The heads of several K-pop companies were included in Billboard’s 2026 Global Power Players list, which recognizes leading figures in the music industry outside the United States.

Leaders of major K-pop companies were named on the list, which was published on Monday: Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE; Park Jin-young, chairman ofJYP Entertainment; Jang Cheol-hyuk and Tak Young-jun, co-CEOs of SM Entertainment; and Joseph Chang, CEO ofKakao Entertainment.


The Korean leaders were placed under the Labels, Distributors, Artist and Label Services category.

This was HYBE's chairman Bang's fifth time on the list after appearing in 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2025, according to HYBE. HYBE's girl group Katseye has been nominated for two categories in the 68th Annual Grammy Awards.

Park , founder and chairman of JYP Entertainment; Jeong Wook, president and CEO; and Shin Hyun-kook, president and CEO of JYP America and chief strategy officer of JYP Entertainment also appeared on the list.

The agency saw record sales in the second quarter of 2025, according to JYP Entertainment. Stray Kids' total of 13 performances in the North American tour grossed $76.2 million with 491,000 audience members. According to Billboard's end-of-the year report last December, Stray Kids was the highest-grossing K-pop tour of 2025.

SM's co-CEOs, Jang and Tak, along with Choi Jung-min, the Chief Global Officer, made the list as well.

Tak and Jang were placed on the list for the fifth and third consecutive years, respectively, according to SM. The company announced SM Next 3.0, a new initiative focused on sustainability. SM Entertainment will also focus on new IP development and global expansion. The artists under its labels, including boy band Monsta X, girl group IVE and Woodz, are set to embark on a world tour this year.

Joseph Chang, the co-CEO of Kakao Entertainment, has also made the list for the fifth consecutive year, according to Kakao Entertainment. Kakao Entertainment's labels and SM Entertainment are speeding up their artists' presence in the global market, including music festivals and album releases.

Kakao Entertainment announced its new co-CEO last February.

BY LEE JI-WON [lee.jiwon10@joongang.co.kr]