HYBE shares rocketed up 14.9% this week after the K-pop company reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Like Crazy” by Jimin, a member of the group BTS. Investors could also rejoice that Jimin’s album, FACE, debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. HYBE shares spiked 7.5% on Thursday (April 5) following Jimin’s U.S. chart success and rose another 5.9% on Friday, closing at 217,000 won ($164.85).
“Like Crazy” is an encouraging success for HYBE’s Big Hit Music imprint and the first track by a BTS member’s solo project to top the Hot 100. In fact, Jimin is the first South Korean solo artist with a No. 1 hit on the chart in the U.S. That’s good news for a company that will be without its biggest act for the foreseeable future and which needs to create additional chart successes outside of its home market. News of BTS’s hiatus sent HYBE’s share price down TK% from June TK to TK. Since then, HYBE has reached No. 51 with JIN’s “The Astronaut” and No. 30 with Jimin’s “Set Me Free, Pt. 2.” It has had more success outside of BTS members’ solo projects. Tomorrow X Together’s The Name Chapter: Temptation (EP) reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 while Seventeen reached No. 4 on the chart with 4th Album Repackage: Sector 17.
HYBE’s share price is up 25.1% year to date.
HYBE was the only stock in the Billboard Global Music Index to see a double-digit increase this week and one of just eight companies to finish in positive territory. Overall, the 20-company index declined 3.1% to 1,224.34 this week. (Year to date, the Billboard Global Music Index is up 4.8%.) On Wall Street, the S&P 500 declined 0.1% to 4,105.02 while the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.1% to 12,087.96.
The index’s most valuable company, Universal Music Group, declined 8.2% to 21.40 euros ($23.53) and is down 5% year to date. Spotify, the second-largest contributor to the index, declined just 0.9% to $132.48 and is up 61% year to date.
