Photo = STARSHIP ENTERTAINMENT

 

[Hanteo News = Reporter KANG SUYOUNG] IVE once again stood before the door called Tokyo Dome, heading toward all of Asia.

 

Japan’s five major sports newspapers, including Daily Sports, Sankei Sports, Nikkan Sports, Sports Hochi, and Sports Nippon, featured IVE’s Tokyo Dome concert for its second world tour ‘SHOW WHAT I AM,’ taking place today (24th), on their front pages. Through interviews with the members, each outlet highlighted comments such as, “It is truly an honor to be able to perform at Tokyo Dome again,” and “We want to show how much we have grown.”

 

This concert comes about one year and nine months after IVE first entered Tokyo Dome in September 2024 with the encore concert of its first world tour ‘SHOW WHAT I HAVE.’ This is the first time the group will stand at Tokyo Dome as part of a regular tour schedule, rather than an encore. In April, IVE entered Kyocera Dome Osaka for the first time, selling out all seats for two shows and drawing around 79,000 attendees. It marks a flow in which the group is filling Japan’s two major domes one after another, from Osaka to Tokyo.

 

The data shows that this flow did not emerge suddenly. According to ‘Hanteo Rewind 2025,’ published by Hanteo Chart, 68.8% of IVE’s 16 total performances last year, or 11 shows, were held in Japan, while 66.5% of its total audience of 144,278, or 96,000 attendees, came from Japanese concerts. Of its overseas album sales, 97.9% were counted across 11 Asian countries, including Korea and Japan. Japan is the home country of member REI and IVE’s strongest core market. Last year, the group topped Hanteo’s country-specific chart in the Japan category for three consecutive weeks, released its third Japanese album ‘Be Alright,’ and appeared on NHK music programs and ‘ROCK IN JAPAN FESTIVAL.’

 

The fact that this Tokyo Dome concert is being held on a weekday is also notable. According to STARSHIP ENTERTAINMENT, IVE sold out Tokyo Dome on a weekday during its first world tour as well, and selling out all seats for both Kyocera Dome and Tokyo Dome performances on weekdays this year is considered an exceptional case even in Japan. Its album performance also followed. IVE’s fourth Japanese album ‘LUCID DREAM,’ released in May, topped Oricon’s weekly combined album ranking, marking the team’s third No. 1 on the chart, and also ranked No. 1 on Billboard Japan’s weekly album sales chart.

 

What this data shows is not only the size of the Japanese market. What matters more is that the overwhelming share built in Japan has led to expansion across Asia, where 97.9% of IVE’s overseas album sales are concentrated. In other words, Japan was not a final destination for IVE, but a stopover. REI served as a center point in forming the key market of Japan, and the strength of that market became a springboard for expansion into other parts of Asia. What today’s Tokyo Dome stage represents is not success in a single market called Japan, but a reaffirmation of the group’s reach across Asia beyond it.

 

After its Tokyo Dome concert, IVE will continue its tour in North America in July and August. From Japan to Asia, and then beyond. IVE’s trajectory shows a way of building success in one market into a stepping stone toward the next.

 

grace@hanteo.com

 

 

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