BTS, NCT, Seventeen photocards: why K-pop fans are going wild over pics of their favourite stars and pay big money for the ones they want

Wallet-sized photocards of K-pop singers are making a killing among fans, with some willing to pay hundreds of dollars per card in their bid to collect them all

Although they usually come in albums or as bonuses in merchandise packaging, eager fans can also go online in their quest to attain the ones they want

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Photocards featuring NCT 127. K-pop fans are keeping the spirit of buying, selling and trading cards alive with pint-sized photos of K-pop stars they can put in their wallets.

Published: 10:15pm, 10 Feb 2021Updated: 1:38am, 11 Feb 2021

Band tees are passé in the world of K-pop, where merchandising is done on a whole other level. One particularly popular type of merch? Wallet-sized photocards, which are making a killing among K-pop fans.

The latest trend in trading cards are pint-sized photos of K-pop stars that are usually found in albums or come as bonuses in merchandise packaging.

With multiple variants of the same album, there are often hundreds of photocards associated with a single music release, which fans often organise in dedicated binders, store in their phones or put on display.

For example, if you buy an NCT 2020 album, there will be a handful of photocards featuring some of the 23 members inside. If you buy a BTS lightstick, known as an Army Bomb, there will be photocards of each of the seven members included.

If a fan isn’t lucky enough to get their favourite members’ photocard in an album, they can take to social media sites or various forums dedicated to photocard trading and selling.

Online, fans will find templates for individual K-pop stars that compile all photocards they are featured on, helping collectors in their search. They are regularly updated by the creators as new releases come out.

The trend is typically dated back to Girls’ Generation’s 2010 album “Oh!”.