Artists that dominate the K-pop chart on iTunes Mexico

Perfectly timed choreography, catchy songs with a diverse mix of genres, and indescribably appealing idols are some of the things that catapulted K-pop to international famebecoming a phenomenon earns South Korea about $12 billion a yearaccording to Forbes magazine.

Even the weather of the coronavirus pandemic could not cloud the outlook for this industry, because during this harsh crisis, the main entertainment agencies (Hybe Labels, SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment) They went on to bring in millions of dollars in revenue.

The impact of K-pop is such that even the South Korean government knows that the hello hallyu (the “Korean wave”) is a fundamental part of its economy, since the music and entertainment industry alone generates $114.7 million quarterly in the trade balance.

Likewise, another of the sectors favored by the recent popularity of this Asian country is tourism, since the Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) reports that at least 796,000 foreigners travel to South Korea’s K-pop-influenced territory every yearone out of 13 of which did it for the BTS group, which shows that K-pop is a 100% profitable business.

On social networks the case is not left out either, because Twitter has become one of the main weapons through which artists’ fandoms can talk about the latest music releases, the most shocking news, talk about various celebrities, and more.

Regarding its impact in the West, there are musical platforms such as itunes who have given space to K-pop, even creating their own daily charts of the most popular songs in at least 39 countries, including Mexico.

Here is a list of the 10 most popular songs of that day:

1. Dream Glow (BTS World Soundtrack) (Part 1)
Artist: BTS & Charli XCX

2. other: ego
Artist: BTS

3. MORE
Artist: j-hope

4. VIBE (featuring Jimin from BTS)
Artist: TAEYANG

5. Butter
Artist: BTS

6. Teddy bear
Artist: STAYC

7. Like it’s your last
Artist: BLACKPINK

8. SOLO
Artist: JENNIE (from BLACKPINK)

9. spring day
Artist: BTS

ten.Wildflower (with 조유진)

Modern K-pop (from English “Korean pop”) was born in the 1990s with the debut of popular group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992, known for incorporating western musical genres such as rap, hip-hop, rock, jazz, electronic and techno into their songs.

This trio, made up of Seo Taiji, Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Junodebuted on a talent show on MBC with the song Nan Arayo, baffling the jury, who gave them the lowest marks. However, the success of this single on radio and TV was resounding, leading to more songs in this style being released and more artists opting into it.

It was not until 1995 that producer Lee Soo Man created one of the companies that remains a “heavyweight” in the music industry to this day, S&M Entertainment; while former Seo Taiji & Boys member Yang Hyun Suk created YG Entertainment (nineteen ninety-six); followed by JYP Entertainment (1997), created by singer Park Jin Young.

These three companies have long been dubbed the “Big 3” – until the success BTS achieved thanks to BigHit Entertainment (now known as Hybe Labels)‒ and were dedicated to teaching early generation idols, in order to satisfy Korean audiences’ demand to see younger artists.

In this way, the HOT group was one of the first to debut in the industry, followed by others who made up the famous “first generation of K-pop” like Sechs Kies, SES, Fin.KL, NRG, Baby VOX, Diva, Shinhwa and god

At the start of the new millennium, some of the idol groups that had debuted were without activities while others like Baby Vox were successful in various parts of Asia, an example of which was their song Coincidence, which was promoted at the Soccer World 2003. Cup and which reached number one on the Chinese music charts.

At the same time, other idols who went solo also marked a milestone: Boathe first Korean singer to lead the Oricon chart in Japan, an equivalent of the Billboard chart but Asian and in which artists from other countries rarely manage to enter and Rainan actor and singer who performed in front of 40,000 people in Beijing.

The K-pop boom

Later I’ll make the call “second generation of K-pop”still in the hands of groups made up of young figures such as TVXQ (started in 2003), SS501 (2005), Super Junior (2005), BIGBANG (2006), as well as girl groups like Wonder Girls (2007), Girls generation (2007) and KARA (2007).

In 2008, South Korea was already leading 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 representing 68% of the music market in Japan, ahead of China (11.2%) and the United States (2.1%).

Later, other bands like SHINee or INFINITYthe latter who managed to obtain the record of being the first to top the Billboard Emerging Artists chart in 2014 with his song Last Romeo; 2PM, EXO, 2IN1, until you reach the third generation of K-pop where new groups such as BTS, Seventeen, GOT7, Twice, Red Velvet, BLACKPINK, MAMAMOO, among othersso far fourth generation which are everyone who debuted between 2017 and 2018 like Stray Kids, ITZY, Ateez, Astro and more.

It should be mentioned that a watershed that should be considered is Rapper PSY’s Gangnam Stylea song that not only managed to break unimaginable records on music platforms such as Youtubebut it also traveled the world and showed that language was no obstacle to success in highly competitive countries like American industry.

To this day, the relay of the greatest representatives of K-pop is held by the group BTS ‒integrated by Suga, RM, Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, V and Jungkook‒, who in addition to dominating the music industry in South Korea and consolidating their notoriety in the rest of the world, were named “Asia’s trend leader” by The Economist and “Artists of the year” by TIME magazine, through his Grammy Award Nominations and his 10 Billboard Awards.