Suzy (actress) 

32. Shin Dong-yup (entertainer, TV host) 

33. Kim Ha-seong (baseball player) 

34. Yoona (singer, actress) 

35. Go Yoon-jung (actress) 

36. Park Boyoung (actress) 

37. Aespa’a Karina (singer) 

38. Kim Yong-bin (trot singer) 

39. Young Tak (trot singer) 

40. 2PM’s Lee Jun-ho (singer, actor) 

Related Tags

Forbes Korea 2026 Power Celebrity 40 BTS G-Dragon BLACKPINK
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.