Now hear me out guys
disclaimer personally i dont think this gen is shaping up to be anything like the last as success was very limited to the big3. so idg the comparisons between them. gfriend and mamamoo had the occasional hit but apart from that it was mostly bp/twice/rv world. if there's anything i've learned from this gen tho its that groups from smaller companies are starting to get their shine, similar to the 2nd gen where groups like after school, aoa, kara, apink, etc thrived
ANYWAYYY
aespa and WG both have this thing where they have alot of momentum at the beginning but essentially lose out on being the top GG due to their respective companies greed for the West. They kinda signify the start of their respective gens starting (to me), with Sohee and Winter (or Karina idk) being the breakout stars. They still pretty much remain relevant but never hit the peaks they hit during their rookie years
IVE and SNSD have this similar thing where they kinda steal the spotlight from the og biggest 4th gen GG in addition to having pretty much having 2 IT girls in one group (Yujin/Wonyoung & Taeyeon/Yoona)
Not as popular in the West as the 2NE1/NewJeans of their gen but still remain pretty popular in Asia? idk honestly I need IVE to comeback to make a good comparison
NewJeans & 2NE1 biggest similarity is that they appeal to Western tastes & trends better than anyone else in their generation. And their success in the market (relative to KPOP standards at each time......) reflects that. In addition to being digimons and having multiple hits on their debut and their first comeback.
Also ppl dont talk about it as much but 2NE1 sales were pretty good until Crush idk what happened there Lol! . Not as good as SNSD's. But still decent.
There are also very similar statements being made between YG stans back then and HYBE stans now but you didnt hear it form me
AGAINNN not everything is set in stone as babymon or whoever could pop out of nowhere and shake things up and this whole list will become moot. But that's just what I think.
I kinda wanna see sum discussion