Dating back to Elvis Presley hysteria and Beatlemania, society has a long history of devotion to famous artists. But what was once reserved for bedroom walls, school lockers, and gig venues is now mass culture. Enter the modern superfan, whose obsession and engagement has built a whole economy around stars like Taylor Swift and Blackpink. Their adoration, combined with spending power, has created serious commercial opportunity for labels and brands that know how to tap in.
In the past, fan engagement was more contained and often mediated through formal channels such as fan clubs, letters, and gifts, says Jo Charrington, president of Universal Music Group label Capitol Records UK, which represents Sam Smith and Olivia Dean. “Today, fans still show up in force at shows, but they also exist alongside artists in real time online, commenting, sharing, reacting, and shaping the narrative as it unfolds,” she says. “As a result, fandom has evolved from something you primarily witnessed in moments to something you actively engage with every day. It has become a two-way relationship, where artists and their teams can listen, respond, and tailor experiences in a much more direct and meaningful way.”
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K-pop culture paved the way for this new era of highly devoted superfandom. At major fashion shows, you might see legions of screaming fans outside the venue, surrounded by balloons and signs, and clutching photos of their idols who are brand ambassadors, from Enhypen (Prada) to Felix of Stray Kids (Louis Vuitton), or Blackpink’s Jisoo (Dior). Some fans follow their idols around the world, running fan accounts devoted to trackings their every move. And now, as once localized culture goes global, Western audiences have delved into K-pop superfandom, too. And more broadly, they’ve learned how to level up their superfandom, to mirror the K-pop approach, even for Western stars like Swift.
The rise of short-form video — and its addictive algorithm that has brought even the most niche subcultures into the mainstream — provides fertile ground for superfandoms to flourish. “In the past, fandom was largely driven by proximity and limited access, with offline experiences such as concerts serving as the primary touchpoints. Today, it is continuous, global, and always-on,” says Joon Choi, president of K-pop record label Hybe’s Weverse, a social platform built just for fandoms to connect across Hybe’s roster, which includes K-pop groups BTS, Enhypen, Illit, and Katseye. “This shift reflects a fundamental change in engagement: it is no longer defined by how much content is available, but by how connected fans feel to the artist and to each other. Digital platforms have lowered the barrier to interaction, enabling real-time communication and community-building that transcends geography.”
As online fatigue sets in and Gen Z feels like they’re constantly being sold to, superfandom offers tangible, shared lived experiences that allow people to meaningfully connect with each other. In the era of AI slop, “the most alive, human corners of our online worlds are often powered by superfandom activity,” says Annie Corser, senior trends editor for pop culture and media at Stylus. “From fan fiction to artworks, companion content, and hive projects boosting ticket sales, shaping discourse, and maintaining an ecosystem of public devotion, [superfans are] hyper, often fanatically active in their adoration. It’s a source of meaning, resilience, and permanence in a slippery, unforgiving world.”
Indeed, the uncertainty of today’s geopolitical landscape means consumers are seeking connection more than ever. “Ultimately, superfandom is growing because it fulfills a deeper need — not just for entertainment, but for identity, belonging, and meaningful connection,” Choi says.
According to the Kearney Consumer Institute’s Consumer Stress Index, 80% of consumer respondents agree their fandom ‘brings them joy and excitement’; 52% ‘see it as something they can enjoy and share with others’; and 42% said fandom ‘gives them a sense of belonging’. Tapping into the joy of fandom offers brands an opportunity to create resonance.
“Superfandom brings me so much happiness,” says Bridget Cacic, a London-based creator and Taylor Swift superfan, who attended the Eras tour 16 times across its two-year run, across Australia and the UK. She spent over AU$10,000 on tickets and merch. “Fandom is a place where I can express who I am. I’m not going to be judged for being who I want to be. When I attend a concert where there are other superfans, it’s just such a safe place,” she says. “Your worries go out the window because you’re not focused on the negatives in the world. Everyone’s there to have a good time.”
Gen Z may be pulling back spending on fashion and luxury, but they continue to invest heavily in music and experiences, as they seek this kind of escapism and connection. Get it right, and engaging with superfandom and fan experiences can deliver serious ROI for fashion labels, but doing so with highly engaged, incredibly devoted fans is a careful balance that comes with risk.
