GD has proven himself to be the most powerful celebrity of them all!
He took home first place in the ‘Power Celebrity 40’ fandom vote hosted by the world-renowned economic magazine, Forbes Korea.
The voting took place from April 20 to May 10 via the global K-POP content platform Mnet Plus. With a total of 26.94 million votes pouring in from 192 countries, the competition among global fandoms was fierce, but GD claimed the top spot with unrivaled support.
Forbes Korea’s ‘Power Celebrity 40’ is more than just a popularity contest; it is one of the most authoritative indicators of the current state, public influence, and brand power of the celebrity industry in South Korea. The rankings are calculated by analyzing the top 70 candidates based on portal search volume, combining annual income (50%), media mentions (15%), social media influence (15%), and fan votes (20%). GD was already listed as a top-tier candidate in all-around indicators, including profitability (annual income) and media buzz (media mentions and SNS influence), and he has now proven his untouchable influence by ranking first in the fan vote category.
GD is recognized as a representative global cultural icon who has expanded his influence beyond the K-pop scene into fashion and culture. He proved his unique presence by being named in Hypebeast’s ‘HB100’ a total of nine times, and his academic and cultural impact was highlighted when the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles announced the creation of a regular course themed around ‘GD’. Furthermore, he demonstrated his status as a national cultural symbol by performing at the APEC summit and showed his presence in the global cultural sphere through a meeting with France’s Brigitte Macron. GD’s journey of building influence that moves culture and trends beyond music makes his first-place finish in the Forbes Korea ‘Power Celebrity 40’ fan vote even more special.
Regarding this, Forbes Korea stated, “GD has consistently turned his very appearance into a massive cultural event through global stages and fan meetings.” They added, “The result of this fandom vote shows that he is not just a singer based on music charts, but possesses the influence to directly move the flow and trends of global popular culture.” This clearly reaffirms that the name GD itself is a massive asset and a unique personal IP.
