Top ten kpop girl groups in Korea digital wise overall

Probably:

1. 2NE1
2. BP

3. Sistar
4. T-ara
5. Wonder Girls

6. Twice

7. SNSD

After that idk

SNSD was never that big digitally.. T-ARA and 2NE1 have better digital performances.. i know its too early but NewJeans prolly deserve to be on the list too

Hmm, that's a difficult one to compare. Because are you only comparing each group's best performing title tracks, or also their other less performing title tracks. And what about sub-units?

Quote from girlgroupstan21

SNSD was never that big digitally.. T-ARA and 2NE1 have better digital performances.. i know its too early but NewJeans prolly deserve to be on the list too

? SNSD actually were, in their early years. Their songs charted really well, until their Korean group comebacks became sparse and few between.

But the same applies to 2NE1, their songs after 2011's 'I Am The Best' didn't do that great compared with 2009-2011. Falling In Love, Do You Love Me, Come Back Home, they were all just so-so compared with how 2NE1's early songs charted.

T-ARA had a few massive megahits - cut short all too soon after their scandal after which they became a non-factor.

Sistar however, after a slow start, just kept on scoring digital hit after hit, whether as a group or sub-unit or collab (Soyou) year after year, and performed far better for more years than most other 2nd gen groups did, also better and more consistent than 2NE1.

Of course, purely talking Korean charts here, not international.

Sistar, 2NE1, SNSD, Wonder girls and even T-ara before the scandal would all have arguments to be #1.

I really have no idea why SNSD's digital power is so underrated. All their comebacks between Gee and Party were #1 hits. The record Sistar and Twice have with the 9 consecutive #1 songs would be SNSD's too if Gaon existed in 2009 (Gee, Genie, Oh!, RDR, Hoot, The boys, Dancing queen, IGAB, Mr mr and Party all reached #1 which would make 10, but they released Catch me if you can before Party which wasn't a proper comeback but people would have used it to leave it at 9 songs i guess). Their b sides also performed pretty good and even have some small hits among them.

It was always said that 2NE1 had better digitals but their way to promote was really different, with less comebacks but promoting more songs, they said all their songs were hits but they barely had proper b sides, it's like saying Cookie or Ditto are b sides now. With this I'm not saying SNSD did better but a direct comparison is really complicated. Sistar's situation was really similar to SNSD too. Finally Wonder girls' peak was 2007-2008 and it's even harder to compare them but they should definitely be included at the top tier.

Also just with the songs NJs have released in 6 months they'd probably make it into the list

1/2/3/4. SNSD/2NE1/Sistar/Wonder girls (+Davichi if we count them)

5. BP (+Bol4 when they were a duo if we count them)

6. T-ara (probably with the top group if they didn't have the scandal)

7. BEG (SUPER underrated)

8. Twice

9. New Jeans (Probably gonna rise)

10~. RV/MMM/AOA/Apink/Maybe you can add Ive already since they're probably going to go higher too.

I'd put mamamoo higher tbh, on melon they were the second GG ever to surpass 2 billion streams and first GG ever to surpass 100 million UL's (4th overall just behind BTS, BB and EXO) later followed by Twice and not sure if its still accurate but as of May 2021 were the second most streamed GG on melon and genie and 7th most streamed group overall.

They may not have their peak power but those are some insane stats lets be real.

Edit to add - MMM may not have had huge overall hits like some on this list, but where they shine was the bsides and they have alot of very popular ones, even rainy season which they dropped on a random rainy day in seoul with no promotions yet still charts high whenever it rains 5 years later.

wonder girls are definitely on this list. They didn't come back a lot but ppl respected their comebacks and they all went to number 1 I think.

Quote from FoReveries

Hmm, that's a difficult one to compare. Because are you only comparing each group's best performing title tracks, or also their other less performing title tracks. And what about sub-units?

? SNSD actually were, in their early years. Their songs charted really well, until their Korean group comebacks became sparse and few between.

But the same applies to 2NE1, their songs after 2011's 'I Am The Best' didn't do that great compared with 2009-2011. Falling In Love, Do You Love Me, Come Back Home, they were all just so-so compared with how 2NE1's early songs charted.

T-ARA had a few massive megahits - cut short all too soon after their scandal after which they became a non-factor.

Sistar however, after a slow start, just kept on scoring digital hit after hit, whether as a group or sub-unit or collab (Soyou) year after year, and performed far better for more years than most other 2nd gen groups did, also better and more consistent than 2NE1.

Of course, purely talking Korean charts here, not international.

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I think you're misremembering as far as 2NE1 and Sistar.

2NE1 and Sistar both had 9 number ones, but 2NE1 was a lot more consistent. They sold more downloads in their career with less songs and actually have the most downloads sold for a female group in Gaon history. 2NE1 also had the best performing b-sides of any girl group by miles.

2NE1 after 2011 still did great. 2012's I Love You was a massive hit. Come Back Home was a rather big hit at the time, as was their song Missing You. In 2014 their entire album charted in the top 10 on melon daily. They were consistently the strongest and most consistent girl group until they disbanded.

