What is a mid-tier group?

g-idle maybe some boy groups idk

neither top nor nugu

I generally think of mid-tier as a group that does well enough, has some general recognition, but you don't expect them to get PAKs and comeback at #1 every release.

I'd consider it a group that is relatively well-known, can tour if they want to, but isn't what anyone would consider super successful.

Examples: Dreamcatcher, Everglow, and (until very recently) Oh My Girl

I've seen a lot of different takes on it, it's kind of ambiguous for me... I think the problem is it covers too wide of a range of popularity. And also that people also try to include lower top-tier groups and higher low-tier groups in it makes it more confusing.

I think some groups that are truly in the middle and are easier to define as mid-tier but it's harder to define as we go further either way on the spectrum?

to me mid tier is doing well enough to earn a decent living type group...

you know their name may or may not have had a "hit" but generally not successful enough to be a top tier group...

for GG I would put Everglow, Loona, Dreamcatcher here...

non big3? those groups that don't have hits or big brand cfs but are doing good or well enough.

It's easy to rank it on Albums based in 2021

Top Tier for *GG's is the last album selling 300k+, for a BG it's 1 million+

Mid Tier for a GG is between 100k and 300k, for a BG, it's 500k to a million

Anything below is a lower tier and below those numbers.

Albums are the best way to show you have a fanbase that is going to buy products from the group, they are the ones that Sponsors and Networks are interested in.

While Groups do trend with their songs, if it's not matched with Album Sales then there is less attraction from the high paying Sponsors. Trending simply makes you a trending group, it could be viral or ranking high in the charts but history has proven that regular high Album Sales are the groups that consistently have the highest demand

* Anyway, Itzy are the reason why I use 300k+ Album Sales for GGs based on their most recent comeback but GGs have an additional requirement of a Top 10 Gaon Song

Quote from quark12395

How the hell is selling 500k considered mid-tier?

it's based on how easier it is to get for a BG since Stray Kids got that in 2020 while Ateez did it this year whereas a million albums is still beyond the reach of other BGs

maybe groups like golden child,loona, dream catcher and sf9.

they all sell over 100k. digital charting and streams are bad but they have something else holding them up, like chuu and international fandom for loona, bomin for golden child, etc

Quote from centen

but you don't expect them to get PAKs and comeback at #1 every release.

I think this is a bit too stringent, since *no groups* can consistently get PAKs for each of their releases, not even BTS (as we see with Permission to Dance).

Mid size are like txt, stray kids , the boyz, ateez. They can enter big when they sell million of an album

No idea about ggs

Quote from jimeous

Mid Tier for a GG is between 100k and 300k

Anything below is a lower tier and below those numbers.

Albums are the best way to show you have a fanbase that is going to buy products from the group, they are the ones that Sponsors and Networks are interested in.

This is a bit too simplistic. Brave Girls would be an easy counterpoint to your criteria, since they sell below 100K an album yet have the best performing girl group song of 2021. They also have more endorsement deals and have appeared on more television shows than any other girl group this year.

Quote from wsoet

I think this is a bit too stringent, since *no groups* can consistently get PAKs for each of their releases, not even BTS (as we see with Permission to Dance).

"Expect" is the keyword here. For top groups, people debate how the comeback will do as soon as it's announced: what's the competition, how likely is a PAK, what are the sales going to be?

For a mid-tier group, it's not even a consideration. You don't expect that it's possible, even if the competition is a little lax.

Quote from wsoet

This is a bit too simplistic. Brave Girls would be an easy counterpoint to your criteria, since they sell below 100K an album yet have the best performing girl group song of 2021. They also have more endorsement deals and have appeared on more television shows than any other girl group this year.

Brave Girl's isn't a good example when based on Dreamcatcher that has sold 2 Albums over 100k and they haven't even ranked on the Gaon Digital Top 100 Chart.

In this era of Kpop GG Idols, it is not unusual for GGs that don't chart in the Gaon 100 to sell 50k+ Albums.

The point is, for all the praise you heap on Brave Girls, they should have it easier selling 100k+ of their recent Album

A known group that isn't at the top nor bottom.