Who are your Top 10 Most Iconic Girl Groups in K-Pop History? (Only Girl Group experts should even try)

1. SNSD

2. Twice

3. Red Velvet

4. 2NE1

5. f(x)

6. Blackpink

7. S.E.S.

8. Wonder Girls

9. Sistar

10. Davichi

Honourable mentions: Mamamoo, Kara, T-Ara, APINK and MissA

No 4th gen gg is qualified yet to be in this list

I included impact to the industry music wise and concept wise(hence bp is at 6th place), discography, charts to some extent and of course some kind of subjective feeling or opinion!

Quote from Yama-Chan

Is this in order? Also I feel so hurt for Kara after torturing myself for 20 minutes and caving into just slotting them in the list anyway

Yeah in order

And I edited and added honorable mentions list

how do I become a Girl Group expert, is there some sort of certification I can get?

Quote from Yama-Chan

Interesting. Specifically having two third gen girl groups in your top 3 and neither being BLACKPINK

That's BOLD

Do you know any first gen groups? I know they were active about 20 years before you existed but still.

As YHS said himself BP is a replacement of 2NE1 so I can’t just place them that high, if not for their chart achievements I wouldn’t include them to the list! Cuz 1st they have very short discography, 2nd they didn’t have any impact to the industry music wise or concept wise, also individual members of bp aren’t iconic idols themselves! So I placed them at 6 for helping to expand kpop and for their chart achievements

No I only know several 1st gen boy groups and only 1 gg which is S.E.S., but 1st gen ggs have no significant impact except S.E.S. compared to boygroups of 1st gen! I guess BoA took all the impact for female counterparts

Not sure if you mean the group I think is the best or the group that have had the most impact/status.

1. Blackpink

2. SNSD

3. Twice

4. 2ne1

5. Sistar/Red velvet

6. Mamamoo

7. Tara

8. New jeans

9. Apink

10. Kara/WG

Also couldn't fit Miss a, fx, aespa and 4minute

but after Blackpink, sistar and apink are my favourite

Quote from Yama-Chan

Submit your application to the Girl Group Council run by yours truly

Wow. And people used to think I was the de facto BP anti around here. Another bold take.

The latter.

I’m not a bp anti😅

I just don’t find anything iconic in BP

But my bias is LISA and so far I liked her every single solo release this year(she is my 3rd most streamed kpop artist this year on yt music)

Quote from Taemin-Identity

I’m not a bp anti😅

I just don’t find anything iconic in BP

But my bias is LISA and so far I liked her every single solo release this year(she is my 3rd most streamed kpop artist this year on yt music)

are we the same person

Iconic as in consistanly stands out.

Brave Girls

SNSD

2NE1

F(x)

Red Velvet

Loona

Twice

Black Pink

[G]I-dle

Ives

Quote from X7EL

are we the same person

Happy to find someone who shares same interests, so far you are the first person😅

Quote from Taemin-Identity

As YHS said himself BP is a replacement of 2NE1 so I can’t just place them that high, if not for their chart achievements I wouldn’t include them to the list! Cuz 1st they have very short discography, 2nd they didn’t have any impact to the industry music wise or concept wise, also individual members of bp aren’t iconic idols themselves! So I placed them at 6 for helping to expand kpop and for their chart achievements

so you were just a David alt this whole time

Quote from Yama-Chan

Submit your application to the Girl Group Council run by yours truly

sadly I only got to actually experience how iconic a few of these groups are, but based off what I always see I'd say:

1. BABYMONSTER

2. Blackpink

3. SNSD

4. Twice

5. 2NE1

6. Wonder Girls

7. Mamamoo

8. Red Velvet

9. GFRIEND

10. f(x)

Order not set in stone

I do think aespa may end up being looked back on as iconic one day.

I don't know enough about 1st Gen, so I will leave it out.

For me, merely massive sales does not matter in the long run- international expansion etc.,

Most critical criteria is whether they shifted the cultural paradigm.

So will just go with.

SNSD - think probably the group with most consensus, as the definitive GG.

2NE1 - the other side to SNSD

New Jeans - for both their artistic output and corporate conflict. That Youtube Live challenging HYBE, might a major inflection point.

GIDLE- Self producing GG, Soyeon and others.

IOI - the start of public voted project groups, and the greatest missed opportunity in Kpop

The rest 5 spots can be SES, TWICE, BP, SISTAR, Mamamoo ,

Not a huge difference, maybe something like this. NJ have not been active enough many years to put them in the list, I would like to see them at least 4 years with the same kind of succes as they have had their first years.

1. SNSD

2. BLACKPINK

3. Twice

4. 2NE1

5. S.E.S.

6. Wonder Girls

7. KARA

8. T-ara

9. Red Velvet

10. Sistar

I am impressed most people did not put Gidle into the list. Amount hits and longevity they have globally and domestically is extremely impressive. I think they could beat any second gen group.

