Artists that dominate the K-pop chart on iTunes Mexico

2012 was a landmark year for the k pop music when rapper PSY released his catchy song Gangnam Style, which, after its worldwide success, put South Korea on the Western radar, paving the way for other artists of the same scene.

Although other groups like Super Junior, Girls Generation, Wonder Girls, TVXQ, BIG BANG or soloists like BOA were already well known to Korean wave-loving audiences (halyu), the truth is that the exploits achieved by the performer also from Gentleman highlighted the potential for one of Asia’s most important industries to enter the Western market.

after this turn the word “K-pop” started to be heard more often: when opening social networks, when watching TV programs, when looking for something to listen to on streaming platforms, in major magazines, in the advertising of various brands and even in awards such as Billboard or the Grammys.

In this context, it is not surprising that various platforms have chosen to give places to the greatest representatives of South Korean music with rankings such as the iTunes’ “Top K-pop Songs Charts”which is available for various countries including Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Argentina.

Here is a list of 10 most popular songs this day:

1. do mine
Artist: HAWW

2. Like it’s your last
Artist: BLACKPINK

3. SOLO
Artist: JENNIE (from BLACKPINK)

4. The astronaut
Artist: Jin

5. Run BTS
Artist: BTS

6. Freak
Artist: EXO

7. It’s you even if you die
Artist: V & JIN

8. Mamacita
Artist: SUPER JUNIOR

9. lovesick girls
Artist: BLACKPINK

ten.film

Modern K-pop (from English “Korean pop”) has its origins in the 90s 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 in a talent show on MBC with the song Nan Arayo, leaving the jury shocked, who gave them the lowest marks. However, the success this single established on radio and TV was resounding, leading to more songs being released in this style and more artists betting on it.

It was not until 1995 that producer Lee Soo Man founded 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 were long known as the “Big 3” ‒until the success BTS achieved thanks to BigHit Entertainment (now known as Hybe Labels)‒ and are dedicated to training the first generation of idols, in order to satisfy the demand of Korean audiences to want 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

By the start of the new millennium, some of the idol groups that had debuted were inactive while others like Baby Vox were having success in various parts of Asia, an example of which was their song Coincidence, which was promoted to the 2003 FIFA World Cup and topped the Chinese music charts.

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 barrier 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.