IRL experience
As superfandom grows, live music and in-person events are booming, creating important touchpoints for brands. London’s O2 Arena had its third consecutive record-breaking year in 2025, hosting 239 events and selling over 2.9 million tickets, according to the venue. Part of this success is down to a surge in multi-night artist residencies, says Emma Bownes, senior vice president of programming, Europe, for event organizers AEG. Last year, the O2 hosted 10 nights of Usher and six with Billie Eilish; this year will see three female residencies — Raye, Olivia Dean, and a 10-night European exclusive from Ariana Grande.
“Social media has enabled fans to mobilize in a way that simply wasn’t possible a decade ago,” Bownes says. Gen Z is leading this new era of fandom, she adds, with research results from AEG’s The Live Effect report showing that 41% of fans have dressed up in a way that identifies them as part of a fan community, and 12% have even taken this a step further by getting a tattoo as a way of connecting with their favourite artists and fellow fans. “These shared forms of expression are a uniting part of the modern fan community, where in the past we may have associated this kind of expression with particular or more niche genres, we’re now seeing this at scale,” Bownes says.
UMG represents some of the world’s biggest artists, including Taylor Swift, Drake, Billie Eilish, Post Malone, SZA, Kendrick Lamar, Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, Adele, and Justin Bieber. The group is identifying major evolutions in the superfan economy, says Gabriela Lopes, UMG’s EVP of global insights and strategy. “Our research shows superfans are seeking deeper experiences and products — and meeting those expectations represents a major opportunity for the entire music ecosystem. When you bring superfans on the journey and create a feedback loop, you strengthen the relationships between artist, fan, and the broader fan community,” she says. “Success comes by recognizing that superfans play an active, influential role in shaping culture. That principle extends to fashion brands and any industry driven by culture and creativity.”
Listening parties and one-off launch concerts are a key superfandom driver that fashion brands could engage with. UMG is increasingly investing in listening parties for artists’ most engaged listeners (based on Spotify or Apple Music data), to introduce an album cycle and bring superfans together in the same room, says Lopes. From UMG artist Selena Gomez’s intimate listening party for her album last year, to larger-scale listening parties from non-UMG artists like Harry Styles and Rosalía, it’s a growing phenomenon that opens opportunities for superfan engagement.
Luxury labels have begun to tap into these moments by providing exclusive access to new music for their communities. Acne Studios has partnered with Robyn for years, staging a comeback concert for the star in LA last year in collaboration with Spotify, and most recently on the rollout of her album Sexistential. Acne Studios premiered some of her new music at the brand’s SS26 show, featured the star in its SS26 campaign, and planned an exclusive performance of the album post-release.
Engaging with fan narratives and momentum
It’s not enough to just engage with an artist in 2026. Marketers must be aware of fans’ own lore, lexicon, and narratives to authentically tap into superfandoms, experts agree. “We’ve witnessed a fundamental shift from consumption to participation, which has accelerated this growth of fandom,” Choi says. “Fans are no longer just consuming content, but actively contributing to the ecosystem, which deepens engagement and strengthens community dynamics. This shift is closely tied to the rise of identity-driven communities, where fans seek connection, self-expression, and a sense of belonging. Together, these changes have reshaped fandom into a more participatory and dynamic ecosystem.”
The in-person interaction and shared in-jokes from the live experiences are core to fandoms today. “Fandom means giving people something to do, not just something to see: early access, collectsible product, insider language, recurring rituals, recognizable codes and spaces for fan-to-fan interaction,” adds Rose Coffey, analyst at The Future Laboratory.
“It is about understanding what the language is and what the fandom world is. Today it’s not just about building the artist world,” says UMG’s Lopes. “We think, ‘what is the iconography that is going to be recognizable amongst that community?’ It might be things that others don’t identify, but if you are within the superfandom, you recognize it. So there might be words or ways of saying things. It’s our job to get into it and understand it, so that we can essentially enable the things that are coming up within these communities.”
Fan accounts on social media are a key driver and a place to go to understand the lore. These can pull huge followings, like BTS fan account @Charts_K (2.5 million followers), Taylor Swift fan account @TheSwiftSociety (750,000+ followers), or Instagram account @selenafanclub, for Selena Gomez (300,000+ followers).
Blaze Palka is a 26-year-old who works for Harrods and has been a superfan of Selena Gomez since her Disney Channel days in the 2000s. “It’s been a very organic, long-term connection rather than something that happened overnight,” he says. He launched fan account @selenacollectsive on Instagram in September 2025 to better connect with fellow fans. “Some posts have reached thousands of views, but more importantly, it’s introduced me to a community of people I wouldn’t have met otherwise.”
