Aespa sells only 75% of seats at Brazil concert despite 60% ticket discounts

K-pop group Aespa fell short of a sellout at a nearly 29,000-seat solo concert in Brazil, even after the promoter slashed ticket prices by as much as 60 percent.

Aespa performed Friday (local time) at Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu in São Paulo as part of their world tour.

According to Brazilian newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, Aespa sold 21,652 of the venue's 28,732 available seats — roughly 75 percent of capacity.

After the show, photos of the partially empty arena spread widely across online communities and social media both in South Korea and abroad.

Live Nation Brazil, the concert promoter, had moved to boost sales by cutting some ticket prices by up to 60 percent — from around 140,000 won ($103) down to the 50,000-won range — but still could not sell out the venue.

Aespa held their first solo concert in Brazil in September 2023 at Espaço Unimed in São Paulo, filling a venue of about 8,000 seats. Buoyed by that success, the group set their sights on a stage more than three times larger this time around.

While South America remains a smaller K-pop market compared to Japan, China and the United States, Korean acts have been making inroads there in recent years. Stray Kids became the first K-pop act to headline a major stadium solo concert in São Paulo in April, drawing a total of 120,000 fans over two nights — a second date was added after the first sold out. Enhypen also drew 40,000 fans in São Paulo in July.