Look no one is comparing SNSD's earlier songs to ICSM or other Twice songs. I am asking you cuz you know about SNSD more than me. Would you call those songs hits?
My point is simple. SNSD had a great run from 2009-13. No, they weren't putting out hits after 2013. They had songs that performed decently like Party and Mr Mr and so did Twice with M&M and Feel Special. I also think both Lion Heart and Alcohol Free can qualify as minor hits.
The thing is both groups were simply not having hits after a certain period. It doesn't matter at least to me if SNSD had slightly better performing songs in 2014-15 than Twice did in 2020-21 cuz none of the songs both groups released were hits with the exception of LH and AF.
If we talk about peak, TWICE dominated 3rd gen digitally more than SNSD did 2nd gen. They also have them beat on every relevant digital stat: weeks at 1, in top 10, more streams, downloads, GG song with highest ULs, only GG to have above 3B streams etc.
Oh yeah I confused You Think with CMIYC but the latter did have a Korean version, MV and music show promo and still flopped so ![Pepe Shrug :pepe-shrug:](https://forum.allkpop.com/suite/images/smilies/smiley1122.png)
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Those 3-4 years were enough for TWICE to surpass SNSD in all relevant metrics. SNSD had a great run from 2009-2013 and so did TWICE from 2015-2019. Outside these years, both groups had their underperformances/flops. (Mr. Mr., Party, M&M, ICSM). In SNSD's case every release before Gee with ITNW being the only exception flopped along with multiple flop singles in 2015 alone.
Both have similar number of hits and flops, it's just their career trajectory is different so it seems like SNSD had better longevity on charts but they didn't. TWICE blew up with their very first comeback and everything they put out in the next three years was a hit right out of the gate. SNSD had their breakthrough in 2009 and garnered several hits after Gee but they were never dominant the way TWICE were and their hits are also not as big as TWICE's.
SNSD might be more popular but were they dominant? I don't think so. Wonder Girls and CL were the first female artists to chart on Hot100 and Kara was very competitive with them in Japan.
P.S. LOA and Fancy aren't included in those 9 #1 hits. But you're including Party and Mr. Mr.
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First a correction
SNSD had a great run from 2009 to 2015. Every title track from Gee to Party was #1 AKA a hit. I don't know why you consider number 1 songs as underperforming as that makes no sense, they still achieved the highest ranking possible on the charts. That's a success by any definition. Lion heart was the end of their #1s but still did well, LH was top 10 for weeks (RIP You Think).
Counting all those hits in that time period that's 10 #1 in a row. If you only count Gaon certified then it's 8 which is still respectable but that ends up ignoring Genie and freaking Gee because they came out before Gaon was introduced. Discounting either of those 2 songs as hits due to a technicality would show up any so called Kpop fan as a complete noob.
Now onto the meat and potatoes.
Twice had more digital stats on their side true but that's because Twice are from the digital age, I bet many ggs from 3G and 4G including outside big 4 have equal or better digital feats like most listeners, most days spent on chart than SNSD and every other 2G gg. There's a thread saying NJ now is the most streamed gg album ever. So is NJ the greatest gg in Kpop history already? I doubt anyone would say yes. SNSD used to be one of the biggest album sellers, male or female in Kpop at the time but now with how readily available albums are internationally and the rise of China many ggs have totally crushed SNSD once historic numbers. Does that mean they are all above SNSD? Again no.
That's why it's hard to compare 1 to 1 when it comes to different periods. It's fairer to compare how well they fared within their active eras against their peers and come to a conclusion from that. So let's do that briefly.
SNSD in their era were one of the strongest ggs digitally despite some people trying rewrite history calling them weak, with only really 2NE1 consistently being stronger (others had their time to shine like T-ara or WG who at times beat both SNSD and 2NE1 but didn't have a long reign at the top for various reasons) but slowed down after 2015 which makes sense given it's 8 years since debut and members focused more on individual projects. Every single other metric was SNSD without question from albums to CF to touring to TV. They were undisputably the biggest gg of Kpop in their time.
Twice early was successful enough to be the NGG but after only 3-4 years of their dominance they completely fell off a cliff on the charts. Their counterparts BP RV MMM still carried on having success that matched or exceeded Twice and by the early introduction of 4G ggs like IVE and NJ Twice were a complete non factor on the charts, they struggled to stay top 100 at times which is laughable for a top group. BP blew up everywhere and overtook Twice in almost every metric whether it's digital, album, touring, international popularity etc.
So if we're comparing their performance in their eras SNSD was more dominant for almost the entire 2G vs Twice who massively fell off for the latter half of 3G through early 4G where BP took over. There is no logic for you to say SNSD weren't that dominant in their time whereas Twice were when it's plain as day to see Twice seceded to BP and were regularly beaten in charts by every gg under the sun including rookies. That is far from what id call domination, more like capitulation.
To really hammer it home 2022 was an all star gg battle royale during spring and summer. A semi retired 15 yo fish out of water SNSD got #5 for a couple weeks in a row against current heavy hitters BP, IVE and NJ. Meanwhile Twice I think peaked around 20-30 or something like that with Talk That Talk and dropped like a rock usual. If Twice better digital stats are the determining factor over SNSD to show who's more dominant then surely Twice should've easily blitzed SNSD off the earth right? In the end SNSD was beloved enough by the public to keep pace with the current trendiest ggs. That summer battle was the nail in the coffin on who was the bigger gg between the ggs.