Fan accounts like Palka’s are a powerful tool in the fan economy. “If you are a superfan, it’s very easy to build a following online, as opposed to someone who is fairly apathetic about things, or just generally likes things,” Hannah Ewens, who authored the book Fangirls in 2019, says. “Today, there is social clout involved in being a fan. So much of your fandom is performed online, as opposed to being done in IRL spaces. And there are benefits to being vocal.”
Record labels track these online fan communities and narratives to understand superfans better and reward them for their devotion. UMG, for example, will use listening data from streaming platforms in order to find invitees for exclusive listening parties and events. Unlike what we see in luxury, the reward isn’t contingent on spending. But of course, if a fan is engaged, there is significant commercial opportunity down the line, when it comes to ticket and merch sales, Lopes agrees.
“We can identify the most avid fans and reward them in certain ways, and we see a huge opportunity in expanding that,” she says. “It’s really an extension of the artist world and how we communicate it.”
“I think it’s possible to be loyal to brands, but replicating this level of connection I have with Selena would be very difficult,” Palka says. “What makes this different is the human element. Selena’s story, her vulnerability and resilience, create a depth of connection that a brand would struggle to mirror. For a brand to reach that level, it would need decades of consistent, values-led behavior, something that goes far beyond simply selling a product.”
Supporting superfan platforms
Around the live shows, there are growing online spaces for fans to connect that brands are yet to meaningfully tap into. For example, last year, UMG took a minority stake investment in Stationhead, a social audio platform and app that allows users to host their own live radio shows, play music, and connect with other listeners. It acts like user-driven radio, heavily used by music superfandoms to sync streams on Spotify or Apple Music and boost artist chart rankings. The platform helps bridge the release cycle for fandoms, from pre-release moments through debut-week, pairing community energy with measurable performance signals. Artists including Billie Eilish and Zayn have used Stationhead to host release parties and engage directly with their most dedicated listeners.
“This is one of the most exciting moments the music industry has seen since the rise of streaming because technology makes it easier than ever for people to come together around music,” says Stationhead CEO David Rappaport. “At the same time, it’s also a moment of uncertainty, because in a world of algorithms, bots, and synthetic content, real human connection matters more than ever. Our job is to make sure music remains a source of positive human connection, both fan-to-fan and fan-to-artist. Those shared experiences are what create the kind of connection that lasts. Our work with Universal Music Group and other music companies is about bringing that vision to life on a global scale.”
Meanwhile, Hybe launched its own superfan platform, Weverse, in 2019. To date, Weverse has surpassed 155 million cumulative downloads and has approximately 10–12 million monthly active users.
“The launch of Weverse came from a fundamental disconnect in how fandoms were understood and experienced,” CEO Choi says. “There was no clear visibility into who the fans actually were, as data was fragmented across platforms. The fan experience itself was highly fragmented — requiring fans to move across multiple services for content, communication, and commerce.”
At the same time, the platform has evolved significantly in how it serves fans. What began with a focus on community and e-commerce has expanded to include a wide range of features such as Weverse DM, Weverse Live, Digital Membership, and Listening Party — reflecting more diverse forms of artist-fan connection, while enhancing fan participation and creating new opportunities for artists. Notably, approximately 85% of Weverse traffic now comes from outside of Korea, including key markets such as the US, Japan, Indonesia, India, Mexico, and China. “This reinforces both the global scale of K-pop fandom and the universality of fan behavior,” says Choi.
Alongside engaging with these fan-specific platforms, brands should support spaces where superfandoms flourish, like Discord, Twitch, or Wattpad, “without aiming to take over”, Corser says. “Build them a bridge between their online passions and the offline, IRL opportunities for communion and expression they’re craving,” Corser says. “They can smell superficiality or insincerity, too — superfandom often represents years of real emotional engagement, and a brand jumping in without doing its homework or spending real time building superfans’ trust is a big red flag.”
Rules for engagement for brands
Some brands, like Supreme in the glow of the streetwear boom, or Hailey Bieber’s Rhode, have engendered fandoms in their own right, experts agree, with sellout pop-ups or queues round the block. But fashion and beauty have a lot to learn from music in building and maintaining the emotional connection and advocacy of a superfan over long periods, rather than through a trending moment.
“A fan of a fashion or beauty brand will most likely occupy a different space than someone absolutely in love with Katseye, for instance — the relationship doesn’t have the same foundation of lore, emotional journeying, and hyper-creative possibility of a connection to a music artist, who generates devotion precisely by mining human feeling,” Corser says.
