title: Île-de-France

text: Clovis the Frank, the first king of the Merovingian dynasty, made the city his capital in 508. As the Frankish domination of Gaul began, there was a gradual immigration by the Franks to Paris and the Parisian Francien dialects were born. Fortification of the Île de la Cité failed to avert sacking by Vikings in 845, but Paris's strategic importance—with its bridges preventing ships from passing—was established by successful defence in the Siege of Paris (885–86). In 987, Hugh Capet, Count of Paris ("comte de Paris") and Duke of the Franks ("duc des Francs"), was elected King of the Franks ("roi des Francs"). Under the rule of the Capetian kings, Paris gradually became the largest and most prosperous city in France.


title: Île-de-France

text: The Kings of France enjoyed getting away from Paris and hunting in the game-filled forests of the region. They built palatial hunting lodges, most notably Palace of Fontainebleau and the Palace of Versailles. From the time of Louis XIV to the French Revolution, Versailles was the official residence of the Kings and the seat of the French government. Île-de-France became the term used for the territory of Paris and the surrounding province, which was administered directly by the King.


title: Île-de-France

text: During the French Revolution, the royal provinces were abolished and divided into departments, and the city and region were governed directly by the national government. After World War II, as Paris faced a major housing shortage, hundreds of massive apartment blocks for low-income residents were built around the edges of Paris. In the 1950s and the 1960s, thousands of immigrants settled in the communes bordering the city. In 1959, under President Charles De Gaulle, a new region was created out of six departments, which corresponded approximately with the historic region, with the name "District de la région de Paris" ("District of the Paris Region"). On 6 May 1976, as part of the process of regionalisation, the district was reconstituted with increased administrative and political powers and renamed the Île-de-France region.


title: Île-de-France

text: Île-de-France is in the north of France, neighboring Hauts-de-France to the north, Grand Est to the east, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté to the southeast, Centre-Val-de-Loire to the southwest, and Normandy to the west.


title: Île-de-France

text: Île-de-France has a land area of . It is composed of eight departments centred on its innermost department and capital, Paris. Around the department and municipality of Paris, urbanisation fills a first concentric ring of three departments commonly known as the "petite couronne" ("small ring"); it extends into a second outer ring of four departments known as the "grande couronne" ("large ring"). The former department of Seine, abolished in 1968, included the city proper and parts of the "petite couronne".


title: Île-de-France

text: The "petite couronne" consists of the departments of Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne; the "grande couronne" consists of those of Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne and Val-d'Oise. Politically, the region is divided into 8 departments, 25 arrondissements, 155 cantons and 1,276 communes, out of the total of 35,416 in metropolitan France.


title: Île-de-France

text: The outer parts of the Île-de-France remain largely rural. Agricultural land, forest and natural spaces occupy 78.9 percent of the region, and 28 percent of the region's land is in urban use. the remaining 24 percent is rivers, forests, woods, and ponds.


title: Île-de-France

text: The River Seine flows through the middle of the region, which is crisscrossed by its tributaries and sub-tributaries, including the Rivers Marne, Oise and Epte. The River Eure does not cross the region but receives water from several rivers in the Île-de-France, including the Drouette and the Vesgre. The major rivers are navigable, and, because of the modest variations of altitude in the region (between 10 and 200 meters), they have a tendency to meander and curve. They also create many lakes and ponds, some of which have been transformed into recreation areas, including Moisson-Mousseaux, Cergy-Neuville and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.


title: Île-de-France

text: Paris region (Île-de-France) produced €742 billion (Gross domestic product) or around 1/3 of the economy of France in 2019.


title: Île-de-France

text: The regional economy has gradually shifted toward high-value-added service industries (finance, IT services, etc.) and high-tech manufacturing (electronics, optics, aerospace, etc.). In 2014, industry represented just under five percent of active enterprises in the region, and 10.2 percent of salaried workers. Commerce and services account for 84 percent of the business establishments in the region, and have 83.3 percent of the salaried employees.


title: Île-de-France

text: Financial services and insurance are important sectors of the regional economy; the major French banks and insurance companies, including BNP Paribas, Société Générale, and Crédit Agricole, all have their headquarters in the region. The region also hosts the headquarters of the top French telecom companies and utilities, including Orange S.A., Veolia, and EDF. The French stock market, the Bourse de Paris, now known as Euronext Paris, occupies a historical building in the center of Paris and is ranked fourth among global stock markets, after New York, Tokyo and London.


