SM Entertainment's second-quarter revenue rose 15.4% year over year to 349.6 billion South Korean won, about $233 million, Music Business Worldwide reported on August 7, citing the K-pop company's quarterly report published August 5. The outlet tied the growth to SM's concert and merchandising businesses and to gains across its subsidiaries.
Concert revenue climbed 23.6% to $27.7 million, which SM said was driven by "the expansion of tours by our legacy IPs." Super Junior wrapped its 20th-anniversary Super Show 10 tour with three encore shows in Seoul, EXO played 19 shows across 10 Asian cities on its sixth solo tour, aespa staged five shows across Jakarta and Japan on its Synk: aeXIS Line tour, TVXQ performed twice at Nissan Stadium in Japan, and NCT Wish held five dates on its first tour.
Merchandising and licensing revenue grew 22% to $51.9 million, which SM tied to "ongoing IP-based monetization," helped by pop-up events including a nine-day NCT 10th-anniversary pop-up in Seoul and an aespa pop-up run across seven cities.
Physical album and digital music revenue fell 8.2% to $60.6 million on lower sales volumes; new-album sales totaled 5.67 million copies for the quarter, down from 6.03 million a year earlier. aespa's second album, Lemonade, sold 1.06 million copies and debuted at number nine on the Billboard 200, Riize's second mini-album, II, sold 1.4 million copies for the group's fourth straight million-selling release, NCT Wish's debut album, Ode to Love, sold 1.92 million copies, and Hearts2Hearts sold 620,000 copies of its second mini-album, Lemon Tang.
Operating profit rose 11% to $35.3 million, though net income fell 5.6% to $19.5 million, which SM attributed to investment valuation losses, impairment charges and a 52.8% jump in income tax expense. Revenue across SM's subsidiaries rose 25.5% to $118 million, led by concert-production unit Dream Maker, up 178.5% on more domestic shows, and actor-management firm Keyeast, up 263.3% on a new TV series.
The results extend a run of concert- and merchandise-led growth for SM, which posted record fourth-quarter revenue of $219.4 million at the end of 2025; second-quarter revenue was also up 25.3% from the first quarter of 2026. Domestic rival HYBE, the company behind BTS, posted its own record quarter last month, with revenue more than doubling year over year on the back of BTS's Arirang world tour.
SM said aespa will tour Brazil, Chile, Peru, Mexico, the US and Canada in the second half of 2026, and NCT 127 opens a new tour, Neo City: Seoul, in Seoul on September 18, while Yesung marks the 10th anniversary of his solo debut with a seven-show Asia run later this year.
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The facts
- Q2 revenue rose 15.4% year over year to about $233 million
- Music Business Worldwide reported it August 7
- Concert revenue rose 23.6% to $27.7 million
- Merchandising and licensing revenue rose 22% to $51.9 million
- Album and digital revenue fell 8.2% to $60.6 million on lower sales volume
- aespa's album Lemonade sold 1.06 million copies; NCT Wish's Ode to Love sold 1.92 million
- Operating profit rose 11%, but net income fell 5.6% on tax and valuation costs
- Subsidiary revenue rose 25.5%, led by concert unit Dream Maker's 178.5% jump
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