How Many YouTube Subscribers Does BABYMONSTER Have Now?
BABYMONSTER's YouTube channel crossed a line on August 21 that only two K-pop girl groups had reached before it. The number itself is round; the company that reported it made sure the ranking was not.
BABYMONSTER's official YouTube channel passed 13 million subscribers at approximately 5:00 a.m. KST on August 21, 2026, according to YG Entertainment . That makes the seven-member group the third K-pop girl group to reach the 13 million tier, after BLACKPINK and TWICE, and the first among fifth-generation girl groups to do so .
Quick Answer: BABYMONSTER's YouTube channel reached 13 million subscribers at about 5:00 a.m. KST on August 21, 2026, per YG Entertainment — the third K-pop girl group ever to do so, after BLACKPINK and TWICE. Cumulative channel views stood near 9.88 billion at the time of the report.
Cumulative views across the channel stood at roughly 9.88 billion as of the same report, leaving the 10-billion threshold within reach in the near term . One note for readers comparing English coverage: some translations render the Korean figure 98억 8000만 as "988 million," which is inconsistent with YG's own August context of more than 9.7 billion views .
The timing is the part worth marking. BABYMONSTER debuted on April 1, 2024, which places the 13 million mark about two years and four months after debut . You can check the live count yourself on the group's official YouTube channel, though public subscriber counts are rounded and won't match the exact figure YG cited.
Who's Actually Ahead of BABYMONSTER on YouTube?
Only two K-pop girl groups sit above BABYMONSTER on YouTube: BLACKPINK and TWICE. BLACKPINK became the first Official Artist Channel of any kind to reach 100 million subscribers on February 20, 2026, about nine years and eight months after the channel launched in June 2016, and now sits near 101 million . TWICE holds second place at roughly 19.4 million, while ITZY trails BABYMONSTER at about 10.0 million .
The figures below come from an independent K-pop YouTube ranking crawled around August 21, 2026 — the same day YG reported the 13 million milestone — and are useful for ordering, not for precision. YouTube rounds public subscriber counts, so none of these numbers can be independently verified down to the individual subscriber .
| Rank | Group | YouTube subscribers (approx., Aug 21, 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BLACKPINK | 101 million |
| 2 | TWICE | 19.4 million |
| 3 | BABYMONSTER | 13.0 million |
| 4 | ITZY | 10.0 million |
There is one definitional wrinkle worth naming. The same ranking lists KATSEYE at about 13.1 million, marginally ahead of BABYMONSTER . KATSEYE is generally categorized as a global girl group rather than a K-pop one, which is why Korean-media coverage from TenAsia, Break News and others still describes BABYMONSTER as the third K-pop girl group to cross 13 million . Include hybrid acts and the ordering shifts by one place; keep the category narrow, as the original YG-sourced announcement does, and the third-place claim holds .
The gap to second place is the more instructive number. At 19.4 million, TWICE is roughly 6.4 million subscribers ahead — a distance BABYMONSTER has covered in about eleven months at its recent pace, though nothing guarantees that rate continues.
How Fast Did BABYMONSTER Reach 13 Million Subscribers?
BABYMONSTER reached 13 million YouTube subscribers roughly two years and four months after its official debut on April 1, 2024 . The channel's ascent is unusually well documented because YG Entertainment issued a notice at nearly every million-mark, and each notice carried a shorter elapsed time than the last. The pattern is one of acceleration rather than a single viral spike.
The first inflection came early. On June 25, 2024 — roughly three months after debut — YG said the channel had passed 6 million subscribers on the strength of the debut track "SHEESH," adding more than 10,000 new subscribers per day against over 2 billion cumulative views . By April 2025 the figure stood at 9 million with 4.3 billion cumulative views .
- 6 million — June 25, 2024: about three months post-debut, driven by "SHEESH" .
- 10 million — September 9, 2025: about one year and five months post-debut, which YG billed as the fastest ever for a K-pop girl group .
- 11 million — January 3, 2026, about 7:30 a.m. KST: again described by YG as a girl-group speed record, with cumulative views then past 7 billion .
- 12 million — May 17, 2026, about 6:30 p.m. KST: roughly two years and two months from debut .
Read as a rate, three million subscribers arrived in the eleven months between September 2025 and August 2026, and the most recent million in roughly three months . The tightest window YG has disclosed sits around the May 2026 comeback: approximately 250,000 subscribers in 13 days, an average close to 20,000 per day, which the label described as a fan-acquisition catalyst rather than ordinary channel drift .
Why It Matters: The CHOOM Comeback Behind the Surge
The catalyst was 춤 (CHOOM), BABYMONSTER's third mini album, released May 4, 2026 . Its title-track music video reached No. 1 on YouTube's worldwide trending chart on release day and drew 15 million views within half a day . That opening set the tone for a roughly three-month campaign in which four music videos and three performance videos accumulated close to 700 million combined views, with the most recent single "MOON" approaching 100 million across its music and performance versions .
The campaign sits on top of a back catalogue that keeps working. The channel's most-watched upload remains the "SHEESH" music video at 417 million views, followed by the "LIKE THAT" performance video at 248 million . On August 11, 2026, YG confirmed that the "DRIP" performance video passed 200 million views at about 1:08 a.m. KST, and stated that the group had 17 pieces of YouTube content in the hundreds-of-millions range, five of them performance videos .
