which groups benefitted the most from wanna one and x1 disbanding?? 23
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seventeen (4) 17%
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nct (10) 43%
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got7 (1) 4%
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nu'est (0) 0%
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txt (6) 26%
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ateez (3) 13%
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the boyz (7) 30%
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stray kids (4) 17%
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exo and bts (1) 4%
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none, all the fans went to stan the post-produce groups or became akgaes (5) 22%
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pentagon, victon, up10tion, astro, sf9 (1) 4%
Even if they were temporary, these two produce boygroups won over the hearts of korean and international fans, becoming some of the most popular groups right from the start.
-for example, wanna one managed to sell over 1M albums in 2017, when it was something only exo and bts could do during that time. koreans even called these 3 bgs the holy trinity of kpop.
- x1 held the record for best selling 4th gen album for quite some time and they still are the only 4th gen bg to spent at least more than 2 days on melon daily chart, the only one to chart on melon weekly chart and their debut album is the most streamed 4th gen album there too
then disbanment happened and we know how it ended for the members, most of them except nuest and kang daniel struggle to sell above 100k or even chart on bugs .
I wonder, where did the fans that managed to break so many records went to? they just didn't disappear, most of them if not all are still stanning kpop groups but looking at some of the post-x1 groups not even reaching 40k album sales, it's obvious they abandoned everything related to the produce groups.
my theory, based on pure observations as casual fan during that time, is that the big amount of wanna one that didn't became kang daniel solo stans went to support nu'est (even if they were already selling very well before minhyun rejoined them) and mostly seventeen. I say that because the year where w1 disbanded coincides with the year seventeen started to sell above 1M per album and completly won over their "competition", monsta x and got7 (I stanned got7 during that time and was very surprised how much 17 grew in short time, it was something really amazing). since then, we got the famous EBS.
then, x1 case was even more drastic and traumatic (to their fans) so their need for a new group to stan, one completly separated from x1 and everything related to mnet/the companies from the members, was bigger. We can see it on the way none of the post-x1 acts have managed to sell as much as Kang Daniel or nuest and how bad some are struggling rn. I think most of their ex fans went to stan nct (kick it was released on the perfect timing to attract fans towards 127, dream was cultivating an asian fandom since 2019 and then nct 2020 sealed the deal) and other 4th gen bgs like skz, tbz and txt (their growth in sales and attention was crazy).
this is not based only on sales, but also my personal experience, because I have seen TONS of tweets and comments where fans talk and joke about how they wouldn't have stanned nct if x1 didn't disband. they even thank these other bgs for saving them during such hard times...
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ofc I'm not saying all these bgs wouldn't have gotten big if the produce bgs didn't disband, any fan can tell their growth was starting since even before and due to all their efforts, but the high jump that made them sell millions of albums and became the trend is something I don't think woud have happened as quickly if it wasn't for x1 and w1 leaving a big fanbase without a group to stan.