More popular in Korea 2017? EXO, BTS, or WannaOne?

  • Thread title 53

    1. EXO (10) 19%
    2. BTS (30) 57%
    3. WannaOne (13) 25%

    EXo was still in their prime selling millions and even performing at Olympics.


    BTS was just about to take over the world.


    WannaOne was taking Korea by storm on tv.


    In KOREA. Who was more popular in 2017?

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  • Just so that everyone knows, BTS released 'Spring Day', 'Not Today', 'DNA' & 'Mic Drop' in 2017. Iconic year. Showing how versatile they are as an artist.

    Not gonna forget 'Serendipity'. That was a moment.


    Shouldn’t even be debated tbh… spring day released in 2017

    EXO dropped The War album. Huge success.

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  • It’s close between W1 and BTS but in Korea I would say Wanna One had the edge. They had the hits, the sales, a shit ton of cfs and Daniel was arguably the most powerful male idol at the time.

  • the koreans did paid votes for choosing wanna one members so their attachment to the group must have been insane

    You seem newer to kpop so I wanted to give you some more info - plz correct me if I'm wrong <3 - but w1 have 2 songs digitally certified, energetic & beautiful. Which is one more then ikon, winner, and btob have and 2 more then exo do - they have the 2nd best digital avg for a 3rd gen bg behind BTS with every title of theirs hitting over 300 million index AND was competing for top bg brand ranking nearly every month during their stint as a group

  • To held aid in your determination, here are the music show wins for each group in 2017:


    Wanna One: 23 wins (Energetic–15, Beautiful–8)

    EXO: 16 wins (Ko Ko Bop–11, Power–5)

    BTS: 14 wins (DNA–10, Spring Day–4)

  • hmmmm

    i'd say

    BTS>Wanna One>EXO


    BTS was already the highest ranking bg on Gallup in 2017 (2nd highest idol group only behind TWICE)... they were #4 overall Behind IU, TWICE, Jang Yoon Jung

    Most Popular Boy-Group in South Korea per. year — According to Gallup Korea:


    2016: EXO


    2017: BTS

    2018: BTS

    2019: BTS

    2020: BTS

    2021: BTS


    In comparsion

    Wanna One was #7 in 2017

    EXO was #8 in 2017


    DNA also made Gallup's year end



    Not to mention that in 2017 BTS produced two of the biggest idol group hits (DNA & Spring Day) including Spring Day which is the biggest one of all time.


    I'd say Wanna One was closest to BTS with a huge huge debut with the korean public (still not bigger than DNA or Spring Day).


    Followed by EXO


    so as i said at the Beginning


    BTS>Wanna One>EXO

  • The year I became an ARMY. A really good year for me. I remember BTS winning a lot of awards that year. I was pretty new to K-pop at the time but it definitely seemed like BTS was stepping into their current position as the biggest K-pop group of 3rd gen. So I’ll say BTS was the biggest. I wanna say exo was behind them but idk much about W1’s success. I remember the competition being close between all three

  • I wanna say w1 for most of 2017 and BTS starting from october. 2017 was when bts first performed at the amas and won top social artist in the bbmas. I remember reading that those reports were all over sk at the time. Plus there was DNA, which even till this day is one of the most successful songs by an idol group. I feel like SD was more of a sleeper, like it was huge as we can see today, but I don't think that song is necessarily associated with bts in the sense that its success didn't make them bigger or anything. In fact, I've watch some koreans reacting to that song and they were shocked that it was a bts song.

    So anyway, I think once bts released DNA and went to the amas and bbmas, they were officially the top boy group and dna was released september of 2017. The reason bts ranked #1 boy group on the gallup survey is that it's taken at the end of the year so people will remember bts for their achievements for 2017 but before DNA it was definitely w1.

    If I say anything incorrect please correct me and I will edit my comment accordingly. I'm also very sarcastic so please don't take anything I say to heart.

  • I wanna say w1 for most of 2017 and BTS starting from october. 2017 was when bts first performed at the amas and won top social artist in the bbmas. I remember reading that those reports were all over sk at the time. Plus there was DNA, which even till this day is one of the most successful songs by an idol group. I feel like SD was more of a sleeper, like it was huge as we can see today, but I don't think that song is necessarily associated with bts in the sense that its success didn't make them bigger or anything. In fact, I've watch some koreans reacting to that song and they were shocked that it was a bts song.

    So anyway, I think once bts released DNA and went to the amas and bbmas, they were officially the top boy group and dna was released september of 2017. The reason bts ranked #1 boy group on the gallup survey is that it's taken at the end of the year so people will remember bts for their achievements for 2017 but before DNA it was definitely w1.

    actually I'm pretty sure the Gallup survey is done three separate times in the second half of the year to get the most accurate idea.


    BTS established themselves as the top group with the Her comeback, it's undeniable, but they were the group to watch before that too. Wanna One had an explosive debut and will be remembered for their successful run though. A rookie group competing with the established top boy groups straight out of the gate might never happen again.

  • I was in Korea that whole year, and I would say EXO was slightly more popular than BTS domestically until DNA dropped and then BTS moved firmly ahead. They had gotten so popular worldwide that as the year went on more and more Korean people became interested in them, "like these guys got an album in the top 10 on Billboard??" At the time that had never been done before. Although Wanna One was probably the most popular with the GP by a little bit because Broduce was such a huge phenomenon as a tv show and Daniel's fame was just on another level. But of the three EXO and BTS had bigger fandoms for sure than W1 did. They would still dominate any voting based thing, and EXO had more votes than BTS and both had significantly more than W1 for the Melon Music Awards in 2017 for example. EXO's huge k-fandom was why they won the Artist of the Year in the Melon Music Awards.