title: Île-de-France

text: Other major sectors of the regional economy include energy companies (Orano, Engie, Électricité de France, and Total S.A.). The two major French automobile manufacturers, Renault at Flins-sur-Seine and Groupe PSA at Poissy, do much of their assembly work outside of France but still have research centre and large plants in the region. The leading French and European aerospace and defense companies, including Airbus, Thales Group, Dassault Aviation, Safran Aircraft Engines, the European Space Agency, Alcatel-Lucent, and Arianespace, have a large presence in the region.


title: Île-de-France

text: The energy sector is also well established in the region. The nuclear power industry, with its major firm Orano, has its headquarters in Île-de-France, as does the main French oil company Total S.A., the top French company in the Fortune Global 500, and the main electric utility, Électricité de France. The energy firm Engie also has its main offices in the region at La Défense.


title: Île-de-France

text: In 2018 just 7.2 percent of employees in the region were engaged in industry; 62.3 percent were engaged in commerce and market services; 25.5 percent in non-market services, including government, health and education; 4.8 percent in construction; and 0.2 percent in agriculture.


title: Île-de-France

text: The largest non-government employers in the region as of the end of 2015 were the airline Air France (40,657); the SNCF (French Railways, 31,955); the telecom firm Orange S.A. (31,497); the bank Société Générale (27,361); the automotive firm Groupe PSA (19,648); EDF (Electricité de France, 18,199); and Renault (18,136). While the Petite Couronne, or departments closest to Paris, previously employed the most industrial workers, the largest number is now in the Grande Couronne, the outer departments.


title: Île-de-France

text: The unemployment rate in the region stood at 8.6% at the end of 2016. It varied within the region from 7.8 percent in the city of Paris, to a high of 12.7 percent in Seine-Saint-Denis, and 10 percent in Val-d'Oise; to regional lows of 7.4 percent in Yvelines; 7.5 percent in Hauts-de-Seine; 7.7 percent in Essonne; 7.9 percent in Seine et Marne, and 8.8 percent in Val de Marne.


title: Île-de-France

text: In 2018, 48 percent of the land of the Île-de-France was devoted to agriculture; 569,000 hectares were cultivated. The most important crops are grains (66 percent), followed by beets (7 percent), largely for industrial use, and grass for grazing. In 2014, 9,495 hectares were devoted to bio-agriculture. However, the number of persons employed in agriculture in the region dropped 33 percent between 2000 and 2015 to just 8,460 persons in 2015.


title: Île-de-France

text: The Île-de-France is one of the world's top tourist destinations, with a record 23.6 million hotel arrivals in 2017, and an estimated 50 million visitors in all types of accommodation. The largest number of visitors came from the United States, followed by England, Germany and China.


title: Île-de-France

text: Notable historic monuments in the Region outside of Paris include the Palace of Versailles (7,700,000 visitors), the Palace of Fontainebleau (500,000 visitors), the chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte (300,000 visitors), and the Château de Malmaison, Napoleon's former country house; and the Basilica of Saint-Denis, where the Kings of France were interred before the French Revolution.


title: Île-de-France

text: The Regional Council is the legislative body of the region. Its seat is in Paris, at 33 rue Barbet-de-Jouy in the 7th arrondissement. On 15 December 2015, a list of candidates of the Union of the Right, a coalition of centrist and right-wing parties, led by Valérie Pécresse, narrowly won the regional election, defeating the Union of the Left, a coalition of socialists and ecologists. The socialists had governed the region for the preceding seventeen years.


title: Île-de-France

text: Since 2016 the regional council has 121 members from the Union of the Right, 66 from the Union of the Left and 22 from the far-right National Front.


title: Île-de-France

text: , the population density of the region was 1010.9 inhabitants per square kilometer. The densest department is Paris itself, with 21,066 inhabitants per square kilometer. The least dense département is Seine-et-Marne with 239 residents per square kilometer.


