Posts by FoReveries

That does sound nice, yes, I agree

Ok. Reading through the whole thread and thinking further upon some posts (with thanks to atropos, redcurtain and MassiveKpopFan among others), I got curious.

So I did a 'quick & dirty' scan for all the groups and their songs. Basically an 'How did the best performing songs of each of the groups fare?'

What can I say? It was a slow Sunday.

It did show me some surprising discoveries. What I found:

BTS: ON (peak: #1, wk 20: #30), Dynamite (#1, wk20: #3), Life Goes On (#3, wk20: #33), Butter (#1, wk20: #10), Permission to Dance (#2, wk20: #18)

Hardly any surprises here, BTS songs peaked high and had good to great longevity, and BTS even had 1 of the few super hits. What surpised me most, because I hadn't been paying close attention to them, was how active BTS have been the past 2 years. They had a LOT of releases, probably the most of all the groups listed here.

Blackpink: How You Like That (#1, wk20: #19), Lovesick Girls (peak #2, wk20: #8)

In contrast, BP haven't been that active and didn't even have a comeback in 2021. But the few releases they did have in 2020 did great, with high peaks and very good longevity.

Aespa: Black Mamba (#49, wk20: #147), Next Level (peak #2, wk20: #4), Savage (#2, wk 18: #20)

Aespa started slow, but with Next Level they really hit it off. Even more: NL did phenomenally and NL and Savage seemed to perform as good as Blackpink's title releases.

Oh My Girl: Nonstop (peak #2, wk20: #20), Dolphin (#9, wk20: #10), Dun Dun Dance (#1, wk20: #23)

There's no doubt about it that Dolphin has proven to be a sleeper hit. That said, all OMG's songs of the past 2 years show good longevity which makes OMG 1 of the most consistent top groups.

Brave Girls: Rollin' (peak #1, wk20: #13 *), We Ride (#4, wk20: #24 *), Chi Mat Ba Ram (#3, wk20: #80)

For Rollin' and We Ride I used the moment of resurfacing as their 'first' week on Gaon to determine where they ranked 20 weeks after that. Where Rollin' and We Ride did great, CMBR had only ok longevity which seemed to suggest that the hype around BG seemed to lessen.

Red Velvet: Psycho (peak #2, wk20: #29), Queendom (#5, wk20: #69)

RV had the disadvantage of being incapacitated for a long time. Of their 2 latest releases, Psycho did impressively with a high peak and good longevity, while Queendom had a good peak and so far an ok longevity.

TWICE: More & More (peak: #4, wk20: #86), I Can't Stop Me (#8, wk20: #70), Alcohol-Free (#6, wk20: #63), Scientist (#32, wk 14: #143)

TWICE songs showed the same consistent pattern, of good peaks and ok longevity. Except their latest release, Scientist, that seemed to have been a bust. Somewhat of a surprise, I wasn't aware that Scientist did that badly.

STAYC: So Bad (peak: #159, wk20: -), ASAP (#9, wk20: #26), Stereotype (#27, wk20: #148)

STAYC is another slow starter. But then they hit it off with ASAP that turns out to be a little sleeper hit, to my surprise. They couldn't maintain it with Stereotype though, it didn't do that great (for a rookie group still ok I guess).

Mamamoo: Dingga (#7, wk20: #60), Aya (#37, wk20: -), Where Are We Now (#93, wk20: -), Mumumumuch (#102, wk20: -)

Mamamoo shook me the most, tbh. I knew that WAWN didn't chart well. But I wasn't aware that almost all their songs charted that badly that most of them didn't even make 20 weeks on Gaon's weekly chart. Only Dingga had ok longevity.

ITZY: Wannabe (peak: #6, wk20: #62), Mafia In The Morning (#10, wk20: #116), Loco (#26, wk20: #165)

ITZY's chart results seem to indicate a declining trend. Where Wannabe still had a good peak and ok longevity, their latest song Loco ended up doing a lot worse.

IVE: Eleven (peak: #3, wk 10: #5)

For fun's sake, I added IVE. So far Eleven performs very well on the charts. But yeah, probably still too early to draw any reliable conclusions.

Conclusions: what could be learnt from those results? When it comes to super hits, looks like there were a few. BTS' Dynamite and Aespa's Next Level turn out to be true super hits with phenomenal longevity, followed by BP's Lovesick Girls, sleeper hit Oh My Girl's Dolphin and BTS' Butter.

Aespa, surprisingly, performed as good as Blackpink's releases: Next Level has even better longevity than Lovesick Girls (in wk 38, the difference is even #16 for NL vs #29 for LSG), while Savage and HYLT have the same longevity so far. For Brave Girls, it remains to be seen if their next comeback will still benefit from their 2021 hype.

TWICE's chart performances aren't what they used to be. While most of their songs still had ok (but not good) longevity, their latest release Scientist really stumbled. STAYC, while being a rookie group, still had a good year in 2021. Their little sleeper hit ASAP had good longevity. Mamamoo as a contrast didn't chart well at all with most of their releases of the past 2 years.

