On Amazon, the single biggest barometer of the US beauty market, Korean brands just posted one of their strongest weeks yet, and one name in particular is leading the charge. According to a market analysis note from SK Securities, APR’s Medicube brand posted the highest weekly average Best Sellers Rank score of any beauty brand tracked on Amazon, and also posted the largest week-over-week improvement, a rare double win that analysts described as a “triple crown” performance.
The numbers illustrate just how far Medicube has pulled ahead. Analyst Hyung Kwon-hoon’s report tracked the combined Amazon BSR score of Korean beauty brands, collectively dubbed the “K-beauty universe,” at 1,510 points for the week, up 115 points from the week before. Within that basket, Medicube topped the weekly average score rankings at 791 points, up 171 points week over week, ahead of CeraVe at 641 points, down 45, and The Ordinary at 427 points, down 5. Beating two of the most established global skincare names in their own home ranking system is no small feat for a Korean brand.
What stands out most to analysts isn’t just that one Medicube product is popular, it’s how many different Medicube products are performing well simultaneously. Among the top 20 products by weekly average score, Medicube’s Zero Pore Pad 2.0 ranked first, with the brand’s Collagen Wrapping Mask and PDRN Pink Peptide Serum also placing in the upper tier. Newer entries like the Zero Exosome Shot 2 and PDRN Pink Niacinamide Milky Toner climbed into the rankings as well, suggesting the brand’s pipeline, rather than a single hit product, is what’s driving its Amazon dominance.
Medicube isn’t alone. Other Korean brands including Anua, Biodance, and Dr. Melaxin also placed within the top 20 weekly performers, forming what the report called a solid “K-beauty coalition” on the platform. That matters because Amazon commands roughly 14.5 percent of the entire US beauty retail market, making it the single largest B2C beauty channel in the country, meaning strong Amazon performance translates fairly directly into real US market share rather than a platform-specific quirk.
Analysts caution that daily BSR scores can swing sharply based on promotions and advertising spend on any given day, which is why they track weekly averages over time instead, a method meant to filter out short-term noise and show whether a brand’s momentum is structural rather than a one-off spike. By that measure, Korea’s beauty exports to the US look less like a passing trend and more like a durable shift in market share.
Source: Kim Tae-il, Financial Economy Plus (Geumyung Gyeongje Plus), January 29, 2026, citing SK Securities analyst Hyung Kwon-hoon.
