YamaChan's Official Fourth Generation Girl Group Tier List

The easiest placement.

If you question why NewJeans is in their own tier, please browse through the thread below.

2023 data comparison of 4th generation groups aespa, IVE, LE SSERAFIM and NewJeans

In Korea, their numbers and accomplishments far exceed their peers', despite having only 12 songs to their name, with career numbers that put them in the same class as IU, BTS and Big Bang--the absolute best company you could ask for.

But even if someone wants to argue their domestic dominance, there is no debating their overwhelming dominance internationally.

The gap between NewJeans and their peers globally is bigger than the gap between the A tier groups on this list and the F tier groups. The only girl group with this kind of international success, particularly in the West, is BLACKPINK (and technically another...but I'll get to them later).

I feel pretty confident on the order here.

While IVE hasn't made a big impact in the West yet, despite their recent best efforts, their success in Korea is still way ahead of any girl group not named NewJeans. PAKs, daesangs, strong album sales, great chart longevity--they have it all. The other girl groups are in hot pursuit and showing signs of possibly being able to chase them down this year, but they haven't proven it yet.

I have (G)I-DLE next. Their recent album sales were stellar, but even without that, their streak of hits from Tomboy to Nxde to Queencard was massive enough to give them this spot regardless. Only NewJeans and IVE had had a comparable streak of hit songs.

Next up I have aespa. Next Level was their digital peak so far, but they've had #1 hits since then, and their touring power in Japan is impressive. They also just barely edged out NewJeans for most copies sold of an individual album by a 4th generation group (though the recent drop in sales for their latest album hasn't gone unnoticed).

I have LE SSERAFIM closing out my A Tier. Perfect Night was their first song to hit #1 on Melon Weekly, but prior to that, they were overshadowed by (G)I-DLE during Antifragile's era, and then overshadowed by IVE and aespa during Unforgiven's Era. Perfect Night may be a sign that LSF is about to rise above them, and we'll see in a couple weeks with the release of Easy.

I will say, of these four groups LSF has, by far, the highest chance of breaking through in the West. They're the only girl group, other than NewJeans, to put a song on the Bubbling Under Hot 100. If they breakthrough on their next album, they will not be at the bottom of A tier and could have their eyes on getting into S tier.

StayC is often slept on here, but they just wrapped up arguably the most successful year of their careers in 2023. Their songs always rise and become hits in Korea, and in terms of Circle Digital, the only girl groups that ranked above them are the groups in my S and A tier. Their fandom and album sales can't compare to the groups in the other tier, however, so B Tier seems fair.

Now...for the most controversial placement. FiftyFifty. Honestly, if the group didn't self destruct, I'd have them in A Tier. It's out of respect for the historic performance of Cupid on Billboard that I even put them in B Tier, but I was tempted to put them in F Tier. But I have to respect a group that set a really high bar for Billboard/Spotify peaks; a bar even NewJeans will have to work hard to reach. I'd be pleasantly surprised if Fifty Fifty is ever as popular again. They may plummet to C or D tier this year.

Itzy and NMIXX seem safe to slot in at the end of B Tier, given their body of work, but their struggle to even chart at ALL in their most recent promotions is impossible to ignore. The sharp drop in their album sales also didn't do them any favors in my ranking. I personally loved their new music, but if I'm being objective, (and ignoring the 50/50 elephant in the room), StayC's songs were much, much bigger hits. Touring is where both groups will probably put up the most impressive numbers, but I can never overlook a girl group not charting at all.

fromis_9 goes to the top of my C tier thanks to their superior album sales, moderate hit songs and resilience. The other groups all have hit songs that are still charting, some better than fromis_9 has ever charted, but I need to see it happen more than once. If Viviz, Hi-KEY and QWER get another hit song comparable to their last, they will easily move ahead of fromis_9. Right now, I put Viviz highest based on Maniac being the biggest hit song between the 3 groups. We're in the part of the tiers where having a relevant hit song matters a lot.

Let me start off by saying none of these groups have any presence whatsoever on the Korean charts, and they won't be making history on Billboard any time soon. Babymonster has some decently impressive Spotify numbers, but they have completely flopped so far in Korea. It's really out of respect to YG and the hype of a YG Girl Group, that I didn't put them even lower.

Kepler and Niziu are actually really popular in Japan, the second biggest music market in the world. Both groups sell albums like hotcakes over there, with Niziu selling more.

Purple Kiss, while talented, is often overlooked and forgotten by Korean and international fans alike. Their numbers are so-so, and that includes album sales. They're not good enough to be C Tier but not awful enough to be F tier. So to the D Tier they go. Let me put this into hard math. They've sold just over 207k albums in Korea since debut. fromis_9 sold 346k albums in 2022 alone.

I don't enjoy putting any group here, and I almost considered not doing it. I thought about putting Kiss of Life here actually, but I feel like they're making enough noise and building good enough momentum to avoid the shame of a F ranking. It took all my will power not to put them in F, since it would have kept all the tiers even numbered other than S tier. But all the F tier groups haven't come close to a hit song or are relatively young. It's not hopeless for them, because a Brave Girls or EXID situation could always happen, but right now, they've done nothing to move up the rankings.