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Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE (left), and Lee Jae-sang, CEO of HYBE, have been named to the 2025 Billboard Global Power Players list by U.S. music magazine Billboard. / Courtesy of HYBE

Bang Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE, along with SM Entertainment co-CEOs Tak Young-jun and Jang Cheol-hyuk, and Kakao Entertainment co-CEO Jang Yoon-jung, have been named among the music industry’s most influential leaders in Billboard’s 2025 Global Power Players list, announced on May 19 (local time).

HYBE had five executives featured this year, including Bang, CEO Lee Jae-sang, Shin Young-jae (Head of HYBE Music Group APAC), the company’s Latin America CEO, and Oh Yoo-jin, general manager of HYBE360.

Among them, Tak Young-jun and Shin Young-jae were honored for the fourth consecutive year since 2022. Bang and Jang Yoon-jung each made their fourth appearance as well, with previous selections starting in 2018 and 2021 respectively.

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Tak Young-jun (left) and Jang Cheol-hyuk, co-CEOs of SM Entertainment, have been included in Billboard's 2025 Global Power Players list. / Courtesy of SM Entertainment

Billboard praised HYBE for “gaining momentum for global expansion from an unexpected source—AI technology.” On SM and Kakao, the publication highlighted the global success of aespa and IVE’s world tours, and noted that their jointly produced British boy band Dear Alice reached No. 2 on the UK’s Official Physical Singles Chart, “signaling a new evolution in the K-pop model.”

Previously released under the name International Power Players, the list has been rebranded this year as Global Power Players to reflect broader industry leadership beyond the U.S. market.