Why 2012 was the most significant year for K-pop for the K-pop music when the rapper PSY released his catchy song Gangnam Style, which after its worldwide success put the South Korea on the Western radar, paving the way for other artists in the same scene.
Although other groups such as Super Junior, Girls Generation, Wonder Girls, TVXQ, BIG BANG or soloists such as BOA were already well known among the public who love the Korean wave (hallyu), the truth is that the feats achieved by the Gentleman performer also made clear the potential of one of Asia’s most prominent industries to enter the Western market.
After this watershed the word “K-pop” began to be heard more often: when opening social networks, when watching television programs, when looking for something to listen to on streaming platforms, in big magazines, in advertising for various brands and even at awards shows such as Billboard or the Grammys.
In this scenario, it is not surprising that various platforms have opted to give space to the greatest exponents of South Korean music with rankings such as “Top K-pop Songs Charts” from iTuneswhich is available for different countries, including Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Argentina.
1. BTS Cypher, Pt. 3: KILLER (feat. Supreme Boi) Artist: BTS
2. The Astronaut Artist: JIN
3. seven Artist: Jung Kook & Latto
4. Yet To Come Artist: BTS
5. film out Artist: BTS
6. Take Two Artist: BTS
7. Stay Gold Artist: BTS
8. Like Crazy (UK Garage Remix) Artist: Jimin
9. LALISA Artist: LISA
10.People Pt.2 Artist: Agust D & IU
Modern K-pop (from the English “Korean pop”) It has its origins in the nineties with the emergence of the popular group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992, known for incorporating Western music styles such as rap, hip-hop, rock, jazz, electronica and techno into their songs.
This trio, made up of Seo Taiji, Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Junomade his debut on an MBC talent show with the song Nan Arayo, perplexing the jury, who gave them the lowest ratings. However, the success of this single on radio and television was resounding, which led to the release of more songs of that style and more artists who opted for it.
It was not until 1995 when producer Lee Soo Man founded one of the companies that to this day remain a “heavyweight” in the music industry, SMEntertainment; while former Seo Taiji & Boys member Yang Hyun Suk created YG Entertainment (nineteen ninety six); followed by JYP Entertainment (1997), established by singer Park Jin Young.
These three companies were long called the “Big 3” – until the success that BTS achieved with the help of BigHit Entertainment (today known as Hybe Labels)‒ and were dedicated to training the first generations of idols, in order to satisfy the demand of the Korean public to want to see younger artists.
Along this path, the group HOT was one of the first to debut in the industry, followed by others who formed the well-known “first generation of K-pop” such as Sechs Kies, SES, Fin.KL, NRG, Baby VOX, Diva, Shinhwa and god
At the beginning of the new millennium, some of the idol groups that had debuted were without activities while others like Baby Vox were successful in various regions of Asia, an example of this was their song Coincidence, which was promoted at the 2003 Soccer World Cup and which It was placed at the first position on the Chinese music charts.
At the same time, other idols who launched as soloists also marked a milestone: Boathe first Korean singer to lead the Oricon chart in Japan, an equivalent to the Billboard chart but Asian and in which artists from other countries rarely manage to enter and Rainan actor and singer who gave a concert for 40 thousand people in Beijing.
Later I would start the call “second generation of K-pop”again with groups that were made up of young figures such as TVXQ (debuting in 2003), SS501 (2005), Super Junior (2005), BIGBANG (2006), as well as girl groups such as Wonder Girls (2007), Girls Generation (2007) and KARA (2007).
By 2008, South Korea was already dominating the entertainment market in Asia with an annual growth rate of more than 10% in the exports of its musical and television products with K-dramas, even accounting for 68% of the music market in Japan, ahead of China (11.2%) and the United States (2.1%).
Later, more groups such as SHINee or INFINITEthe latter who managed to consolidate the record of being the first to top Billboard’s emerging artists chart in 2014 with his song Last Romeo; 2PM, EXO, 2EN1, until you reach the third generation of K-pop where new groups are included such as BTS, Seventeen, GOT7, Twice, Red Velvet, BLACKPINK, MAMAMOO, among othersuntil the current Fourth generation which are all those who debuted between 2017 and 2018 such as Stray Kids, ITZY, Ateez, Astro and more.
It is worth mentioning that a watershed that must be considered is Gangnam Style by rapper PSYa song that not only managed to break unimaginable records on musical platforms such as Youtubebut also went around the world and demonstrated that language was not a barrier to achieving success in highly competitive countries such as the American industry.
To date, the baton as the greatest exponents of K-pop is held by the group bts ‒made up of Suga, RM, Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, V and Jungkook‒, who in addition to dominating the music industry in South Korea and strengthening their fame in the rest of the world, have been named “Asia’s trend leader” by The Economist and “Artists of the Year” by TIME magazine, passing through his Grammy Award nominations and his 10 Billboard Awards.