Brands can tap into superfandom in two ways, says The Future Laboratory’s Coffey. “The first and more traditional is by plugging into existing fan universes — by borrowing the emotional charge of entertainment fandom through celebrity and idol affiliation,” she says. “Second, brands are increasingly building direct community layers around exclusive access, drops, and experiences — a playbook the music industry is formalizing through direct-to-fan platforms.”
Multiple experts referenced Gap’s campaigns over the last year as key examples of effective fandom alignment. Last summer, for its Better in Denim campaign, the brand tapped Katseye for a music video campaign, dancing to Kelis’s track “Milkshake”. The video has had a staggering 66 million views on YouTube alone, and has delivered eight billion media impressions and more than 500 million views across platforms, according to Gap. Since the Katseye tie-in, Gap has collaborated with Puerto Rican rapper and singer-songwriter Young Miko on a music video for her song “Wassup” for its Sweats Like This campaign. The video saw 10 million views in the first 24 hours, and countless pieces of organic content by fans recreating the dance on their own channels.
Instagram content
Crucially, these campaigns converted sales, too. Following the Katseye campaign, Gap saw double-digit growth in the denim category and a 7% year-over-year increase in comparable sales during Q3 2025, according to the group’s earnings report. “The strength of these fan communities shows up in the number of people we see coming to our stores after launch, eager not only to shop the product worn by Katseye or Young Miko, but to see how the campaign comes to life in our retail experience,” says Fabiola Torres, Gap’s global CMO.
The brand considered the Katseye and Young Miko fandoms at every step of the way, producing specific content that allows superfans to dig deep behind the scenes of the campaign shoot. “We always want to think of ways we can surprise and delight these communities — whether it’s through a surprise dance class appearance with Katseye or an exclusive hoodie drop with Young Miko,” Torres says.
TikTok content
For Katseye’s label Hybe, this is the kind of collaboration they prioritize. “We look for brands that want to invest in the work that it takes,” says Jules Ferree, president of brands and ventures at Hybe America, the US arm of the business that links K-pop idols to Western brands, and worked on the Gap partnership. “The storytelling, the content creation, and the engagement of the fandom community are really important. We tend to stay away from one-offs. We really love to build engaging, longer-term relationships with brands, because it takes a lot of thought and planning to make sure that we’re doing justice to the artist and fandom.”
Fans may be open to brands participating in superfandoms, but this is conditional, experts agree. “Tapping into or aligning with superfandoms is best achieved when brands take on the role of facilitator or nurturer,” Corser says. “Success requires a high level of fandom literacy, balanced with a willingness to let the fandom lead.” She references McDonald’s activations around anime fandom, which began in 2024, as an excellent blueprint for demonstrating deep-cut fan knowledge. The company partnered with legendary animation house Studio Pierrot to produce the first official McDonald’s anime.
Brands can collaborate on tour merch, too. Bravado, the merchandise arm of Universal Music Group, has done various deals with Doc Martens, including two themed shoes for Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts tour, which CEO Matt Young notes as a good example of a true partnership. Rodrigo has long worn the brand on stage. “It really does succeed because it’s fans of both [the brand and the artist] collectsing and owning because it means something to each. It expands the universe of the artist and expands the universe of the brand.”
The risks to fandom
Fandom is highly emotional, and tapping into it can expose brands to associated risks. While fandoms are devoted to the artist, group, or team, they can also turn on them or on brands associated with them.
“The lexicon of the superfan is life or death, placing their future happiness in the hands of the focus of their passion. This is partly born from the language of the internet, which is extreme, hyperbolic, and often deliberately detached from reality,” Corser says. “But as well as the delirium of devotion, it generates the dark side of superfandom, a level of protectiveness that refuses to accept any level of critique. This is where brands need to tread carefully, or rather, to understand the rules of engagement.”
Fandom alignment should not be a quick hit, but a long-term investment to avoid backlash. “Many figures with superfan bases are polarizing,” says Katie Thomas, lead at Kearney Consumer Institute (KCI), name-checking Swift, and political figures like Donald Trump. “It’s about not backing down and being willing to do things that maybe don’t have the immediate payoff. In the age of data, brands really struggle when they can’t have a clear ROI. But a lot of times, you’re playing the long game with fandom, you should build grassroots partnerships over time.” This means aligning with smaller artists with highly devoted bases and supporting them as they grow, or grassroots fandoms, like local running clubs, can be most fruitful, she adds.