Which made me think the following ranking's closer to the real situation as it stands:

1. BTS

2-3. Aespa / Blackpink

4. Oh My Girl

5. Brave Girls

6. Red Velvet

7. STAYC

8. TWICE

9. ITZY

(10. IVE?)

I've bookmarked this thread, will be intriguing to see how things will change as the year progresses, and what unexpected surprises will occur

Interesting list in the first post

How else would you call those artists that have a solo comeback, separate from the group they're part of?

That's one hell of a debut!

Quote from itiswhatitisss

Does anyone know when Bloom will be out? It looks like not even the members know....

Unfortunately, the last news that I read about it is that it was delayed due to production issues.

Else the release would've been around this date

No 1st gen? I see that's already been mentioned, the lack of them.

Also, if we're going for a Top 5 for each gen, and I realise this is so trivial and that this has been done to death to the point that even I am starting to think 'why even bother'. But for the 3rd gen Red Velvet should be able to qualify for the #5 spot.

After the other 4, Red Velvet have been the most often and the highest ranked on Gallup's yearly popularity polls, their charting and digitals have been better than NCT's and Seventeen's.

Unless this is purely about album sales, Red Velvet performs better in more areas than Seventeen and NCT => so a better candidate for #5.

Anyway. Those are my thoughts about it.

I thought, let's post this in the RV guildthread for a change, instead of creating a separate thread

I found these gems on youtube while browsing for other stuff. I enjoyed watching them, enough to post them here:

female and male idols and other artists praising and talking about Red Velvet

Red Velvet's unique a capella harmonizing and singing

Here you go, hopefully you people will enjoy them as much as I did

Quote from One-and-only

interesting list also why no one mentioned shinne though they also did great last year right

Oversight?

But now that I check, I see that SHINee was at #130 in the Year End ranking of 2021 with Don't Call Me, and that the song peaked at #3. Which is pretty good! The longevity of the song wasn't that great though.

Quote from itiswhatitisss

Both literally performed the same. Why are some of y'all trying to make AF seem bigger than it really is

Maybe not entirely the same: Queendom peaked higher (well, 1 position :P ) and seems to have better longevity than Alcohol-Free.

Including Chi Mat Ba Ram, that one had the highest peak but the worst longevity of the 3 songs. But yeah, they're all in the same range of 'ok/good' but nowhere near the better performing songs of all 3 groups.

Quote from MassiveKpopFan

1. BTS

2. BLACKPINK

3/4. Oh My Girl/Brave Girls

5. aespa

-----WALL----

6. Red Velvet

7. TWICE

8. STAYC

9. ITZY

10. SEVENTEEN

Mamamoo fell off, they're no longer top 10. NCT Dream didn't blow up until this year, so SEVENTEEN rounds out the top 10.

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Interesting. What metric did you give preference, total accumulated digital points over the given time period?

Also, it feels a bit harsh towards Mamamoo. Their last group comeback may have bombed, but their comebacks before that were kinda alright?

There are several approaches that can be utilised:

- total accumulated digital points 2020-2021 per group => but this will advantage the groups that have had a lot of comebacks

- avg dp per song (per group) => same as above, but divided per song. Although this will still advantage songs that have been able to chart longer

- digital points of the first 4/8 weeks after release => this takes longevity less into account, plus might be time consuming to generate

- use of relative ranking instead of digital points => this would negate any obscure algorithm changes that Gaon's prone to implement from time to time

Depending on what's given focus, I feel like 3-5 might switch roles (but those would be close and interchangeable in any given situation, depending on focus), and I'm not sure about STAYC: they did rank #28 on the Year-End chart with ASAP, but they're also fairly new and their follow up song did less well.

I don't mind it with songs - I could always look up the lyrics if I wanted to - but with interviews and other videoclips it's very annoying not to know what they're talking about.

Interesting.

Not sure how it'll go. SM haven't had that much success in their Japanese endeavours for a lot of years now.

Quote from Quaintrelle

BTS, BP, OMG, aespa are a top currently, pretty much guaranteed top 10

TWICE, Brave Girls, ITZY, Red Velvet, Mamamoo I would say are a gray area currently, but I don't think we should count them out it yet, because they sure have their base. And they are the best performing groups after the top 4

STAYC and I'VE need more time to really say if they are top digital groups though definitely contenders

BTS, BP, OMG and Aespa seem to be the top digital performers right now.

Brave Girls had a great hype in 2021, but it has faded somewhat with their latest comebacks.

Same for the other groups like TWICE, ITZY, RV and Mamamoo, who did less well in 2021 with their last comebacks, certainly compared with the top 4 digital performers. Their results at the end of 2020 were pretty good though, RV at #9 on Gaon's Year-End chart, Mamamoo at #29, ITZY at #53 and TWICE at #64.

I agree with STAYC and IVE, both could become the next serious contenders, IVE have had a great start with their debut and STAYC have a super composer who has already helped them with ASAP and who has enough potential to rocket launch their next comebacks.

Quote from wsoet

IVE could be a contender as well.

Agreed.

