Posts by blueaqua

  • Would BTS be on the same level as Twice & TVXQ in Japan in the future?

    BTS have surpassed TVXQ's best-selling album with their recent Japanese release in Japan and will most likely surpass it too with their upcoming Korean album. Their physical sales will continue to grow thanks to Dynamite and Stay Gold.


    Dynamite is a bigger hit than any song TWICE released there. It is the biggest hit by a Korean act since SNSD Mr. Taxi /Gee and Kara Jumpin/Mister (2010-2011).


    It will probably take a while for BTS to be on-par with TVXQ when it comes to the legendary status in Japan since latter have been active for nearly 15 years while the former only for < 8 years. TWICE and BTS are basically on the same level. BTS sell like 3x's more than TWICE physically per current release and they do the same digitally.

  • how big was OT5 TVXQ back then?

    They were MASSIVE. Their domestic fandom size was on par with H.O.T (1st gen) and BTS (3rd Gen). They completely changed the game for Korean acts and were the main reason (along with BoA) why the Hallyu Wave started in 2nd generation in Japan.


    I tend to watch Koreans reacting to DB5K on YouTube and if you look at the Korean comments, many people say that they were really popular and some even say that they were the 2nd generation BTS in South Korea during their peak before the split. The reason why they compare the two is because many young Koreans never experienced the popularity of DB5K first hand so older Koreans use BTS as a reference.


    When it comes to SM groups, DB5K and SNSD are pretty much their biggest groups ever in terms of revenue and sales among their male and female groups. TVXQ have been SM's main cash cow for like a decade now thanks to their touring ability in Japan.

  • Do you think we are currently in the 3.5 generation or 4th generation of K-pop?

    Quote from amalyas

    Arf, these 'generation' things were always strange to me. Like, even INSIDE a generation, we have groups separated by 2, 3 or 4 years, so it's just weird to just include them all in the same package.


    If we consider that BTS and BP are third gen, then this doesn't make sense to consider that we have moved on to the fourth gen until they started declining. Which probably won't happen before a few years, to be honest.


    This is my opinion anyway.

    There will of course be 1 or 2 groups still doing well from the previous generation with the new(er) one(s) like how we see with G.O.D. for 1st generation and BIGBANG/SUJU for 2nd generation but I think it is hard to transition to a new generation if so many groups are still doing well/dominating.


    I guess we won't know until a couple more years to fully confirm it. For example, 3rd generation wasn't really established/declared until 2016 when BTS, EXO, Gfriend, Blackpink, Red Velvet, TWICE, and Mamamoo were all doing very well and have already taken most of the spotlight away from the 2nd generation groups with hit songs and year-end award shows.

  • Do you think we are currently in the 3.5 generation or 4th generation of K-pop?

    I have noticed that a good amount of people believe that we are transitioning to the 4th generation of K-pop that consists of the following groups: TXT, Stray Kids, Ateez, The Boyz, ITZY, Aespa, (G)I-DLE, Stacy, IZ*ONE, etc... However, I kind of disagree? The current third generation groups are still thriving and aren't showing signs of slowing down any time soon such as BTS, Blackpink, Twice, Seventeen, NCT, etc... I think we are currently in the 3.5 generation where there are new groups debuting and doing well but they aren't on the same playing field as the top representative groups stated before. Some say that these newly debuted groups (2018 - 2020) can't be classified as a part of 3rd generation because they're "too" young compared to those that debuted earlier (2012-2014) or debuted much later but that doesn't really make sense since that was the case for 2nd generation groups (2004 - 2011) as well. I feel like the main reason why people, mostly new group fans, are classifying their rookie groups as 4th generation is because they want to claim the next top boy/girl group since those titles are already taken by BTS and BP/TWICE for 3rd generation.


    2nd Generation (2004 - 2009): Bigbang, TVXQ, Super Junior, Wonder Girls, SNSD, SHINee, Kara, 2NE1, f(x)


    2-2.5 Generation (2009-2011): Beast, Sistar, Infinite, Apink, Bock B, Girl's Day, T-ara, etc...


    In my opinion:


    3rd Generation: All the groups that debuted in 2012 - 2017

    3.5 Generation: All the groups that pretty debuted in 2018-2020/2021


    These 3.5 generation groups are doing well but they will continue to be "overshadowed" by the older groups (BTS, EXO, Blackpink, TWICE, Red Velvet, Seventeen) similar to how it was for the 2.5 generation groups and the main 2nd gen representative groups.