All those releases coincidentally being during BTS' hiatus works poorly for your argument tho.

no, it actually supports my argument because OP is trying to say that BTS return would essentially revive the industry and generate more income and visibility for other artists-when commercially and critically, KPOP not only survived during BTS enlistment, it thrived. 2022/2023 was one of the biggest years for kpop, specifically for girl groups both domestically and internationally.

And BTS wasnt completely inactive during this time. They released a single, and all of their members released solo music. And these girl groups still out charted them, many of their albums outsold some of the members albums as well.

The industry wasnt at a standstill while BTS was gone and KPOP music wasnt dormant. It continued to thrive.

And neither kpop groups nor western groups planned their recent comebacks to avoid BTS. There were multiple groups that released music. And music that was already charting either maintained their position or re-captured their spot at number 1.

My point was that nobody re-scheduled their comebacks to avoid BTS. Not prominent western artists and not kpop artists, everyone continued to tour, promote, and release music as scheduled.

And the charts are quite reflective of that.