I'm tired of all the fake 3rd gen "stans" who engage in revisionist history about the most popular groups back then

I agree it was the same as it is now with NewJeans being as big as other groups like Aespa or IVE i hate when people try to act like a group is so insanely ahead and then believe their own delusions :3

BLACKPINK wasn't even a top 4 girl group when they debuted. It took them 3 years to solidify as a top 3 group and the top girl group

BP debuted with a PAK, and broke YouTube records

Twice came out the gates being labeled flops by eater haters, because LOA had a slow start. And even during their digital peak, peak GFRIEND was right there with them.

Chill they had one flop debut and LOA is platinum so what now

You’re pissed because no one cares about MMM nowadays, they aren’t even on RV’s level

I actually agree BLACKPINK wasn't perceived as Top 2-3 girlgroup back back when they debuted. TWICE, GFRIEND, MAMAMOO were seen as bigger. Yes, they debuted with PAK, but TWICE had Cheer Up, Mamamoo had I Am The Best, GFRIEND has Rough as PAKs all before august at the same year and they still had physicals to back it up.

I think It's funny that, If you think with your 2024 mind, you will take in consideration the BLACKPINK's international achievements and see It as the biggest deal, but back in 2016, the only Global metric people looked for was Youtube. And even BLACKPINK's Youtube achievements were used to mock them.

That's exactly why following Square Up era was so great. People used to make fun of BLACKPINK and didn't see them as the biggest threat, because everyone was expecting YG to fumble the bag and they would end as Top 3-4 (Top 2 max if they were lucky). Like, you just had to be there.

Quote from YamaChwan

Yup. Spoken like someone who was active during the rise and peak of the third generation. People don't believe it now, but back then, BLACKPINK was mocked for not having a fandom, due to YG refusing to release physical albums. This is back when 100k album sales in one comeback was considered the standard, and peak Twice was tripling that.

And I also remember HEATED arguments between Onces and Buddies over who deserved the awards between Twice and GFRIEND. At the time, Me Gustas Tu was a significantly bigger song than LOA, and Rough closed 2016 as the song with the most downloads of any song released that year (which was the primary measurement of digital performance during early 3rd gen).

I often told young Blinks back then to be patient, because we all knew BP would eventually be the top group but that they weren't there yet. Then the 2017 face off happened and proved me right.

I uploaded a video to my channel of me walking around Seoul and recording any time I heard Mamamoo songs. That I had enough content for a video should be the biggest clue to how popular they were back then.

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Even in 2017 they were absolutely mocked for being blocked by MAMAMO's Yes, I Am. Iirc, YIA was peaking in It's ~900k ULs and As If in It's ~700k. It was also the first time I saw two girlgroup songs having roof-hits at the same time If I'm not wrong (another thing I miss in stan culture, roof-hits were PEAK digital performance).

The tables really turned after Square Up. I still remember when It was announced and some antis I used to interact with (in another forum I was a member of) used to say their physical sales would be on the level of post-I.O.I groups like Weki Meki and Pristin, because they didn't have fans

When they sold on Hanteo that much to the point of being a contender for the highest selling female album of thr year (against TWICE and, later, IZ*ONE as a dark horse) was GOAT moment.

What gave Twice the edge in being the leader of the pack (even while Gfriend was keeping toe-to-toe with them in digitals with "Rough") was their fandom and album sales, which at the time was completely unrivaled among girl groups. They were selling +300k albums while all the other girl groups (even popular ones like Red Velvet) were struggling to sell 100k. The reason Twice weren't seen at the time as dominant of their gen vs SNSD was that Twice still couldn't compete with 3rd gen boy group sales, whereas peak SNSD could compete with 2nd gen boy group sales in addition to their digital popularity.

Blackpink weren't seen as challenger for gen leader until 2018 with DDDD. I know this because 2017 Twice and Red Velvet were at each others throats on which song was more worthy of SOTY - "Knock Knock" (PAK'd but fell off fast) vs "Red Flavor" (great longevity but ppl questioned whether it was a 'summer hit'). Nobody considered "AIIYL" even though truthfully it wasn't that far behind digitally either of those songs in 2017. Post DDDD is when the Twice vs Blackpink wars rly heated up.