title: Île-de-France

text: according to the official government statistics agency INSEE, 15.9 percent of residents of the region had an income below the poverty level; for residents of the city of Paris, this proportion was 16.2 percent. Poverty was highest in the departments of Seine-Saint-Denis (29 percent), Val-d'Oise (17.1 percent), and Val-de-Marne (16.8 percent). It was lowest in Yvelines (9.7 percent); Seine-et-Marne (11.8 percent), Essonne (12.9 percent), and Hauts-de-Seine (12.4 percent). The department of Hauts-de-Seine is the wealthiest in France in terms of per capita GDP.


title: Île-de-France

text: In 2013, 2,206,000 residents of the Île-de-France were immigrants, born outside of France. This amounted to 18.5% of the population of the region, twice the national average. Four out of ten immigrants living in France reside in the region. The immigrant population of the Île-de-France has a higher proportion of non-Europeans, as well as a higher proportion of immigrants with an advanced level of education, than the rest of France. The population of immigrants is more widely distributed throughout the region than it was in the early 2000s, though the concentrations remain high in certain areas, particularly Paris and the department of Seine-Saint-Denis. The proportion of residents born outside of Metropolitan France dropped between the 1999 (19.7%) and 2010 censuses (23%).


title: Île-de-France

text: The Petite Couronne (literally "Little Crown" or inner ring) is formed by the three departments bordering Paris, forming a geographical "crown" around it. These departments, until 1968 part of the disbanded Seine department, are Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne. The most populated towns of the "Petite Couronne" are Boulogne-Billancourt, Montreuil, Saint-Denis, Nanterre and Créteil.


title: Île-de-France

text: The Métropole du Grand Paris is an administrative structure that comprises Paris and the three departments of the "Petite Couronne", plus seven additional communes in the "Grande Couronne".


title: Île-de-France

text: The Grande Couronne (Large Crown, i.e. outer ring) includes the outer four departments of Île-de-France not bordering Paris. They are Seine-et-Marne (77), Yvelines (78), Essonne (91) and Val-d'Oise (95). The last three departments formed the Seine-et-Oise department until this was disbanded in 1968. The city of Versailles is part of this area.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang (; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean boy band formed by YG Entertainment. The group consists of four members: G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, and Daesung. Originally a five-piece band, Seungri retired from the entertainment industry in March 2019. Dubbed the "Kings of K-pop", they helped spread the Korean Wave internationally and are considered one of the most influential acts in K-pop. They are known for their trendsetting musical experimentation, self-production, and stage presence.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Although their debut album, "Big Bang Vol.1" (2006), was released to lukewarm reception, greater success followed with a string of hit singles: "Lies", which topped Korean music charts for a record-breaking six consecutive weeks and won Song of the Year at the 2007 Mnet Km Music Festival and the 2008 Seoul Music Awards; "Last Farewell", "Haru Haru", and "Sunset Glow". After winning Artist of the Year at the 2008 Mnet Korean Music Festival and the 2008 Seoul Music Awards, the group released four Japanese studio albums—"Big Bang" (2009), "Big Bang 2" (2011), "Alive" (2012), and "Made Series" (2016)—all of which were certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).


title: Big Bang (band)

text: After a two-year hiatus in South Korea, the quintet returned with their fourth EP, "Tonight" (2011), won them the inaugural Best Worldwide Act Award at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards. Their fifth EP, "Alive" (2012), became the first Korean album to chart on the US "Billboard" 200. Their third studio album, "Made" (2016), was preceded by several chart-topping singles and won the group Artist of the Year awards at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards for the third time and at the 2015 Melon Music Awards. Its supporting tour, the Made World Tour, attracted 1.5 million people and set a new record for the most-attended concert tour headlined by a Korean act in history at the time.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Eleven of Big Bang's singles have reached number one on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart and have collectively remained atop the Melon charts for a record 51 weeks. It has been reported that they have sold over 150 million digital and physical records globally, which would rank them among the best-selling boy bands in the world. "Forbes Korea" ranked them as one of the most powerful celebrities in South Korea from 2009 to 2016 (placing 2nd in 2009, 2012 and 2014); and they were the first Korean artists to be included on the "Forbes" Celebrity 100 (2016) and 30 Under 30 list of most influential musicians in the world (2017).