Sistar's last few comebacks hit #1 but faded quickly and didn't do anywhere near their earlier hits. For example, 2NE1's song "Gotta Be You" Only hit #3 on Gaon, but it sold more downloads and charted longer than 3 of Sistar's 4 final #1's did. Their B-Side from the same album also sold more than one of their #1s.

Some shocking takes in this thread

Quote from uwuwu-98

Sistar, 2NE1, SNSD, Wonder girls and even T-ara before the scandal would all have arguments to be #1.

I really have no idea why SNSD's digital power is so underrated. All their comebacks between Gee and Party were #1 hits. The record Sistar and Twice have with the 9 consecutive #1 songs would be SNSD's too if Gaon existed in 2009 (Gee, Genie, Oh!, RDR, Hoot, The boys, Dancing queen, IGAB, Mr mr and Party all reached #1 which would make 10, but they released Catch me if you can before Party which wasn't a proper comeback but people would have used it to leave it at 9 songs i guess). Their b sides also performed pretty good and even have some small hits among them.

It was always said that 2NE1 had better digitals but their way to promote was really different, with less comebacks but promoting more songs, they said all their songs were hits but they barely had proper b sides, it's like saying Cookie or Ditto are b sides now. With this I'm not saying SNSD did better but a direct comparison is really complicated. Sistar's situation was really similar to SNSD too. Finally Wonder girls' peak was 2007-2008 and it's even harder to compare them but they should definitely be included at the top tier.

Also just with the songs NJs have released in 6 months they'd probably make it into the list

1/2/3/4. SNSD/2NE1/Sistar/Wonder girls (+Davichi if we count them)

5. BP (+Bol4 when they were a duo if we count them)

6. T-ara (probably with the top group if they didn't have the scandal)

7. BEG (SUPER underrated)

8. Twice

9. New Jeans (Probably gonna rise)

10~. RV/MMM/AOA/Apink/Maybe you can add Ive already since they're probably going to go higher too.

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2NE1's song "I Don't Care" blocked Genie on everything, denying it music show wins, charting on melon etc, so it probably would have only peaked at #2.

If we were including pre-gaon, 2NE1 would have had 3 more #1's so 12 total #1 hits.
They really don't get the respect they deserve.

Quote from One-and-only

Only groups no sub-units or solos.

I compare the groups Overall performance in their carrier. Sistar have more hits than snsd but snsd have bigger hits like gee and genie also both both groups cumulative rankings are same in melon top 10.

Ah, I see.

What do you mean exactly with 'cumulative rankings' in melon top 10?

Do you have a link or example?

Depends on your criteria, rankings can change depending on per song or overall performance. Plus Gaon/Circle changed a lot between second and third gen, and downloads were cheaper during second gen. Also the amount of Melon users has changed too, so really any attempt to rank girl groups even within a generation is a bit subjective, let alone cross generation.

Thread

The Most Successful Artists of All-Time on Melon

As mentioned in a recent thread of mine, I've looked up the top 100 songs on Melon for each month, going all the way back to when the music download/streaming service was first launched in November 2004, and compiled all the data into one spreadsheet.

For this analysis, I want to take a look at which artists have been the most successful on Melon. To do that, my methodology was to assign a point value to each song in my spreadsheet: 100 points for the #1 song of a given month, then decreasing…

wsoet

Jul 29th 2022

SNSD have 7 number ones on Melon, their first was Gee. They would not have 9 consecutive number ones if Gaon had existed earlier. Only two of those in Gee and Oh spent more than one week at number one and Oh only spent two

Wonder Girls have 8, Twice have 8, Sistar 7 and 2NE1 9, 10 if you include their collab with Big Bang. Davichi also have 10 and maybe more that I’m forgetting

Quote from ForeverOnce2001

I think you're misremembering as far as 2NE1 and Sistar.

2NE1 and Sistar both had 9 number ones, but 2NE1 was a lot more consistent. They sold more downloads in their career with less songs and actually have the most downloads sold for a female group in Gaon history. 2NE1 also had the best performing b-sides of any girl group by miles.

2NE1 after 2011 still did great. 2012's I Love You was a massive hit. Come Back Home was a rather big hit at the time, as was their song Missing You. In 2014 their entire album charted in the top 10 on melon daily. They were consistently the strongest and most consistent girl group until they disbanded.

Sistar's last few comebacks hit #1 but faded quickly and didn't do anywhere near their earlier hits. For example, 2NE1's song "Gotta Be You" Only hit #3 on Gaon, but it sold more downloads and charted longer than 3 of Sistar's 4 final #1's did. Their B-Side from the same album also sold more than one of their #1s.

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That's why I asked what was counted: in 2nd gen era, all of YG's artists had a huge digital advantage in that the music listening crowd by default gave all of their title tracks as well as their b-sides a listen. Maybe it was because of the way YG promoted their groups and other artists. 2NE1 profited from this too.

However, after 2NE1's hitting it big with 'I Am The Best' in 2011, their digital power started to diminish and fade, until it was only a shadow from what it used to be in their peak years 2009-2011. At least, when it comes to South Korea, this was the case.