Gfriend had their cute moment with "Rough" but nobody ever considered them contender for leader of the pack bc they weren't strong enough in every other metric (fandom, album sales, yt views, etc). Mamamoo is an interesting case where they had some genuine hits and surprising individual popularity with Hwasa even touching it girl status for a moment. Mamamoo to me was the KARA of 3rd gen. Top tier group, but for a variety of factors was never seen as gen leader (part of this is simply kpop fan subjectivity of expecting gen leaders to only come from Big3 groups - BTS weren't seen as gen leaders until they had FAR exceeded Exo in multiple metrics).

Quote from Minazuki

Even in 2017 they were absolutely mocked for being blocked by MAMAMO's Yes, I Am. Iirc, YIA was peaking in It's ~900k ULs and As If in It's ~700k. It was also the first time I saw two girlgroup songs having roof-hits at the same time If I'm not wrong (another thing I miss in stan culture, roof-hits were PEAK digital performance).

The tables really turned after Square Up. I still remember when It was announced and some antis I used to interact with (in another forum I was a member of) used to say their physical sales would be on the level of post-I.O.I groups like Weki Meki and Pristin, because they didn't have fans

When they sold on Hanteo that much to the point of being a contender for the highest selling female album of thr year (against TWICE and, later, IZ*ONE as a dark horse) was GOAT moment.

The "they have 3 kblinks" era was so insane it was a good time tbh bc of the jokes iblinks did back then! We seriously had a small kr fb in their 2 years of debut, but 2018 happened and BP proved to be one of the top groups with everything matching from charts to sales to streams and eventually to touring like they are still doing right now.

Lol armys vs exo-ls used to be funny

I do remember a lot of ppl used to discredit BP saying they only had zombie streaming from sea and that they're only famous there

Once I said BP was the #1 gg and got 60 downvotes lol

Crazy how I'm always in the future

Quote from someone00

The "they have 3 kblinks" era was so insane it was a good time tbh bc of the jokes iblinks did back then! We seriously had a small kr fb in their 2 years of debut, but 2018 happened and BP proved to be one of the top groups with everything matching from charts to sales to streams and eventually to touring like they are still doing right now.

It was such a pleasure to follow BLACKPINK's career from the beginning to the end of their first contract. I really love them so much and they will always hold a special place in my heart.

All it shows is people only remember the now

Remember that when nj goes on their 2 year haitus and becomes a legacy act

Tbh I agree with you about the erasure of the others top groups bc 3rd gen definitely wasn't just those 3 groups. We had massive huge groups there like the ones you mentioned and even 2nd gen groups were still big during 3rd gen.

I think people talk way more about BTS, BP and Twice bc they are still pretty much active and successful like today their numbers be it streaming, views, charts ww and touring are still the biggest right now, but yeah, there are some erasure..

Quote from Minazuki

It was such a pleasure to follow BLACKPINK's career from the beginning to the end of their first contract. I really love them so much and they will always hold a special place in my heart.

It was indeed a pleasure being with them since 2016!

Let's talk how GFRIEND has one of the best discographies in K-pop. The consistence is insane, since debut year...

Quote from YamaChwan

I still don't know why Fingertip was the end of their time at the top. They were never as big afterwards, even though their fandom stuck around.

Hear the Wind Sing should've been the title track. Been saying that since 2017

Fingertip is one of my favorite title track of them, right there on Top 5 alongside Rough, Navillera, Mago and TFTMN. I will never understand why It wasn't a hit.

I think If they released Rainbow instead of Summer Rain, they would have had a hit in 2017

I agree, people keep revisioning history like crazy, the worst thing is that they LIE and make up things that never happened and then it spreads out like wildfire

Quote from YamaChwan

And some people really act like Exo didn't have K-Pop in a choke hold during their peaks. I hated when my favs came back around the same time as Exo, because ALL their songs would clog up the charts pre reform and it was a forgone conclusion they'd win every music show they were eligible for.

Good old times, I miss when they promoted for more than 1 week on music shows.

Award ceremonies also used to be really crazy, it is impossible to explain it now, you had to live through that. I guess award shows reputation suffered so bad that nowdays losing or winning doesn't feel like the end of the world.

Hi,

This is a cool thread. I like reading about the old times from you old folks.

-knysom

Not at OP complaining about overlooked groups and revisionist history when he literally ignored the 4th most popular group in 3rd gen.

It aint Gfriend.

