P1Harmony's rise in London signals K-pop's growing footing in Europe
K-pop boy band P1Harmony performs during the London leg of its “P1ustage H: Most Wanted” tour at OVO Arena Wembley, Jan. 30. Courtesy of FNC Entertainment
LONDON — As K-pop’s growth slows in Korea, the genre is finding new momentum across Europe, with the United Kingdom emerging as a rising hub of fan activity and live performance.
K-pop boy band P1Harmony performed to over 8,000 people in London’s OVO Arena Wembley on Jan. 30, the closing night of the European leg of its “P1ustage H: Most Wanted” tour.
“We have some history with this venue, actually,” Korean Canadian leader Keeho said from the Wembley stage, referring to the group’s 2022 participation in HallyuPopFest. “When we first came here for our festival appearance, there was not even a slight thought in our mind that we would be able to come back here to be able to headline our own show.”
The OVO Arena Wembley represents a big step up for the FNC Entertainment sextet — Keeho, Theo, Jiung, Intak, Soul and Jongseob — in Europe and Britain. Their London shows have evolved from 3,000-person gigs at the Troxy as part of the “P1ustage H: P1oneer” tour in January 2024 and “P1ustage H: Utop1a” in January 2025, making the Wembley arena show more than a doubling of their audience and a clear sign of K-pop’s deepening foothold in the region.
Lucy, 24, from Essex, has been a K-pop fan since 2017 and a P1Harmony fan since its mid-pandemic debut in 2020. She has attended all three shows and sees the band’s rise as part of a broader acceptance of K-pop in Britain.
“It's been so nice seeing them grow from debut age to now. It's really nice that they've come to London, because a lot of K-pop groups take a long while to come to London,” she said.
Although P1Harmony is not from one of the so-called “big four” K-pop companies, the group has managed to steadily grow in popularity within the U.K.
“I think, since lockdown, a lot more people have got into [K-pop] and it's become a bit more socially acceptable,” Lucy said.
Athena, 25, a long-time K-pop fan since 2012 from Durham, also reflected on the shift. “K-pop has become such a huge thing,” she said. “Back then, you were even called a freak, or just kind of like asked, ‘Why would you listen to that? You can't understand them.’ And now it's so big, everyone's heard of it.”
While some major K-pop acts still occasionally skip London on their world tours, Athena noted the British capital has become an increasingly welcoming stop for smaller and medium-sized groups. XLOV is set to play a sold-out show at the Troxy on Feb. 8, while Blue Ocean performed at the Underworld in April 2025.
“I feel like it is changing,” she said.
For many fans, part of P1Harmony’s appeal goes beyond the music, rooted in the members' openness and sense of connection.
“I think they're just so inclusive, like they love their fans,” Lucy said. Like many others, she first discovered thr group through Keeho, who has gone viral on TikTok and other social media platforms for his candidness and humor during livestream chats.
“Sometimes, with K-pop idols, you don't really get to know them,” Lucy said. “They don't really let their fans in. But I feel like [P1Harmony] really do, so it's easy that I love them.”
K-pop boy band P1Harmony performs during the London leg of its “P1ustage H: Most Wanted” tour at OVO Arena Wembley, Jan. 30. Courtesy of FNC Entertainment
UK as new frontier for K-pop
Over the past several years, Europe has emerged as one of K-pop’s fastest-growing international markets. While Europe was identified as hallyu’s fastest growing market in 2022, that hasn’t always translated to concerts for the U.K. and other parts of the region.
“I think it's only just started to change,” Lucy said, regarding missed opportunities for the encouragement of K-pop growth through offline events in the U.K. “TXT [Tomorrow X Together] were really big [here] in 2020 and 2021, and if they came to London then, they would have done really well. But I feel like now they've kind of missed the mark a little bit. And I think Europe gets a little bit missed, which is a shame. But I think [companies have] caught on to the fact that Europe stans are really loving the concerts.”