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Prior to the group's debut, a few of the members were already exposed to the entertainment industry. G-Dragon and Taeyang were the first ones to receive training under YG Entertainment at the age of eleven. After G-Dragon was approached by YG Entertainment for possible candidates to start a boy group, G-Dragon contacted T.O.P, his childhood friend, leading to the latter to audition. At the time, T.O.P was an underground rapper under the stage name "Tempo". One of his most popular tracks was "Buckwild" with NBK Gray. Seungri first appeared on the reality television series "Let's Cokeplay: Mnet Battle Shinhwa", a show in which idol group Shinhwa search for members to make up the "second-generation Shinhwa". The original lineup consisted of six members: the aforementioned ones along with Daesung and Hyun-seung, who were both auditioned in. Their formation was documented on television; prior to their official debut, Hyun-seung was dropped. The Internet broadcast of the documentary exceeded one million views.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang held their official debut on August 19, 2006, at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul during the YG Family 10th Anniversary Concert, which was broadcast the following month. Their first single "Bigbang", released shortly thereafter, contained the songs "We Belong Together", featuring label mate Park Bom; "A Fool's Only Tears" and "This Love", an adaptation of the American rock band Maroon 5 song, rewritten and performed by G-Dragon. The single went on to sell nearly 40,000 copies. The second single, "Big Bang Is V.I.P", was released in September, eventually topping 32,000 copies sold. Their last single, "Bigbang 03", followed, with final sales nearing 40,000 copies. The quintet received the award of New Artist of the Month for October in the 2006 Cyworld Digital Music Awards. In December, the group held their first concert, The Real, at Olympic Gymnastics Arena for 12,000 fans. The release of their debut album, "BigBang Vol. 1 – Since 2007" (2006) followed. Debuting at no. 3, the album went on to sell over 110,000 copies.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: On February 8, 2007, Big Bang released their live concert album, "The First / Real Live Concert", which sold 30,000 copies by the end of the year. They also began the Want You Tour in support of "Since 2007", visiting five cities: Incheon, Daegu, Changwon, Jeonju and Busan. Their first extended play, "Always" (2007), marked several changes for the group. Though members had previously involved themselves with writing and composing, the group took more creative control over their music, moving away from their hip-hop roots. G-Dragon composed and wrote most of the tracks, including the lead single "Lies".<ref name="ALWAYS/RELEASE"></ref> The EP also saw the introduction of electronic music for Big Bang. Receptions were fairly positive, most notably in regards to "Lies", which critics described as "through the roof". Released as the lead single, it became their first number one hit and the album sold over 120,000 copies. Topping music charts for six weeks, "Lies" went to become the first song to win the Song of the Month award from the Cyworld Digital Music Awards for two consecutive months, as well as gathering the highest monthly sales in Cyworld's history, with over 200,000 copies sold in September.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Their second EP, "Hot Issue", released in November of the same year, contained six tracks all written by G-Dragon, who was also the album's producer. "Hot Issue" followed its predecessor's success: the lead-single, "Last Farewell", topped various charts, including the Melon chart for eight consecutive weeks, becoming the longest-running number one hit by a boy group. It also garnered the Song of the Month (Digital Music) Award from Cyworld. "Fool" and "But I Love U", other tracks from the EP, also ranked within the top 10. The digital success lead "Hot Issue"'s sales to be moved over 120,000 copies total in South Korea. They also staged their Big Bang is Great concert, with tickets selling out in 10 minutes.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Due to over-performing and exhaustion, several members were hospitalized, halting promotional activities. Despite this, their albums and singles were in high demand, causing the record company to reprint and repackage them for re-release. Riding on the success of their EPs, the group collected numerous awards, including Best Male Group and Song of The Year for "Lies" in the 2007 Mnet Asian Music Awards. They later received the Artist of the Year and Digital Record of Year awards from the 17th Seoul Music Awards. The group earned a total of ₩12 billion ($11.5 million) by year's end.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: As 2007 came to a close, Big Bang ventured overseas to Japan. Their first Japanese EP, "For the World" (2008),<ref name="FORTHEWORLD/RELEASEDATE"></ref> charted at number 10 on the Oricon chart with minimal promotion. The group also held a concert at the JCB Hall in Tokyo Dome City. Big Bang returned to South Korea after their promotions in Japan ended. Although group activities were delayed due to solo projects, their third Korean EP, "Stand Up", was released. Featuring artists such as Daishi Dance and the Korean rock-band No Brain, "Stand Up" exceeded the 200,000 mark in sales. "Haru Haru", the lead single, topped several online charts and held the number one position for seven consecutive weeks. It also became one of the most successful singles of all-time in South Korea, selling over five million digital downloads in South Korea alone. The EP also included the top-five song "Heaven", (Korean: ; Revised Romanization: "Cheonguk") the top-ten "Oh My Friend", and the top-twenty "A Good Man" and "Lady".


