U.S. plant-based meat retail salesK-pop album export revenue to the U.S.
K-pop album export revenue to the US and US plant-based meat retail sales have, between 2017 and 2024, risen together at a correlation of 0.919. Two trends led by millennial and Gen-Z consumers with strong opinions about both branding and animal ethics. The CD and the pea-protein patty are, in a real sense, in the same demographic shopping cart.
K-pop album export revenue to the US grew from around $30 million in 2017 to over $90 million by 2024, driven by BTS and Blackpink's global breakouts and the physical-album-as-collectible economy that K-pop uniquely sustains. US plant-based meat sales rose from about $680 million to $1.2 billion in the same window, riding the Beyond/Impossible wave. Both trends are products of the same Gen-Z and younger millennial cohort whose spending and attention categories expanded in parallel: globally-aware music consumption and alternative-protein adoption are both correlates of the same generational profile. The fandom and the freezer aisle share an audience.
Eight years of two lines rising together can describe one generation's taste expressed in two completely different categories. The album and the burger share a demographic. The album, somehow, still arrives in physical form.
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Want to learn more about why correlations like “U.S. plant-based meat retail sales” vs “K-pop album export revenue to the U.S.” don't prove causation? Read our guide to statistical thinking.
