Byeon Woo Seok still rocking the #1 spot
The latest Rising Star Brand Reputation Rankings are out from the Korean Business Institute and actor Byeon Woo Seok is still at #1 for the month of April.
The rankings are created from looking at 49,386,585 big data points for the period March 30th to April 30th, 2025, and analyzing consumer behavior in four indices: participation, media presence, communication, and community engagement for rising star brands.
In other words, the more a public figure is mentioned in that specific time period, the higher up the rankings they move.
Interestingly, it isn’t just actors whose brand reputation rankings are calculated, as they also look at entertainers, singers, trot singers, drama/movie actors, boy/girl groups, advertising models, rookie idols and even sports stars.
The Top 5 on the Rising Star Brand Reputation Rankings for April
Alongside Byeon Woo Seok at #1 then, the Top 5 looks like this:
- Byeon Woo Seok — Total Brand Reputation Index: 3,101,990 (which is down 26.98% from March)
- Go Youn Jung — Total Brand Reputation Index: 2,695,065 (up 43.72% from March)
- DAY6 (Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil, Dowoon) — Total Brand Reputation Index: 2,597,134 (down 1.99% from March)
- Park Ji Hyeon — Total Brand Reputation Index: 2,491,127 (up 21.07% from March)
- Kim Do Yeong — Total Brand Reputation Index: 2,483,949 (down 25.35% from March)
Why does the Top 5 look like it does?
The Top 5 on the April Rising Star Brand Reputation Rankings can also be explained like this starting with Byeon Woo Seok who has been involved in various high-profile advertising campaigns, while he’s also hot off the finale of the hit K-drama Lovely Runner.
Go Youn Jung, of course, is starring in the ongoing K-drama Resident Playbook, which is gaining in popularity as each new episode is released, and has been on a Netflix Top 10 chart for a couple of weeks now.
Pop rock band DAY6 is currently in the midst of their Third World Tour “Forever Young“, which has hit most of Asia since it kicked off in September last year.
Their final six shows take place in Seoul beginning on May 9th, so expect them to be in May’s rankings as well.
29-year-old trot singer Park Ji Hyeon, who is said to be at the heart of the new resurgence of trot music, has been appearing in TV variety shows, and is seeing rising popularity in the trot scene.
He has also performed a series of concerts in the last month, including in his hometown of Mokpo, which garnered huge attention from press and fans.
Korean baseball player Kim Do Yeong has been making waves in the last year with his record breaking 2024 season during which he was the youngest player in Korean baseball history to achieve a 30 home run/20 stolen bases season.
He was recently injured, which delayed his return to baseball culminating in him returning to practice a couple of weeks ago.
The rest of the Top 25 on the Rising Star Brand Reputation Rankings for April
The remainder of the Top 25 looks like this:
- Byeon Woo Seok
- Go Youn Jung
- DAY6
- Park Ji Hyeon
- Kim Do Yeong
- Park Seo Jin (trot singer)
- KiiiKiii (girl group)
- Ahn Sung Hoon (trot singer)
- Stray Kids (boy band)
- Car, the Garden (aka Cha Jung Won – hip hop singer)
- Lee Je Hoon (The Art of Negotiation)
- ENHYPEN (boy band)
- Lee Jun Hyuk (Love Scout)
- Lee Young Ji (rapper)
- Choo Young Woo (The Trauma Code: Heroes on Call)
- Park Jung Min (Newtopia)
- Choi Woo Shik (Melo Movie)
- BIBI (Singer — actress The Fiery Priest 2)
- BABYMONSTER (girl group)
- Kim Hye Yoon (Lovely Runner)
- Chae Soo Bin (When the Phone Rings)
- Jo Yu Ri (Squid Game 2)
- QWER (girl band)
- Lee Soo Ji (New Recruit, Season 3)
- Cha Joo Young (The Queen Who Crowns)