"One-year wonders" of K-pop

crayon pop had two hits but within a short time

Maybe Nuest? Their debut and first comeback did well then they didn't make noise till producer

Aespa

Red Velvet

New Jeans

Exid

Oh my girl

Quote from leqant

Inspired by this Twitter thread from Todd In the Shadows, a YTber who reviews pop music

External Content twitter.com

Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.

Display all external content

Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

I'm pretty sure all of you are familiar with the term "one-hit wonder", who is an artist who only had one hit. But most of you have not heard of a "one-year wonder". A "one-year wonder" is an artist whose success is mostly confined to a given year. Good examples of this in western music include Daya (2016), Iggy Azalea (2014), Macklemore (2013), Jay Sean (2009), and Sisqo (2000)

Examples I have in K-pop/Korean music include: AOA (2014), BAP (2012), Han Dong-geun (2016), Momoland (2018), and T-Ara (2011-12; wouldn't have been one if it weren't for that bs scandal). If there's anymore, you can leave a reply in this thread

Display More

I agree with Momoland.

AOA had heart attack in 2015 tho but it's true that 2014 really was their strongest.

Completely disagree about T-ara tho. In 2009 they had Time to Love, which is quite unknown internationally but was actually a huge hit and is still in Melon top 1000, making it one of the currently most listened 2nd gens girl group songs. They also had Bo Beep Bo Beep which was a viral hit. In 2010 they had I Go Crazy Because of you which was a huge hit, it doesn't have much impact today but if was actually in the top 10 most successful idol songs that year. Then of course 2011 and 2012 were hugely successful

The only really obvious one is Momoland and maybe Brave Girls but I'm delulu and BG are gonna bounce back

T-ara, just adding more info

2010 - GAON 1st - MV - You drive me Crazy (I Go Crazy Because of You)

2011 - GAON 1st - MV - Cry, Cry

2011 - GAON 1st - MV - We were in Love (with Davichi)

2012 - GAON 1st - MV - Lovey Dovey - FULL Version, multiple songs (20m)

You are correct where the end of 2011 and the beginning of 2012 that T-ara hit their high point but they were strong from debut with Bo Peep Bo Peep, then following it up with Roly Poly, both had iconic choreo.

Between 2009 - 2013, T-ara's Title Tracks charted in the GAON Top 5, so basically a span of 5 years at the top of the Digital Charts.

I think you might be talking about Idols? that came out of nowhere to hit a high peak then started to degrade quickly afterward.

For AoA, it was 2014's Miniskirt (2014) which charted at 11 that was the start of their sweet years, where they would release songs between 2014 - 2016 that would chart in the GAON Top 5, they had a good 3 years so they probably wouldn't qualify either.

But I think that you have to define what a "Hit Song" for your task as 1 Hit Wonder is generally assigned to a Singer/Group that usually has a Top 10 ranked song in a "National" Chart but doesn't chart higher with any other song on that Chart.

Which probably means a 1 Year Wonder will probably have the same results as a 1 Hit Wonder

I dont think AOA was a 1-year wonder

they blew up with Miniskirt, followed by Short Hair and Like a cat within same year. Then, their biggest hit heart attack the next year. Scandal hit them quite badly but they continued to sell well for next few releases.

The only 1-year wonder from the list is Momoland (and arguably 1 hit wonder too). TARA definitely is not.

Maybe Chungha in 2019? (Though 2018 she had roller coaster which did decently)

NFlying?

Quote from leqant

can think of is Momoland with 2018 and

What other hit does momoland have besides bboom bboom?

Quote from crystalblues

New Jeans may hit that, we will have to see but the rest are def not on the list. EXID is going 10 years strong. Their newest single is doing pretty good

Exid had around 3 good years, but that it

Their cmb song didn't make any noise in Korea

Quote from leqant

Which year do you consider each of their "one year"? Personally, I feel it's a bit too early to call a musical act a "one year wonder" if their only year of huge success was in 2019 or later (this is the case of Aespa, New Jeans and maybe Oh My Girl).

Also, I have to disagree with Red Velvet since they're still big to this day, even 5 years after "Red Flavour".

NJ is too young to fit this criteria yet, their next cmb seem like it will do well but the following one is more important as we will see if it do as well as their cmb after attention/hybe boy

Omg fit here bc if they have kind of a hit after dolphin/nonstop u could feel they weren't as trendy and their last cmb (whose name I don't even remeber) just did terrible

Aespa also fit as girls wasn't even a top10 song

Quote from leqant

External Content www.youtube.com

Content embedded from external sources will not be displayed without your consent.

Display all external content

Through the activation of external content, you agree that personal data may be transferred to third party platforms. We have provided more information on this in our privacy policy.

Momoland also had a hit with "Baam", though I'm pretty sure it was only a hit because of the halo effect that came from "Bboom Bboom". Also "Baam" sounds a fair bit like "Bboom Bboom", so that doesn't help people see Momoland not as a one hit wonder

Looking at its data Baam wasn't a hit. 2.9M uls on melon for 2018 song is not a hit.

Quote from gerrard174

I dont think AOA was a 1-year wonder

they blew up with Miniskirt, followed by Short Hair and Like a cat within same year. Then, their biggest hit heart attack the next year. Scandal hit them quite badly but they continued to sell well for next few releases.

The only 1-year wonder from the list is Momoland (and arguably 1 hit wonder too). TARA definitely is not.

Maybe Chungha in 2019? (Though 2018 she had roller coaster which did decently)

Display More

Roller Coaster did way better than just 'decently' I think

Quote from killingtime1934

NJ is too young to fit this criteria yet, their next cmb seem like it will do well but the following one is more important as we will see if it do as well as their cmb after attention/hybe boy

Omg fit here bc if they have kind of a hit after dolphin/nonstop u could feel they weren't as trendy and their last cmb (whose name I don't even remeber) just did terrible

Aespa also fit as girls wasn't even a top10 song

Dun Dun Dance still is one of the biggest idol hits in 2021. Their last release did terrible because it was boring and I think very few people liked it (the album was good tho)

Quote from killingtime1934

Omg fit here bc if they have kind of a hit after dolphin/nonstop u could feel they weren't as trendy and their last cmb (whose name I don't even remeber) just did terrible

Aespa also fit as girls wasn't even a top10 song

OMG had Dun dun dance

Aespa Girls was a top 10 hit and Illusion top 15. Whilst they are not smash, they are not flop either. So how they fit in??