Quote from SooYoung

in no particular order

BTS, Blackpink, Aespa, OMG

it's the only groups i can think recently with all their recent songs proved that they can always enter the top 10

Brave girls few months ago but their latest comeback didn't do well, cmbr didn't do as well and quickly left the top 10 , and the comeback they did after with their repack charted badly

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I wasn't aware that BG had done that badly with their last comeback.

That isn't promising for their next comeback, if the hype has faded. I hope for them that their next comeback will be successful.

I could be wrong, but I think IU's the only solo artist that didn't come from an idol group, that has been named an idol for years.

Maybe it's because the type of pop music she makes has that K-pop vibe, or because she herself has that idol aura?

Quote from dummi

I always thought it was all the same

That's what I thought too.

Or maybe better said, I thought 'it girl' was nothing but an outdated, old fashioned term, that only got repurposed in K-pop so that K-pop fans could brag about their biases by sticking the 'it girl' stamp on them, whether deserved or not, and also to circumvent the 'most popular' rankings when other idols besides their biases top the popularity rankings.

Or like how an article 'how K-pop reinvented the terms It Boy and It Girl' stated:

'The terms “it boy” and “it girl” are making a comeback often used to identify the K-pop idols who are considered icons in the industry. I know what you’re thinking. “No one even uses that term anymore!” Looking those words up in search engines would yield results that date to more than five years ago.'

While the varying usage of the term is extremely subjective and sus and while it overlaps a lot with high popularity, I get the sense that it also entails allure, magnetism and fashion. Or like some other articles and sites mentioned, 'An It boy or girl in K-pop is an idol with visuals that appeal to all genders and an attractive personality'. Other indicators seem to be having a lot of CFs, preferrably Soju CFs (?), and high recognition and favoribility among the public.

Quote from redcurtain

I think you're mostly right. The obvious choices currently are:

BTS

Blackpink

aespa

Oh My Girl

Brave Girls (at least until we see how their next single performs)

STAYC

all those groups released singles that finished in the top 50 (and actually top 30) on the Gaon Year-End Chart. If you want to include Twice (Alcohol-Free finished #68) and Red Velvet (Queendom at #87 (and Joy's Hello at #72)), then I wouldn't argue. Both of those groups have really famous brands so I think they at least still have the chance of hits down the line.

The interesting one is Itzy. Itzy's MITM finished at #92 for the year, which I think is disappointing for them but for most 4th gen groups it'd be a huge success, so I think it's fair to at least consider Itzy a relevant group digitally, certainly moreso than any NCT unit.

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I already had the feeling I was forgetting some groups. ITZY are indeed the obvious choice for #10, they did better than any boy groups.

I checked Gaon's Year-End charts for 2020 and 2021 for a better overview, and since some groups didn't have a comeback in 2021.

Impressive, if true.

Quote from atropos

Bts

Blackpink

Aespa

Oh my girl

The rest are pretty irrelevant. Mid performance or straight up flopping

Even Brave Girls is mid performance to you?

Now that we're fully in 4th gen times, things have started to change. Some 3rd gen groups have disbanded or left their company, some have lost members, new groups have debuted and made their marks, summarily, the K-pop scene is undergoing changes once again.

But how much? Like who are the digital top groups in South Korea these days, which groups rule the Korean charts?

Based on Gaon's results of the past 1-2 years, I'd say the current ranking goes something like this:

1. BTS

2. Blackpink

3. Brave Girls

4-5. Aespa / Oh My Girl

6. Red Velvet

7. STAYC

8. TWICE

9. Mamamoo

Did I miss some groups? I couldn't see any boygroups besides BTS that had a good digital performance, but maybe NCT Dream on 10?

Do you agree with the list? And how do you expect it to change this year?

Note: after reviewing various comments and arguments in the thread and revisiting Gaon, I changed the ranking to a what I think more accurate description of the real situation:

1. BTS

2-3. Aespa / Blackpink

4. Oh My Girl

5. Brave Girls

6. Red Velvet

7. STAYC

8. TWICE

9. ITZY

(10. IVE?)

Reasoning behind this is described in this post of page 3:

Post

RE: Who are currently the digital top groups in South Korea?

Ok. Reading through the whole thread and thinking further upon some posts (with thanks to atropos, redcurtain and MassiveKpopFan among others), I got curious.
So I did a 'quick & dirty' scan for all the groups and their songs. Basically an 'How did the best performing songs of each of the groups fare?'
What can I say? It was a slow Sunday.

It did show me some surprising discoveries. What I found:

BTS: ON (peak: #1, wk 20: #30), Dynamite (#1, wk20: #3), Life Goes On (#3, wk20: #33), Butter (#1,…

FoReveries

Feb 13th 2022

I'd totally forgotten that Wendy has been a fixed cast member for SNL Korea's last season!

It was so random and unexpected, but so impressive: not only has Wendy grown to be an outstanding vocalist, dancer and performer, she's also doing well as a radio host and a comedy/variety idol?!? Just wow!

But now I know how her facial expressions have become so on point and powerful in all her very different performances the past months, these days she just nails it, no matter what type of performance!

She has gained confidence and added experience and skill with her radio show and SNL.

Too bad I can't find English subbed versions of SNL Korea's last season with her

Here's some clips I found (not subbed )