That ratio — performance videos sitting alongside music videos near the top of the channel — is the part YG points to. The label describes the growth as validation of a music- and performance-first content model built on choreography clips and stage footage rather than elaborate sets or visual-driven formats, a playbook it says it developed during BLACKPINK's early years under executive producer Yang Hyun-suk, who committed to YouTube as a global distribution channel from the start .
"As performance and dance-practice formats became a primary mode of global K-pop consumption, accumulated production capability lets BABYMONSTER's material cross language and regional barriers," YG Entertainment said in its milestone notice (source: Break News, 2026-08).
Stripped of the corporate framing, the mechanism is straightforward: the fandom is being assembled through video-native formats and behind-the-scenes material rather than through domestic Korean charting, which is why a subscriber count can move faster than any traditional chart metric would suggest.
Where to See BABYMONSTER Next: CHOOM World Tour Dates
BABYMONSTER is currently mid-run on the 춤 (CHOOM) World Tour, the group's second world tour, which opened June 26, 2026 at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul and covers 27 shows across 18 cities as announced by YG Entertainment . The tour was announced March 16, 2026, with the Seoul leg confirmed on March 31 (source: YG Family, 2026-03).
The confirmed routing is concentrated in Asia and Oceania:
- Japan (6 cities): Kobe, Fukuoka, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya and Osaka
- Rest of Asia (8 cities): Manila, Macao, Jakarta, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Singapore and Hong Kong
- Oceania (3 cities): Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney
The most significant date on the itinerary is a two-night stand at Kyocera Dome Osaka in September 2026, the group's first solo dome shows . Dome-level bookings in Japan are typically reserved for acts with proven multi-night demand, which makes this leg the clearest offline test of the online numbers.
Fans outside Asia and Oceania are still waiting: European, North American and South American dates have been flagged as to be announced rather than scheduled, so no on-sale windows exist for those regions yet . For scale, the debut HELLO MONSTERS tour drew roughly 300,000 attendees across 32 shows in 20 cities .
The concrete takeaway: the 13 million subscriber count is the visible metric, but the two Kyocera Dome nights in September 2026 and the still-unannounced Western legs are where that audience gets converted into tickets. Watch YG's official channels for the Europe and Americas announcement — that is the next dated event, not the next round number .
Frequently asked questions
Is BABYMONSTER really the third-biggest K-pop girl group on YouTube?
Yes, within the ranking Korean media tracks. BABYMONSTER passed 13 million subscribers at around 5:00 a.m. KST on August 21, 2026, placing it third among K-pop girl groups behind BLACKPINK and TWICE . One caveat belongs alongside that claim: an independent K-pop YouTube ranking crawled around the same date listed KATSEYE at 13.1 million, slightly ahead of BABYMONSTER's 13.0 million . KATSEYE is normally classified as a global rather than a K-pop girl group, so a broader "girl group" list reorders while the narrower K-pop claim holds. Public subscriber counts are also rounded by YouTube, so the exact figure at any given minute cannot be independently verified from the channel page.
How many total views does BABYMONSTER's YouTube channel have?
Roughly 9.88 billion cumulative views as of the August 21, 2026 reporting, which puts the 10-billion threshold within reach . Some English-language write-ups render the Korean figure 98억 8000만 as "988 million," which is a translation artifact — it contradicts both the Korean-language number and YG's own August context of 9.7 billion-plus views on the group's official page . For scale, the single most-watched upload is the "SHEESH" music video at 417 million views, followed by the "LIKE THAT" performance video at 248 million, and the "DRIP" performance video crossed 200 million at about 1:08 a.m. KST on August 11, 2026 .
What sparked BABYMONSTER's latest subscriber jump?
The third mini album 춤 (CHOOM), released May 4, 2026, was the immediate driver . Its title-track music video hit No. 1 on YouTube's worldwide trending chart on release day and took 15 million views within half a day. Across the roughly three-month campaign, YG released four music videos and three performance videos that together accumulated close to 700 million views, with the most recent single "MOON" approaching 100 million combined views across its music and performance clips . YG reported roughly 250,000 new subscribers in the 13 days around the comeback — near 20,000 per day .
Where and when is BABYMONSTER touring in 2026?
The 춤 (CHOOM) World Tour runs 27 shows across 18 cities and opened June 26, 2026 at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul . The announced routing covers six Japanese cities (Kobe, Fukuoka, Yokohama, Chiba, Nagoya, Osaka), eight other Asian cities (Manila, Macao, Jakarta, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong) and three Oceania cities (Auckland, Melbourne, Sydney). The September 2026 two-night stand at Kyocera Dome Osaka is the group's first solo dome run . European, North American and South American dates are still listed as to be announced, so those legs have no confirmed on-sale yet.
How does BABYMONSTER's subscriber growth compare to BLACKPINK's?
They are at different stages of the same curve. BLACKPINK became the first Official Artist Channel of any kind to reach 100 million subscribers, announced by YouTube on February 20, 2026 — about nine years and eight months after the channel launched in June 2016, marked with a custom Red Diamond Creator Award and nine entries in the 1 Billion Views Club . BABYMONSTER reached 13 million in roughly two years and four months from its April 1, 2024 debut, and YG has described several of its recent marks — 10 million in September 2025 and 11 million on January 3, 2026 — as girl-group speed records . Pace is the comparison that holds; absolute scale is not close.
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This article was written using information collected and analyzed by NAMANE's in-house K-pop research AI engine. We use AI technology to bring you faster, broader coverage, and in the process some details may occasionally differ from the latest facts. For important information such as dates, venues, and prices, please double-check with official sources.