It aint Mamamoo.

It aint Exid, AOA, or even Brave Girls (all are early 3rd gen not 2nd gen).

It's THIS group.

Criminally underrated by Ifans for sure, but they are literal GP darlings in South Korea and the group that ALL of your 4th and even 3rd gen fans look up to.

They have the hardest choreo in all of 3rd gen (way harder than overrated Gfriend or even Dreamcatcher). They can go toe to toe with Blackpink and Twice in terms of discography as well.

They along with Twice and Izone make up the HOLY TRINITY of cutesy concepts.

Closer

Secret Garden

One Step Two Step

Liar

A Ing

Remember Me

Windy Day

Nonstop

Cupid

Summer Comes

Dolphin

Dun Dun Dance

These are TWELVE songs that are in the 8 to 10 range, the first 8 of them could actually be 10 out of 10 tbh. That might be even better than BP or Twice

Quote from sveznalica

Good old times, I miss when they promoted for more than 1 week on music shows.

Award ceremonies also used to be really crazy, it is impossible to explain it now, you had to live through that. I guess award shows reputation suffered so bad that nowdays losing or winning doesn't feel like the end of the world.

Mama 2015 was absolutely gold!! Year end awards were amazing, historic!

Just quickly to add, as an OG once, there was never any concern about Gfriend or really any other group being a threat for Twice. It was always just Blackpink. Like yeah other GG's had their hit songs, but there was never a moment of concern I would say. Only BP was major competition in all categories stats wise. Even before they dropped their first album, everyone knew it would sell well.

What can we say ? You need to work harder, your focus has been entirely on New jeans lately

Quote from YamaChwan

I didn't see you making a praise thread for Closer like I did. I didn't forget OMG!

But they didn't get the respect they deserved until after Queendom. That was when 3rd gen was winding down.

Also, way to pay dust and dirt to Lovelyz.

This just isn't true. At least on OH, I saw Onces regularly at war with Buddies and sometimes RV fans. Sometimes me even. But EVERYBODY was telling Blinks to be quiet until laaaate 2017, and then 2018 was when Blinks finally got their getback.

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What would Onces possibly be arguing with GF and RV about after Cheer Up? Respectfully, it wasn't even a question after that. The only discussion I remember with Buddies were them being angry at Twice winning a rookie award over them when Twice just recently debuted. And why would Onces argue with RV? When were they ever challenging Twice for number 1?

I'm just basically saying Twice were already a mini legend with how LOA climbed back up the charts and ppl living their performances. Which is why they won all the rookie awards so quickly. And by Cheer Up, it wasn't a question anymore. They were already being called Nations Girl Group. The only GG I remember being a major contender to usurp Twice were Blackpink.

So I do think they kinda dominated the GG scene back then. But there were also other GG's who had there moments and made the generation better.

Quote from YamaChwan

By the way, this is such a predictable response from delusional Blinks.

PAK doesn't automatically make your song the biggest of the year, because we have to contextualize the accomplishment by looking at what competition the song faced and how it performed relative to other hit songs.

I've posted the stats so many times now. Whistle and Boombayah weren't even top 30 songs and nowhere near he biggest girl group hits of 2016.

BP were not a top 4 group when they debuted. I'd say they weren't even top 5. I.O.I. was bigger

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You seem to be offended about the fact people are saying the big 3 from 3rd gen is BTS, BP & Twice ofc there are other relevant artists but that’s not what people imply BTS peaked much more later but at the end no one cares if Exo was bigger for a certain time BTS outlasted and this is what people care about.

EXO is just so much more infinitely talented than bp, twice or bts in my eyes that their fans even mentioning EXO is just like bees buzzing in the background for me.

In my eyes EXO is the zenith of what a kpop BG should be and can be. The perfect combination of everything an idol needs.

So the 3rd Gen Stan’s can keep re writing whatever history they want but they’ll not be able to trigger me because I think they’re are all so far beneath EXO and there’s nothing any of them can ever provide to disprove that  

Anyway I’m also offended Yama thinks he can sneakily put exo on the same line as mmm and rv.

EXO was undisputedly #1 at the start of 3rd Gen and then they were over taken no harm no foul. Even when mmm or gfriend were having hits no one considered them the top gg. That always only belonged to twice and then to BP. Even if other GG’s had hits too they were never considered “top” or #1