title: Big Bang (band)

text: During the release of their Korean materials, Big Bang released the Japanese song, "Number 1", from their first Japanese studio album of the same name, performing the song on Japanese radio programs and TV shows; the album peaked at number three on the Japan's Oricon daily album chart. Their second Korean studio album, "Remember" (2008), yielded the number one single, "Sunset Glow", a remake of the song of the same name by Lee Moon-se, released in 1988. "Strong Baby", performed solely by Seungri, was released as the second single. The album went on to sell over 200,000 copies. Big Bang received their second Artist of the Year Award from the 2008 Mnet Asian Music Awards. At the end of 2008, it was reported that Big Bang earned a total of ₩36 billion ($34.5 million).


title: Big Bang (band)

text: While the group was on a break in early 2009, members pursued solo activities. They reunited to collaborate with 2NE1, their label's new girl group who had been dubbed as "The Female Big Bang" at the time, for "Lollipop", a song used to promote a cell phone by LG Cyon. A music video was also filmed for promotion. Big Bang also released their third endorsement digital single "So Fresh, So Cool" to promote the beer brand "Hite", although Seungri was not in the commercial due to the fact he was not of drinking age. Their second self-titled Japanese studio album was released under Universal Music in August 2009 and was promoted with two singles: "My Heaven" and "". "My Heaven", a Japanese re-recording of their Korean single "Heaven" from "Stand Up", debuted at number three on the Oricon Music Chart. "Gara Gara Go!" charted at the fifth spot and the album itself peaked at number three.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Kicking off the new year with the 2010 Big Show concert at Olympics Gymnastics Arena, Big Bang flew to Japan to embark on their Electric Love Tour. Their third Japanese studio album, "Big Bang 2" (2011) was preceded with three singles: , "Tell Me Goodbye", and "Beautiful Hangover". "Koe wo Kikasete" was used in the Japanese drama , and peaked at number four on the Oricon Chart. "Tell Me Goodbye" was included in the Japanese re-release of Korean drama "Iris".<ref name="TMG/IRIS"></ref> The song proved to be popular and gained favorable reviews, winning Song of the Year at the 52nd Japan Record Awards. Two promotional singles were also released in their home country: the number one song "Lollipop Part 2" to once again promote LG Cyon's Lollipop phone,<ref name="LOLLIPOP2/No1 realtime chart"></ref> and "Shout of the Reds" featuring the Korean rock band Transfixion and figure skater Kim Yuna in support of the 2010 World Cup.<ref name="KIMYUNA/SHOUTOFTHEREDS"></ref> For most of the year, members individually promoted their own work, including the introduction of the sub-unit GD & TOP with their collaboration album. Big Bang also won several notable awards, including the Best 5 New Artists award from the 24th Japan Gold Disc Awards<ref name="24JGDA/newcomerwin"></ref> as well as the Best New Artist award. Near the end of May, the group received the awards for Best Pop Video and Best New Artist from the MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2010.<ref name="VMAJ 2010/WINS"></ref>


title: Big Bang (band)