    It was actually super close between the three of them in 2017. EXO had the biggest k-fandom, BTS had the best balance of fandom size and GP recognition, and W1 was the most popular with the average person. Even though Spring Day came out that year it wasn't like it was this incredible hit immediately (although it was still a popular song don't get me wrong). What has made Spring Day so remarkable is it just kept reaching more and more people as the years went on and became a standard. Just look at the year-end Gaon Digital Chart where Spring Day was 13th and Ko Ko Bop was 14th despite KKB being released 5 months after Spring Day. But then BTS kept getting more and more popular, W1 didn't gain any new fans because everyone knew they were ending, and EXO got put on forced hiatus by SM. If I had to pick one group as the biggest it would be BTS because by the end of the year clearly there was just this feeling in the air that there was something special about them and also they struck a better balance between huge fandom and GP appeal than the other two, but it was crazy close. There probably hasn't been a closer year in kpop history (domestically).

  • I was in Korea that whole year, and I would say EXO was slightly more popular than BTS domestically until DNA dropped and then BTS moved firmly ahead, they had so popular worldwide that all of a sudden more and more Korean people became interested, like these guys got an album in the top 10 on Gaon?? Although Wanna One was probably the most popular with the GP by a little bit because Broduce was such a huge phenomenon as a tv show and Daniel's fame was just on another level. But of the three EXO and BTS had bigger fandoms for sure than W1 did. They would still dominate any voting based thing, and EXO had more votes than BTS and both had significantly more than W1 for the Melon Music Awards in 2017 for example. EXO's huge k-fandom was why they won the Artist of the Year in the Melon Music Awards.


    It was actually super close between the three of them in 2017. EXO had the biggest k-fandom, BTS had the best balance of fandom size and GP recognition, and W1 was the most popular with the average person. Even though Spring Day came out that year it wasn't like it was this incredible hit immediately (although it was still a popular song don't get me wrong). What has made Spring Day so remarkable is it just kept reaching more and more people as the years went on and became a standard. Just look at the year-end Gaon Digital Chart where Spring Day was 13th and Ko Ko Bop was 14th despite KKB being released 5 months after Spring Day. But then BTS kept getting more and more popular, W1 didn't gain any new fans because everyone knew they were ending, and EXO got put on forced hiatus by SM. If I had to pick one group as the biggest it would be BTS because by the end of the year clearly there was just this feeling in the air that there was something special about them and also they struck a better balance between huge fandom and GP appeal than the other two, but it was crazy close. There probably hasn't been a closer year in kpop history (domestically).

    To be fair spring day was the last song before Eight to debut on melon with a roof hit. So it did have an explosive debut. Just that it has solidified over the years to be the biggest idol group song of 3rd Gen

  • To be fair spring day was the last song before Eight to debut on melon with a roof hit. So it did have an explosive debut. Just that it has solidified over the years to be the biggest idol group song of 3rd Gen

    yeah it was very popular, but at the time nobody thought it would be the defining song of that year (although maybe Through the Night is too I guess), let alone of all of 3rd gen. Like Ko Ko Bop spent more weeks at #1 on Gaon than any other song that year, but Spring Day and even Energetic ended up having much better longevity as EXO-Ls just got more and more fractured as time went on and the GP never really connected with them the way they had with BTS/W1/Big Bang.

  • I was in Korea that whole year, and I would say EXO was slightly more popular than BTS domestically until DNA dropped and then BTS moved firmly ahead. They had gotten so popular worldwide that as the year went on more and more Korean people became interested in them, "like these guys got an album in the top 10 on Billboard??: At the time that had never been done before. Although Wanna One was probably the most popular with the GP by a little bit because Broduce was such a huge phenomenon as a tv show and Daniel's fame was just on another level. But of the three EXO and BTS had bigger fandoms for sure than W1 did. They would still dominate any voting based thing, and EXO had more votes than BTS and both had significantly more than W1 for the Melon Music Awards in 2017 for example. EXO's huge k-fandom was why they won the Artist of the Year in the Melon Music Awards.


    It was actually super close between the three of them in 2017. EXO had the biggest k-fandom, BTS had the best balance of fandom size and GP recognition, and W1 was the most popular with the average person. Even though Spring Day came out that year it wasn't like it was this incredible hit immediately (although it was still a popular song don't get me wrong). What has made Spring Day so remarkable is it just kept reaching more and more people as the years went on and became a standard. Just look at the year-end Gaon Digital Chart where Spring Day was 13th and Ko Ko Bop was 14th despite KKB being released 5 months after Spring Day. But then BTS kept getting more and more popular, W1 didn't gain any new fans because everyone knew they were ending, and EXO got put on forced hiatus by SM. If I had to pick one group as the biggest it would be BTS because by the end of the year clearly there was just this feeling in the air that there was something special about them and also they struck a better balance between huge fandom and GP appeal than the other two, but it was crazy close. There probably hasn't been a closer year in kpop history (domestically).

    Thank you for sharing your experience. This was very well versed. You sound like a teacher though lol.....

  • Based on digitals, physicals, and Gallup (#4), BTS was the clear #1 in Korea. Kang Daniel was the biggest male idol that year but it seems like he was more popular as an individual than his own group, Wanna One was still big though. Spring Day did do better than KoKoBop & Energetic on digital charts, and let us not forget DNA being overall bigger than either of the two.


    - SD (Feb.) was #13 in 2017 & #21 in 2018

    - DNA (Sept.) was #92 in 2017 & #18 in 2018

    - Energetic (Aug.) was #59 in 2017 & #39 in 2018

    - Beautiful (Nov.) was OUT in 2017 & #36 in 2018

    - KKB (Jul.) was #82 in 2017 & OUT in 2018



    BTS > Wanna One > EXO

    Edited 2 times, last by blueaqua ().

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