For the last few years, the naturally order of things in kpop have been BTS to BP to Twice. BTS are still clearly untouchable, to an extent BP as well. With Twice however it feels more precarious.
A lot of girl groups now out chart and are more relevant than them in South Korea.
Ive's songs are now out peaking Twice songs in Japan which was always Twice's safe haven of dominance. But other girl groups are now having songs attract more people.
Twice songs still have decent longevity on Spotify & Youtube but groups other than BTS & BP are getting bigger initial numbers than them which shows that kpop fans are anticipating other groups more now, so a hit song will probably now give them better results in the long run.
Wouldn't be surprised if they start getting outsold this year or next as well by more than just BP on the girl group side of things.
They're essentially on their way to becoming a big boy group with the lack of impact of their releases on the general kpop populace but the fandom can still move a lot when needed. It's hard to say when the last time Twice had an impactful release that had people hyped and talking, maybe ICSM with the Feels being more of a sleeper hit?
They tour and sell well like big boy groups but despite their fandom increasing their songs have less of an impact with the relative popularity of their songs decreasing versus other kpop groups as well.
Their comebacks are no longer an event in kpop which was always a thing with BTS/BP/Twice, more so than other groups. Whilst BTS and BP have still have that impact Twice no longer do and this diminishing impact makes me think they're not far from not being seen as the 3rd biggest. As the biggest group always have the most general interest.
Thoughts?