According to a year-end analysis by K-Pop Radar that tracked artists’ YouTube views in 2025, the U.K. jumped from the 20th biggest market for K-pop in 2024 to the 17th in 2025.
But K-pop in the U.K. still has a lot working against it. Colette Balmain, a senior lecturer in media and communications at Kingston University London, said it remains difficult for K-pop groups to get mainstream press coverage in a press that privileges the idea of a certain kind of musician.
“British music journalists generally hate boy bands or girl bands,” she said. “They hate anything where they don’t think somebody’s sitting in their room, writing their lyrics. They have this idea of what a musician should be, so we’re quite inhospitable [in that way].”
Balmain added that this attitude has deep roots and does not just exclude K-pop. Swedish pop group ABBA faced it in the 1970s as did One Direction in the 2010s.
“The U.K. likes to think — because we had the Beatles, we had Oasis — that music culture comes from here. So there’s a lot of snobbery. There’s a general view that boy bands or girl bands are not good things.”
In Britain, Balmain said pop groups are held to a different standard than solo musicians.
“[Musicians like] Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Celine Dion didn’t need to write their own music to be accepted as artists. But it’s different for groups,” she said.
That pressure has pushed some K-pop artists to expand their performances to prove their artistry. At P1Harmony’s London show, for instance, vocalist Theo played the guitar during his cover of 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” — a moment she sees as part of that ongoing effort to challenge entrenched perceptions.
“It’s like they have to prove it to you. ‘We’re artists.’ That’s what they’re up against,” Balmain said.
K-pop boy band P1Harmony performs during the London leg of its “P1ustage H: Most Wanted” tour at OVO Arena Wembley, Jan. 30. Courtesy of FNC Entertainment
Expansion strategy
FNC Entertainment is one of the companies that has focused on Europe in recent years, building P1Harmony’s presence across the region over the past two tours. In September 2025, P1Harmony released its first full English-language mini-album, titled “EX,” signaling a strategic shift toward greater accessibility for international audiences.
Tracks “EX,” “Dancing Queen” and “Stupid Brain” were three of the biggest hits of the night for P1Harmony’s London concert, as fans sang along to the lyrics.
“They've become more accessible, in a way, I suppose, knowing that they've released the English-speaking album, so you can sing along,” said Fiona, 52, from Milton Keynes, who attended the show with her 13-year-old daughter Mikey. The pair was unable to get tickets for P1Harmony’s smaller 2025 concert at the Troxy.
“This is no surprise [to us] that they're playing an arena now. It feels like they've been popular for years. We've liked them for ages and we're just really grateful that they're playing a bigger venue now with more scenes so we can get the tickets,” Fiona said.
Beyond their English-language tracks, high-energy, hip-hop-heavy tracks like “Killin’ It” and “DUH!” drew some of the loudest cheers from the crowd during the London show.
“I like noise music, but I also like music that makes you feel like you can just fight,” said Anna, 30, from Durham, who was first drawn to P1Harmony after hearing their dynamic, swagger-driven 2022 track “Back Down.” “You know what I mean… when you just feel like you're ready to go? That's how ‘Back Down’ was one of my favorite ones.”
P1Harmony’s expanding global reach reflects a broader recalibration in K-pop’s international strategy. Beyond major markets like Japan and the U.S., Europe — and the U.K. in particular — is no longer being overlooked.
The “P1ustage H: Most Wanted” tour started in Seoul last August before taking the band to Australia, other parts of Asia, then North America and South America. The final European leg had shows in Amsterdam, Munich, Gdansk, Berlin and Paris before concluding in London. Encore concerts are scheduled for Tokyo in February and Seoul in March, with the band teasing the release of new music in March.
Kayti Burt is a U.S.-based entertainment reporter who covers the rise in popularity of Korean pop culture in the West. Her bylines include TIME, Rolling Stone, Vulture and the Los Angeles Times.