Queen of Tears Tops the GoodData Full Year 2024 Drama Buzz Rankings Followed by Lovely Runner
It’s still crazy that the two biggest K-dramas of this year 2024 aired basically at the same time, with a full month overlap. I’m talking about Queen of Tears which has been confirmed by GoodData as the buzziest K-drama of the year, followed by Lovely Runner in second place. The two never didn’t air in the same time slot but all of April one of finishing and the other started that it made for a lot of excited drama watching I haven’t seen in awhile. The other dramas to round out the top 5 are Jeongnyeon: A Star is Born, then Love Next Door, and in fifth spot is Good Partner. It’s also clear that tvN remains the channel to beat in terms of airing popular shows.




I find it bananas that MMH isn’t in the top 5 and LND/GP are. MMH felt huge when it was airing. Honestly after a very explosive first half, 2024 was pretty tame till maybe Jeong Nyeon. Next year has a staggering number of high prof dramas so it’ll be interesting on the hype end.
I guess publicity do matter, even if lnd didn’t to so well, they were all over the internet so the people surveyed unconsciously chose them
But this one’s not a survey… this is Good Data’s actual stats. I would understand MMH not ranking in Gallup for example because baring some major exceptions, there’s a lot of recency bias towards the second half dramas. But MMH topped Good Data weekly 8 times in a row despite airing alongside Knight Flower. The ratings itself was double digits which for a mon-tue drama in 2024 is pretty commendable. To clarify, it’s not like I liked that drama or the actors in it lol. The opposite in fact, but I’m just genuinely baffled that it’s not included here.
I’m surprised Marry My Husband isn’t in the top 5, it was one of the two kdramas in the top 10 most searched dramas on Google in 2024 globally, the other one being Queen of Tears obviously. I noticed PMY was not even in top 30 in Gallup, same goes for Kim Hye Yoon, despite their dramas success.
Because international hype does not equate to local Korean hype. Gallup transcends to public outside internet so it shows the ratings of QOT and Jeongyeon. BWS did well entering top 4 in Gallup, and I reckon its not because everyone watched his show but due to media play, noise and appearance after this show that public knew him without watching Sungjae. Not sure about MMH but Jung So Min also did not make it to Gallup, I think?
Marry My Husband did not have a long tail effect as it was hardly talked about once the show ended. Lovely Runner had low ratings but explosive buzz, and it is perhaps the drama with the longest tail effect this year long after it ended. The OST is still ranking high at the music chart, and entertainment shows or talk shows keep cueing it. BWS’s MAMA performance and endless CFs (19 within two or three months) all add to the buzz, even if a large number of the public didn’t watch the drama.
Its because BWS is literally everywhere and since I have been checking out naver everyday his media play is also crazzzzy. So public who hasnt watched the show knew him because he also rode the hype. Kim Ji Won’s hype was also GREAT after QOT, I was there when her social media engagement in example dispatch was even 2x higher than BWS and was very few female actor that had been mobbed in airport. Her fanmeet queue was almost the same as BWS locking at 600k but huge difference on how they both treated it as BWS is everywhere and his company doing media hype blah blah about his scripts and offers, Kim Jiwon who surely also received LOTS of quality scripts, and CF offers (altho she is only doing few CFs but all of them are HUGE and like package) is nowhere to be found, no media play, no insta posts, no guestings like Youquiz, hence the talk has died quickly. But go to DC gallery and other Korean forums, you will see how Koreans talk about QOT and go delusional with SH and JW but these two dgaf compared to BWS who really rode his popularity
Couldn’t have all been media play. Not with the OST high ranking, nor with talk shows cueing Lovely Runner, nor female fans crushing hard on BWS. Every agency engages in media play, but for media play to be that successful you need something real to build on. The character of SunJae is indeed one of the most charming MLs in Kdramas of recent years and it fits BWS to a tee. Kdrama has been pining for a new face for a long time, and this is another reason for the hype over BWS.
I believe you’re talking about BWS buzz and not Lovely Runner buzz, GoodData stats and every other stat available clearly shows QoT higher than LR. Even so, BWS is only No. 4 on Gallup, way below Kim Ji Won, so yeah his buzz and the drama’s buzz were partly media play.
Gallup interviews people in their 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s, 30s, 20s and 10s. Almost half of these people are not regular internet users but watch TV regularly. That is why actors in high-rating dramas always do well in Gallup polls. For BWS to rank 4th in the Gallup poll when his drama only achieved 4-5% rating is already something. As far as buzz and virality are concerned, QOT as a drama ranks higher than LR. But for individual actors, BWS has the highest buzz. Good Data did not rank individual actors but Fundex award, based 100% on objective data similar to GoodData, has just awarded Daesang and best male TV actor to BWS. Media play is only thing, but you also need people to be sufficiently interested to actually click the news report or watch the youtube clip.
BWS also had that airport royalty treatment fiasco which even made it to non entertainment news so it’s inevitable his buzz was high. He is no doubt the biggest breakout this year but the media play took it too far to say he is the biggest breakout this decade. You would expect the biggest breakout this decade to rank No1 on Gallup and consumers’ favourite celebrity.