Girl Groups Dominates K-pop in 2023

The development of fourth-generation girl groups such as IVE, NewJeans, aespa, and others is notably shaping the current K-Pop music industry

While K-Pop superstars BTS temporarily set aside activities to fulfill mandatory military service, emerging girl groups are gradually rising, bringing a fresh perspective to the K-Pop music industry.

In 2023, the “fever” for girl groups continues, with NewJeans and IVE taking the lead.

Particularly, IVE gained media attention by winning the rookie awards alongside several major prizes at last year’s annual K-Pop awards ceremonies. This year, the group continues its streak of achievements, leaving a mark with two hit songs, “Kitsch”, “Baddie”, and “I Am.”

Meanwhile, NewJeans became a sensation both domestically and internationally, with songs like “Ditto” and “Super Shy” dominating Korean charts and global streaming platform Spotify.

Some other prominent representatives of the fourth-generation girl groups this year include aespa, LE SSERAFIM, and (G)I-DLE, collectively leading the golden era of girl groups. Notably, all of the aforementioned girl groups have topped charts in Korea.

Newcomer group FIFTY FIFTY has also become a phenomenon, making history by securing the 44th position on the year-end Billboard Hot 100 chart with the global hit “Cupid”. In particular, FIFTY FIFTY was the first K-Pop girl group to enter the year-end Billboard chart, whilst “Cupid” enjoys unprecedented popularity across platforms.

Despite controversies and legal issues related to management, and only one member, Keena, remaining, it cannot be denied that FIFTY FIFTY is a name worth paying attention to.

According to US market analysis firm Luminate, the total on-demand streaming for the top 100 K-Pop artists reached 90.4 billion as of October this year, a significant increase of 42.2% year-on-year. Additionally, K-Pop album exports also saw notable growth, reaching 243.81 million USD in the first 10 months of 2023, a 20.3% increase from the same period last year.

In the Korean market, fourth-generation girl groups such as NewJeans, IVE, aespa, LE SSERAFIM, and (G)I-DLE continue to dominate charts, following a series of successes in 2022, with no signs of slowing down.

Source: K14, Korea Times