It shouldn’t be all about metrics. As Stationhead’s Rappaport mentions, the fan economy can be inflated by bot engagement, which has skyrocketed on social media in recent years. A 2025 study published by research publisher Nature found that as much as 20% of online chatter around global events is generated by a bot. Some fandoms have mobilized bots to boost engagement for their favorite artists by creating a large volume of social engagements. These bots can skew earned media value or EMV (the monetary value attached to social media engagements) for brands, which may see crazy engagement numbers from inviting a star to a fashion show, or featuring them in a campaign, but limited actual sales conversions or site visits.
For example, in a recent interview with Replica Handbag Store Business, Peachy Den founder Isabella Weatherby said her collaboration with Japanese band F5ve for the London brand’s Spring 2026 campaign drove very high social media engagement, but sales conversion was low compared to other brand collaborations with stars like Amelia Dimoldenberg, who may have a smaller reach, but is a longtime wearer of the brand.
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While it’s important to gain trust, brands should be careful to avoid pandering to fandom, too, says Ewens. “If you think of superfans as people who put a lot of time and energy and obsession into that object of fandom, sometimes they expect returns. They feel they have a say over what happens. But why are we now suddenly making business decisions based on what one 20-year-old with an iPhone says?”
Merchandise madness
Merch collaborations are a great entry point for brands to tap into superfandom. Take the Oasis reunion tour: Adidas collaborated with the brand on a sellout merch line, opening fan stores across the UK ahead of the live shows, and selling millions of units of merch at the gigs.
But in the world of superfandom, merch goes way beyond T-shirts at the gig. Bravado’s merch business can be divided into three buckets: merch and experiences bought at shows (like meet and greet tickets); retail licensing in stores like Urban Outfitters or H&M; and DTC, via the artists’ websites. The latter is where the superfan shops, he says. “They are the folks who raise their hand and say, I want this first. I want the deluxe version. I want the bundle with all the goodies. They want to feel they’re buying directly from the artist, and our job is to make it feel like we’re doing the artists’ bidding in the best possible way.” For artists, and in turn brands, it’s about creating a full suite of collectsible items, released consistently throughout the year when the artist releases new music or a deluxe version of a record, not just when they perform live.
As we’ve seen with Charli XCX’s Brat, having a consistent design language around an album cycle, or an artist in general, can help nurture fandom in interesting ways, from web design and Instagram posts to merch and stage design. Consistency is key, experts agree. For brands to tap in, there has to be alignment, or at least a visually exciting clash, between the artist’s visual language and that of the brand, says Young.
To capitalize on growing demand for fan merch and IRL experiences, and the uptick in multi-night residencies, UMG has also opened retail stores in London’s Camden, New York’s Midtown, Tokyo’s Harajuku and inside UMusicHotel Madrid, where fans can buy merch from scores of artists across the UMG roster, and attend events like album launches and themed pop-ups in line with live shows.
Experiential retail is another area of opportunity for merch sales, says Hybe’s Ferree. Recently, the label partnered with Amazon on a grab-and-go merch store for artist Le Sserafim, allowing shoppers to walk out with their merch and be automatically charged. “We could allow for them to come experience the pop-up space, have that time together for the Instagram moment, and then still be able to congregate and be together once they leave the space,” she says.
Even the design of merch is evolving to better engage superfans, creating ample opportunity for fashion brands to get involved. “What we do on the merchandise side is an extension of the connection we create with the live experiences,” says Young. “How do we make this feel like this is something this singer might wear, or the guitar player might have designed?” He notes Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts tour merch, which was conceived in close collaboration with the star. “We created around 250 designs on that last album cycle for Olivia Rodrigo; that's a lot of material to create. She created 12 songs and 250 pieces of merch.”
“Fans will see through it if I try and sell them a Columbia vest, and the artist has never worn a Columbia vest,” says Young, pointing to the logo on his gilet. “Fans know what an artist stands for, what they believe in, what they fight for.” He notes Billie Eilish, who pushed Bravado to create merch from recycled materials and avoid plastic, which has been incredibly resonant. “Our job is to read what is authentic and what the artist is passionate about and translate that into physical goods for the fan.”
The key with engaging in fandom is providing the opportunity for fan connection, be it via merch that truly aligns with the artist, IRL events that allow fans to meet like-minded individuals, but that also drive purchase of goods, to ensure ROI. “Brands must be careful not to mistake media impact for long-term affinity,” says Coffey. “Superfandom can be a powerful accelerant, but unless the brand converts that visibility into a deeper proposition — product relevance, narrative consistency, community touchpoints or emotional meaning — the effect can remain superficial.”