You can also see it in YG's reaction: as soon as his groups or solo artists don't hit the top spot anymore - and as a result, 'dirties' the YG brand and reputation of being this unbeatable, always-winning company that he tried to front - as soon as this happens, he benched his artist in the dungeon. In hopes of boosting popularity and demand by going the 'exclusive/rare' route for a comeback a lot farther in the future.

You could see him do that with Lee Hi when her comeback didn't go as he wished, with Winner/iKON and also when he cut short 2NE1's '4 songs-in-a-row comeback' that he talked about before, after Falling In Love and Do You Love Me disappointed on the k-charts in his eyes.

As for Sistar, it depends on what you're measuring: but in their glory years their title tracks consistently hit the top spots, either as a group, a sub-unit or even in collabs as Soyou showed. Internationally and in album sales, it's a different story; but when it comes to their charting in Korea and popularity with the Korean public, they did great.

As also Gallup shows, where Sistar popped up in the top rankings for 5 years, and 2NE1 only once.

Quote from ForeverOnce2001

2NE1's song "I Don't Care" blocked Genie on everything, denying it music show wins, charting on melon etc, so it probably would have only peaked at #2.

If we were including pre-gaon, 2NE1 would have had 3 more #1's so 12 total #1 hits.
They really don't get the respect they deserve.

Genie was #1 in the Melon weekly chart the week I don't care was released (it was a mid week release) so that week would have been for Genie for sure and then yes, I don't care would have gotten it later.

It's true 2ne1 would have more #1s in general, actually if I was forced to choose just 1 I'd probably say 2ne1, but their way to promote and the amount of comebacks was that different that I don't think a direct comparison is fair, that's why I put them on the same level as the rest.

Quote from Beesknees

SNSD have 7 number ones on Melon, their first was Gee. They would not have 9 consecutive number ones if Gaon had existed earlier. Only two of those in Gee and Oh spent more than one week at number one and Oh only spent two

Wonder Girls have 8, Twice have 8, Sistar 7 and 2NE1 9, 10 if you include their collab with Big Bang. Davichi also have 10 and maybe more that I’m forgetting

I'm not sure if your post is talking about mine but all the songs I mentioned in the post above reached #1 in Gaon apart from Genie and Gee that, as you said, reached #1 in Melon weekly and would have gotten a #1 with the Gaon system too for sure. The record I was talking about was the 9 consecutive Gaon #1 hits that Twice and Sistar hold right now, not Melon. If we talk about Melon Twice's streak would have stopped with Likey for example. Obviously these records are not the only thing we should focus on, actually I'd even say they're a bit overrated, but I just wanted to point that out since it's a record that often comes in this kind of discussions.

TWICE anywhere below top 3 is ludicrous. And Red Velvet is being underestimated a lot. Downloads were not only cheaper pre-2013, but songs charted almost purely on downloads from like 2006-13. Streaming didn't pick up in Korea until 2016.

1. 2NE1

2/3. TWICE/BLACKPINK

4. SNSD

5. SISTAR

6. Red Velvet

7. MAMAMOO

8/9. T-ARA/Wonder Girls (multiple huge hits but cut off at their peak)

10. IVE (NewJeans has a while to catch up to their overall points)

Quote from One-and-only

How do you rank top ten girl groups in Korean charts of alltime. So far we don't have any data for 1st gen but if we take 2nd gen onwards. My pick for top ten girl groups in Korean digital wise

1. 2ne1

2. Bp/Twice

3. Bp/Twice

4. Snsd

5. Sistar

6. Red Velvet

7. Mamamoo

8. New jeans

9. I've

10. OMG/Asepa

This list may not be perfect. It is what I thought. New jeans already have 4 big hits in their carrier and with cookie it may count as 5. And bp may end up top position if they get another one or two hits. What are your thoughts on it.

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OMG & aespa don't have enough hits to be considered imo, esp. aespa

Quote from uwuwu-98

Genie was #1 in the Melon weekly chart the week I don't care was released (it was a mid week release) so that week would have been for Genie for sure and then yes, I don't care would have gotten it later.

It's true 2ne1 would have more #1s in general, actually if I was forced to choose just 1 I'd probably say 2ne1, but their way to promote and the amount of comebacks was that different that I don't think a direct comparison is fair, that's why I put them on the same level as the rest.

I'm not sure if your post is talking about mine but all the songs I mentioned in the post above reached #1 in Gaon apart from Genie and Gee that, as you said, reached #1 in Melon weekly and would have gotten a #1 with the Gaon system too for sure. The record I was talking about was the 9 consecutive Gaon #1 hits that Twice and Sistar hold right now, not Melon. If we talk about Melon Twice's streak would have stopped with Likey for example. Obviously these records are not the only thing we should focus on, actually I'd even say they're a bit overrated, but I just wanted to point that out since it's a record that often comes in this kind of discussions.

There’s no evidence they would have all hit number one

There’s barely any metric out there that would indicate that SNSD are even in the top 3 of such a ranking. Even using metrics that predate Gaon