Yoo Jae-suk Tops October 2026 Variety Star Brand Reputation Rankings; Lee Sun-min and Haha Follow

Yoo Jae-suk has done it again. The Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute released its monthly brand reputation rankings for variety stars on October 3, 2026, and the nation’s MC secured the No. 1 spot for a second straight month. The analysis covered 67 variety personalities and 64,298,123 pieces of brand big data collected from September 3 to October 3, 2026. The total data volume dropped by 0.91% compared to September, but the competition at the top remained tight.

How the Rankings Are Calculated

The institute measures brand reputation using four core indexes: participation, media, communication, and community. Consumer behavior is broken down into participation value, communication value, media value, and social value, with different weights applied to each. The analysis also includes brand monitoring to track positive and negative consumer reactions, plus a brand value evaluation that looks at the relationship between the star and the public. This is why the final score reflects not just how often a star appears on TV, but how much people talk about them, engage with their content, and feel about them overall.

Yoo Jae-suk Holds the Top Spot

Yoo Jae-suk recorded a brand reputation index of 4,588,244 for October. His score broke down into a participation index of 304,921, a media index of 552,069, a communication index of 2,425,950, and a community index of 1,305,304. The total represents a 4.60% decrease from his September score of 4,809,272, but it was still the highest index overall. The slight drop did not change his position at the top. Yoo Jae-suk remains the most consistently high-performing variety star in the index, with strong communication and community numbers that reflect his long-running presence on shows like Running Man and How Do You Play?.

Lee Sun-min Secures Second Place

Comedian Lee Sun-min held onto the No. 2 spot with a brand reputation index of 2,345,321. Her participation index was 188,243, media index 237,316, communication index 1,109,058, and community index 810,704. Her score fell 29.08% from September’s 3,307,041, a sharp drop that still left her ahead of every other variety star except Yoo Jae-suk. Lee Sun-min has been a breakout variety personality in 2026, with a strong presence across television and YouTube. Her second-place finish keeps her firmly in the top tier of the monthly rankings.

Haha Jumps to Third with a Big Gain

Haha climbed to No. 3 with a brand reputation index of 1,940,293, a 39.00% increase from his September score of 1,395,858. His participation index was 52,246, media index 228,720, communication index 1,102,456, and community index 556,872. The jump shows a clear rise in public engagement and media attention for Haha this month, moving him from outside the top five into the upper tier of the rankings.

Joo Woo-jae and Tak Jae-hoon Complete the Top Five

Joo Woo-jae took fourth place with an index of 1,861,420, up 28.93% from 1,443,700 in September. His participation index was 77,126, media index 140,601, communication index 883,493, and community index 760,199. Tak Jae-hoon rounded out the top five with an index of 1,735,860, a 34.05% rise from 1,294,976 the previous month. His participation index was 84,518, media index 120,477, communication index 1,221,692, and community index 309,174. Both stars posted solid gains, showing that movement within the top ten is driven by month-to-month changes in media coverage and public conversation.

“We analyzed 64,298,123 pieces of brand big data regarding 67 variety show personalities from September 3, 2026, to October 3, 2026. We measured consumer participation, media coverage, communication volume, and social media conversation volume.” — Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute

Full Top 30 Variety Star Brand Reputation Rankings for October 2026

The complete top 30 list, as published by the institute, is as follows:

1. Yoo Jae-suk
2. Lee Sun-min
3. Haha
4. Joo Woo-jae
5. Tak Jae-hoon
6. Shin Dong-yup
7. Kim Jong-kook
8. Ahn Jung-hwan
9. Seo Jang-hoon
10. Huh Kyung-hwan
11. Yoo Young-woo
12. Kim Jong-min
13. Kim Dong-hyun
14. Kim Sook
15. Kim Won-hoon
16. Kim Jun-ho
17. Jang Do-yeon
18. Jung Jun-ha
19. Kang Ho-dong
20. Kim Gu-ra
21. Kim Young-chul
22. Kwak Beom
23. Lee Sang-min
24. Lee Soo-geun
25. Defconn
26. Jun Hyun-moo
27. Yang Se-chan
28. Jung Hyung-don
29. Lee Kyung-kyu
30. Lee Ji-hye

What the October Numbers Show

The October rankings reveal a clear gap between Yoo Jae-suk and the rest of the field. His index of 4,588,244 is nearly double the score of second-place Lee Sun-min at 2,345,321. The communication index is where Yoo Jae-suk separates himself the most: his 2,425,950 communication score is more than double Lee Sun-min’s 1,109,058 and far ahead of every other star in the top five. That number reflects how much his name appears in online conversations, social media posts, and viewer discussions.

Haha’s 39% gain and Tak Jae-hoon’s 34% gain show that the rankings can shift quickly when a star has a strong month in the media or connects with a new wave of audience interest. Meanwhile, Lee Sun-min’s 29% drop did not cost her the No. 2 spot, which suggests her baseline level of public awareness remains strong even when monthly buzz cools down.

The variety star brand reputation rankings are released every month by the Korea Corporate Reputation Research Institute, using big data pulled from news coverage, social media, and consumer engagement metrics. The rankings are widely followed by industry watchers as a rough measure of which entertainers are drawing the most public attention at a given moment.

Also Read: Yoo Jae-suk Playfully Asks Lee Kwang-soo About ‘Love Marketing’ With Lee Sun-bin After Han River Date

Stay tuned to VvipTimes for more updates on Korean entertainment rankings and the stars who shape the conversation.