text: After nearly two-year hiatus as a full group, Big Bang returned to South Korea with their 2011 Big Show concert, showcasing songs from the upcoming EP "Tonight". The album had a pre-sale order of 10,000 copies in Cyworld, beating the record set by TVXQ's 6,500 copies back in 2008, and moved 100,000 units in a week. Reception for the album was positive, with Choi Jun of Asiae complimenting the group's new direction in their music, acknowledging that during the two years hiatus, the group's "style and musical sensibility [had] deepened". Seven days after the album's release, it was reported that Big Bang had already earned ₩7 billion (US$6.6 million). Its lead-single of the same name became a chart-topper on the Gaon Digital Chart, while four other album tracks peaked within the top 10, including the number-two "Café" and the number four "What is Right?". After promotions for "Tonight" was finished, Big Bang released a special edition album with two new tracks: the chart-topper "Love Song" and the top 3 "Stupid Liar". Their third Japanese tour, Love and Hope, kicked off in May in support of the album. All performances were sold out, and a total of 100,000 fans attended the tour.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: At the 2011 MTV EMAs, Big Bang won the Best Worldwide Act award as representatives of the Asia-Pacific region with over 58 million votes. "Love Song" also won Best Music Video at the 2011 Mnet Asian Music Awards. At the end of the year, Big Bang participated in the YG Family 15th Anniversary concert tour. This was followed by a release of their third Greatest Hits album "The Best of Big Bang" (2011) on December 14, which contained a Japanese version of "Haru Haru". The album topped the Oricon Daily chart on its first day of release and went on to sell over 14,000 copies in the first week. It was reported that Big Bang earned ₩78 billion (US$69.4 million) in 2011 even though they had just promoted for half a year. The earnings included Big Bang's revenue concert for SBS's Big Bang Show, their 2011 Big Show Concert and their Love and Hope Tour in Japan.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: In January 2012, YG Entertainment began releasing teasers for Big Bang's fifth Korean EP "Alive", which was released in both digital and physical formats in February. Preorders for "Alive" amounted to 260,000 copies in two weeks. Three singles were released to promote the album: "Blue", the lead single, was released a week prior to the album and reached the number one position on all major domestic charts; the second single "Bad Boy" peaked at number two and was the only K-Pop song to be included in Fuse's best songs of 2012 list; while the last, "Fantastic Baby", rounded at number three. The music video for the latter became the band's most popular, having received more than 310 million views on YouTube, the most watched video by a Korean group, until it was surpassed in 2018. Internationally, Big Bang obtained five spots out of the top-ten on "Billboard" K-pop's Hot 100 and charted at no. 150 on "Billboard" 200, making them the first Korean artist with a Korean album to do so. Their popularity also boosted them onto the "Billboard" Social 50, entering at number twenty-four. They later received recognition from notable sites such as "Time" magazine, and a photo of the group was featured on the Grammy Awards homepage.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: The album release coincided with their annual concert, Big Show 2012, held at Seoul Olympic Park Stadium from March 2–4 to a sold-out crowd of 40,000 fans. This marked the official kick off of their first world tour, the Alive Galaxy Tour, in partnership with Live Nation. It was directed by renowned choreographer Laurieann Gibson, with Big Bang performing at 21 cities in over 13 countries, with a total attendance of 800,000 people. Concert footage from Big Show was broadcast in 160 countries through MTV World Stage, which pushed the promotion for their world tour. The Alive Galaxy Tour marked the group's first ever concerts in the United States, Hong Kong and Europe. Due to high demand, additional concerts were held in Los Angeles, New Jersey and London. The quintet also performed at three Japanese dome venues for the first time, becoming the first Korean artist to perform at all three of these venues during its tour. The group concluded the tour with concerts in Osaka in mid-January along with a three night stint at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul later that month.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: The Japanese version of "Alive" was released on March 28 both digitally and physically, with two additional Japanese tracks. Included with the physical copy of their album was a bonus Japanese version of their hit song "Haru Haru". It sold over 23,000 copies on its first day of release and peaked at number two on the Oricon charts, eventually selling over 200,000 copies total and certified gold by the RIAJ. Japanese promotions began with a performance at 2012's Springroove Festival alongside top American and Japanese hip hop artists. Big Bang was the first Korean act to be invited along with label-mates 2NE1. Following the success of their comeback, Big Bang released a special edition album titled "Still Alive" on June 3. It featured four new tracks including two new Korean tracks of which their lead single was titled "Monster", as well as Korean remakes of the two additional tracks in the Japanese version of "Alive". The album sold over 100,000 copies in its first month of release. A special "Monster" edition of their Japanese "Alive" album was also released on June 20, following its Korean counterpart.