Do you agree with this top 5 most popular girl group ranking? 23
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No, I disagree (14) 61%
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Yes, I agree (9) 39%
The numbers are in. I've completed huge volumes of quantitative analysis and comparison. For 2024, the top 5 girl groups are decided. Honestly, other than the top group, the results were surprising. Without further ado, let me present my findings.
This excerpt will be short and sweet. In a year where the group is caught in the maelstrom that is the war between their CEO and Creative Director, MHJ, and their parent company, HYBE, who are actively sabotaging and suppressing them, NewJeans still managed:
- The most streamed artist on MelOn in 2024
- The best selling girl group in 2024
- The most digital index points on Circle in 2024
- The most streamed girl group on Spotify in 2024
- The fastest foreign act in history to sell out the Tokyo Dome in the venue's history with just their fanclub only presale
- The biggest, best and most brand deals of any girl group by a wide margin
Are the others even trying? If NewJeans couldn't be dethroned this year, it's never going to happen unless they actually abdicate the throne. Until then, they remain the leaders of this generation.
I'm sorry, Dives. I tried to resist this swap, but aespa just recently surpassed IVE in Circle Digital Index points for the first time, well, ever.
On top of that, they just had their best year on Spotify by a wide, wide margin and they had the single biggest hit song of any girl group this year. Quite frankly, aespa needed this year and it's been a career best. Not to mention Karina PERHAPS taking the It Girl title from Wonyoung.
Another factor in their favor is momentum. Thanks to a myriad of reasons, the public is fully supportive of aespa in ways they never were before. I honestly thought the debate for top two was finished for good after 2023, which IVE put up numbers that would be eye popping in literally any other year that didn't overlap with what NJ did.
aespa truly exploded like a Supernova this year.
3. IVE
Well this was an obvious choice. IVE's cumulative numbers, both digitals and album sales, are still top class, but being surpassed by a non-NJ girl group for the first time in their careers on Circle was somewhat shocking. Heya was still a big hit, but it was overshadowed by several releases in that same window.
Still, IVE still put up fantastic overall numbers, and if you look at Gallup polls, they are still ranked in second place by the Korean public and it isn't really all that close either.
The main thing that FINALLY made me knock them down was again, their getting passed by aespa on Circle, but also their inability to gain any traction whatsoever on Spotify. Their album sales in Japan are stellar but not enough to close the gap. All that being said, if they return to form next year, IVE can easily reclaim their spot.
4. (G)I-DLE
God, I hate typing this obnoxious name on mobile. But anyways, if you didn't know about IDLE's dominance before, now you do.
People prematurely called their Super lady comeback a flop, but they had multiple songs in the top 20 on MelOn and Fate actually rose to the top and secured their historic FOURTH Perfect All-Kill in a row. For those who don't know, that means Fate was #1 on every single chart in Korea.
Then you combine that with the fact they're the ONLY girl group who didn't see a significant reduction in album sales. In fact, until recently, they had the best album sales of any girl group, only just being passed by NewJeans. They're also the second most popular girl group in China after aespa, which isn't insignificant.
If IDLE could just do anything on Spotify, they would easily challenge for the #2 spot, but it just isn't meant to be it seems.
5. LE SSERAFIM
Well...this one hurts for me personally. After the success of Perfect Night, I thought LSF was poised to easily take the #2 spot from IVE, but between a very controversial string of encore performances, the infamous Coachella stage and then a host of other minor controversies among the general public, their digitals have never been worse. Crazy barely peaked in the top 50 and is already about to leave the top 100. When it does, no LSF songs will be in the top 100. An insane plummet from even their Easy era
HOWEVER, what bolsters them immensely are their Spotify numbers. They are second only to NewJeans in that regard, and they also managed to be the only girl group to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 this year. That's not insignificant.
But I mentioned momentum earlier, and of the top 5, they have the worst by several magnitudes. I'm worried for their future in Korea specifically, and if the trend continues, they could even be supplanted by another girl group if the 5th Gen (looking at you BABYMONSTER) can get their act together.
Anyway, this is the final ranking. It's infallible, so I know you all agree, but I will poll.
Thank you for reading this far while I alleviated my boredom during my lunch break.
Bye.
I still don’t understand 
but NJ, aespa, 