Quote from Tru-Multistan

so you were just a David alt this whole time

No we are not the same! 😅

Quote from Yama-Chan

As head of the council, I would like to formally notify you that your application will be flagged for automatic rejection until certain amendments are made to your list. Have a good day.

Seems I will remain a GG apprentice.

no order:

Blackpink

Twice

Girls Generation

F(x)

KARA

Sistar

2NE1

Wonder Girls

(G)i-dle

NewJeans

I’ll include the 2nd Gen G’s based only on how much of their achievements reached me

Not really in order as I don’t think you can compare GG’s from different eras

2nd Gen

SNSD, 2ne1, Sistar, Wonder girls

3rd Gen

Twice, Blackpink

4th Gen

New Jeans, Aespa, (IVE, Gidle?)

Tbh it’s hard to name 10 groups because 4th Gen is still on going and there is a bias.the other gens have faded even tho some had hits they might have faded towards the end of it. So maybe MMM or Gfriend or FX deserve it more than the 4th Gen groups. But I never hear about these group compared to SNSD or BP/Twice so i don’t feel like including them in the list either.

Quote from Taemin-Identity

2nd they didn’t have any impact to the industry music wise or concept wise, also individual members of bp aren’t iconic idols themselves! So I

Like do people just type anything these days

Like I understand having subjective opinions about art and music but out right making up lies is indeed funny.

Quote from Yama-Chan

They were 6 when BLACKPINK debuted, so I'm just giving them a pass.

Bye kms

Iconic regardless if I’m a fan or not!

Snsd

Ses

AoA

Wonder girls

The Grace

2ne1

Twice

Miss A

Blackpink

Fx

Honourable mentions

Sistar

RV

Mamamoo

Itzy

Aespa

Stayc

Newjeans

Gfriend

Ladies code

Exid

IOI

Izone

Fin.K.L

Milk

Fifty Fifty

And more lol

Quote from Yama-Chan

This is mostly my list except you removed my favs.

We will never be close friends.

A worthy group was going to be left off my list no matter who I chose. Gidle has a strong argument for the top 10.

yes I was lazy and only change some stuff I did not agree on, I mean in general their is pretty much only 13-15 groups that can be in the list and the exact order is not important. Maby FIN.K.L should have been on the list too.

No order:

G.O.T The Beat: Literally the group of elites

LE SSERAFIM: 4th Gen Performance Queens

MAMAMOO: 3rd Gen Vocal queens

NEWJEANS:

AESPA: 4th Gen Vocal Queens

XG: All-rounders

TWICE: 3rd Gen Leaders

ITZY: 4th Gen Performance Queens

BADVILLAIN: 5th Gen Performance Queens

One more good year for aespa I think they can get above mamamoo level at least

1. Snsd

2. Blackpink

3. 2ne1

4. Twice

5. Wonder Girls

6. T-ara

7. SES

8. Mamamoo

9. Brown Eyed Girls

10. (G)I-dle

Honorable mentions : Newjeans, Fin.Kl, Exid, Kara, Gfriend, Sistar, Aespa, 4minutes, Baby Vox (the very first kpop girl group), Red Velvet, AOA

Quote from Yama-Chan

This is across all generations. The criteria will not be defined, because there is no standard baseline that can be applied across every era of K-Pop.

If you have confidence in your girl group knowledge like me, you can put your list in order.

For context: This list should be put together as if a normie walked up to you and asked who the most iconic girl groups in the history of the industry are.

Now, I present my infallible list.

1. SNSD

2. BLACKPINK

3. Twice

4. NewJeans

5. S.E.S.

6. 2NE1

7. Wonder Girls

8. Red Velvet

9. MAMAMOO

10. Sistar/Kara

I left off some amazing girl groups, so this was actually very, very difficult

AOA, f(x), APINK, T-ara, GFriend, Kara and Miss A just to name a few.

A deserving girl group gets left off no matter what.

MY criteria ranges from number of hit songs, cumulative statistics, peak popularity, fandom size, and longevity, along with the more nebulous category of overall impact

The only generation I didn't experience personally was the first one.

God, not having Kara on the list hurts my soul. They were SO popular at their peaks, (WonSoKa) and the first Korean girl group to become massively popular in Japan. They were the first to hit many major milestones that fans take for granted today....Ah I can't do it. I'm going to set a bad precedent and cheat.

Anyway, I could write multiple essays about the groups I did choose and the order, so I'll stop here.

I want to see some lists

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(G)I-DLE as they are literally the only fully self-producing girl group in kpop history. Boom.

Quote from Disevidence

(G)I-DLE as they are literally the only fully self-producing girl group in kpop history. Boom.

Define "self-producing" because the last time I checked, Soyeon does most of the work. The last time I ALSO checked, Soyeon is not to only member of GI-IDLE