Pdogg Salary: BTS Song Producer’s Earnings Will Shock You

BTS' longtime producer and songwriter is the highest-paid executive in South Korea in the first half of 2021, out-earning the tycoons running Hyundai and other conglomerates, according to a new financial report.

Senior song producer Kang Hyo-won — professionally known as Pdogg — made 40.07 billion won ($34.29 million) for the first six months of this year, The Korea Herald reported Wednesday, citing a regulatory filing by Hybe. The outlet noted that he does not hold an executive position at the company, formerly called Bighit Entertainment.

The Hybe filing also revealed that the 37-year-old producer earned 39.9 billion won ($34.2 million) from stock options and 111 million won ($94.3 million) in other bonus payments.

Kang’s salary surpassed the six-month income of second-placer and honorary chairman of Hyundai Motor Group Chung Mong-koo, who was paid 30.2 billion won ($26 million). This amount includes 29.7 billion won ($25 million) in severance pay.

Two other Hybe executives — CEO Yoon Suk-joon and chief management director Kim Shin-gyu — also made the top five in the list of the highest-earning execs in the first half of 2021. Kim was paid 27.7 billion won (around $24 million), while Yoon made 23.1 billion won (around $20 million).

Kang has worked with BTS since they broke into the music scene in 2013 and is the chief producer and co-writer of many of the K-pop superstars’ hit songs, including “Fire,” “Blood Sweat & Tears,” “Spring Day,” “DNA” “Fake Love,” “Boy with Luv,” “ON” and “Idol.”

Last year, he was awarded by the Korea Music Copyright Association for being the composer and lyricist with the highest earnings from royalties in the popular music category in 2019, according to Soompi. Kang also won the top prize for 2018.

Though he did not produce or co-write BTS’ “Dynamite,” “Butter” and “Permission to Dance,” Pdogg did participate in their audio engineering and vocal arrangement.

According to Billboard, BTS’ “Butter” is the biggest-selling digital song of 2021 in the U.S. so far, with 841,000 downloads sold. While the group did not beat Taylor Swift in total physical album sales, they were the top-selling act in total CD album sales at the midyear point with 573,000 copies sold, the outlet said.

BTS’ English-language single “Dynamite” also entered the Billboard Hot 100 at the no. 1 spot in August 2020, making them the first South Korean act to top the singles chart, Philstar reported.

The K-pop group was among last year's highest-earning celebrities after grossing $170 million from their tour in 2019, according to Forbes. This figure surpassed those of every other American band except for Metallica.

On Aug. 5, Hybe reported a year-on-year increase of 56% in sales, which reached 279 billion won ($244 million), for the second quarter of the year, Variety reported. The company also reported a 23% increase in operating profits in the same period.

Bang Si-hyuk, the founder of the company, was estimated to have a net worth of $2.9 billion as of Thursday, thanks to the success of the K-pop group. He was ranked by Forbes as the 16th richest person in South Korea.