The original list has no particular order to avoid favoritism so I will annotate them in my own way. I use my own spelling and do not use the spellings the Korean media use.
Pre 1980 people
Shin Joonghyun - basically the one who started the Korean style of rock.
Na Hoonah - called the Emperor of Trot, but more known to today's audience because of his 2020 song Bro Tes.
Kim Mingi - mostly wrote resistance songs against South Korea's dictatorship. He left songwriting in 1980, but was remembered because he died last year.
1980-1987
Cho Yongpil - ruled 1980s Korean music
Yoo Jaeha - was a guitarist for Cho Yongpi, and even wrote a song for CYP. Later debuted as a soloist but died in a traffic accident shortly after so he only had one album. His song is remade by later singers quite often, and he is called the Founder of Korean Ballad.
The cover by Roseanne Park, MBE, of Yoo Jaeha's greatest hit "Because I Love You", originally given to CYP (who later sang it after Yoo Jaeha died) and used in his own album.
Lee Moonsae - 1980s balladist. Mostly remembered now because Big Bang and Lim Youngwoong remade his songs
Lee Younghoon - wrote most of Lee Moonsae's songs. His only prominent songs were written for Moonsae.
Deulgookhwa - rock group in 1980s, better known for the antics of its leader and vocal Chun Inkwon.
1988-1996
Kim Wansun - considered to be South Korea's first dancing idol.
Kim Hyunsik - rocker, who died in 1991. He is better remembered because of his earlier death.
Kim Kwangseok - folk singer, but better known about the controversy over his death.
Shin Haechul - rocker, who often went against the grain of South Korean society. He died in 2014, and MAMA did an insult by making someone, who was given the Lifetime Achievement Award and therefore becoming the Senior Singer of KPop on the very spot below, cover one of his songs, very insulting since she is probably the greatest conformist of all time in the history of Korean Pop. I will have lots more to talk about her later in this post.
IU (not yet the Senior Singer at this point of time) - Fly Chick by Shin Haechul, about a chick he bought on the street who died after one day (in South Korea, chicks not worth raising were often sold to street vendors who sold it for the equivalent of a dime. They were sickly and usually didn't live too long)
Seo Taiji - no description needed
Shin Seunghoon - the premier balladist of 1990s. He is still active, although his music style and his fans all got older with him. He recently released an adult contemporary album since his fans are around his age (he will turn 60 next year) and did a killing voice covering his hits from 1990 and some other releases later.
Kim Gunmo - the premier dance singer of 1990s.
Kim Changhwan - he produced the above two , as well as Park Mikyung (popular in 1990s) and Clon (ditto until Kang Wonrae got paralyzed in a motorcycle accident - his partner , DJ Koo, was married to Barbie Hsu on 2022 but she died in 2025)
Deux - a dance group. Mostly for Lee Hyundo, who wrote lots of dance songs in 1990s and early 2000s. His partner, Kim Sungjae, is mostly remembered for the controversy over his death in 1995, which I won't discuss.
From 1997, it is meaningless to divide the people in the list by years so I will use a different approach.
Kim Hyungsuk - composer popular in 1990s and 2000s
Yoon Ilsang - composer popular in the same era, mostly writing dance songs
People identified with SM
Lee Sooman - Owner, Chief Producer
Yoo Youngjin - LSM's right hand man. He followed LSM to China!
H.O.T.
SNSD
Kenzie, long time SM producer, who produced aespa's Supernova and Armageddon among other SM songs. She did not follow LSM to China.
People identified with DSP Entertainment
People identified with Mulgogi Music
Lim Youngwoong, probably included because he is well known among older pop.
People identified with YG Entertainment
Yang Hyunsuk, owner
Teddy, chief producer
Big Bang
G Dragon. I don't know why he is counted twice but I did not do the selectoin
People identified with JYP Entertainment
JYP, owner. He was also a singer but not significant enough to be ranked in this list as a singer
g.o.d.
(I do not know why Twice is absent but I didn't choose this )
People identified with Hybe Entertainment
Bang Sihyuk, owner
(I mean, if SM has 2 producers and YG has Teddy, PDogg has to be here too)
Last, people identified with Edam Entertainment
IU, former owner and chief singer
Kim Eana - lyricist
Kim Eana wrote lots and lots of lyrics, but other than Abracadabra, all of ehr hit lyrics were what was written to IU, and her lyris to other singers were weaker. Yet she is considered to be a great lyricist, entirely because of IU.
This list considers IU to be as significant as JYPE and Hybe, showing the negative influence the former owner of Edam Entertainment, which failed to contribute anything positive to KPop until 2024, to Korean Pop by showing her overbloated significance.