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: The success of their special edition album further boosted the group's global recognition, peaking at no. 11 on the "Billboard" Social 50. On November 30, 2012, Big Bang received a total of three awards at the 14th Mnet Asian Music Awards, including Best Male Group and Artist of the Year. G-Dragon also took home Best Male Solo award at the event. They also received the Best Fan category award at the Italian TRL Awards. After promotional activities wrapped up, the members pursued individual activities for the majority of 2013 and 2014.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang reunited in November 2013 for their Japan Dome Tour, holding concerts in six different dome arenas in Japan, being the first foreign act to do so. Gathering over 770,000 fans, the tour's total revenue, including tickets sold and merchandising sales, totalled $94 million. In October 2014, the group performed at the closing ceremony of the 2014 Asian Games held in Incheon, South Korea, wrapping up the Congratulatory Performance. A month later, the quintet embarked on their second Japanese dome tour, which was the first time that any overseas artist performed in five dome arenas of Japan for two consecutive years. By the end of 2014, Big Bang was the Korean artist that attracted the most concertgoers in Japan for the year and the second act overall.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang was on hiatus for two years while G-Dragon experienced a "career slump" and was unable to find inspiration to write new music for the band, explaining that "In the past, even after coming back from a long, tiring day, I would write at least two songs at the dorm before I slept as if it were my duty. [In 2014], however, things just weren't working out for me so the album kept getting delayed." In 2015, Big Bang made their comeback by releasing special project singles for their album "Made": "M", "A", "D", and "E". The first single, "M", released in May, included the two songs "Loser" and "Bae Bae", which debuted at number one and number two, respectively, on "Billboard"'s World Digital Songs, making the quintet the first K-pop boy band to top the chart and the second Korean artist to occupy the top two slots simultaneously after labelmate Psy. "Loser" won Song of the Year at the 30th Golden Disk Awards, while "Bae Bae" won Song of the Year at the 13th Korean Music Awards. Both tracks were named by "Billboard" as one of the best K-pop songs of 2015, with "Loser" topping the list. The following month saw the release of "A", which included "Bang Bang Bang" and "We Like 2 Party", that also went on to occupy the number one and two positions on "Billboard"'s World Digital Chart. "Bang Bang Bang" won Song of the Year at the 17th Mnet Asian Music Awards, and was the best-performing single of 2015 in South Korea according to the Gaon Digital Chart. "D" was released in July and included "Sober" (Korean: 맨정신; Revised Romanization: "Maenjeongsin") and "If You". "If You" landed on "Billboard"'s World Digital Chart at number two and topped the Gaon Digital Chart, while "Sober" charted at number two in their home country. The consecutive monthly releases concluded with "E" in August, with the songs "Zutter" featuring the sub-unit of GD & TOP, and "Let's Not Fall in Love" The latter peaked at number one on the Gaon Digital Chart and on "Billboard"s World Digital Songs chart.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: To promote their singles, Big Bang embarked on their second world tour which received positive reviews and was commercially successful. Kicking off with two shows in Seoul on April 25 and 26, the tour gathered 1.5 million fans around the world, making it the largest tour by any Korean act. By the end of the year, Big Bang had earned over ₩150 billion (US$120 million). Despite the commercial success of the singles, the release of the full album was postponed to add new songs to the album and for the group to rest after four months of promotions. Big Bang continued touring into 2016 for their Made V.I.P Tour, visiting China, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and the United States. The group was the highest earning artist of 2016 in Mainland China based on concert revenue, by earning US$70.3 million, accounting for 70% of the entire total box office of South Korean artists in China for the year. In April and May, they toured Japan for their Fantastic Babys Tour, meeting 280,000 fans.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Several projects were launched to commemorate the group's 10th anniversary. The first was the documentary film "Big Bang Made", which followed the group through their Made Tour in 2015, released on June 30, 2016. The band held a 10th anniversary concert tour, 0.TO.10, from July 2016 to January 2017, which included sold-out stadium shows at Yanmar Stadium Nagai in Osaka, Japan and at Seoul World Cup Stadium in Seoul, South Korea. The tour drew 781,500 attendees from 16 concerts in Japan, and made Big Bang the act with the biggest concert mobilization power for the year in Japan, the first time a foreign act has topped the list. Overall, they gathered a 1.1 million attendance for the tour. The band also held an art exhibition, titled "A TO Z", to showcase the history of the group as well as to celebrate a decade with their fans. The exhibition ran from August 5 to October 30 at the S-Factory in Seoul. The exhibition travelled to Taipei, Taiwan from June 24 to August 22 in 2017.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: After a year of delay, "Made" was released in December 2016. Two singles were announced for the release: "Fxxk It", and "Last Dance". The two songs, along with "Girlfriend", took the three top places on the Gaon Digital Chart, selling over one million digital copies combined in five days. The same songs peaked at number 2, 3 and 4 on the "Billboard" World Digital Songs chart, selling 13,000 copies combined. The digital version of "Made" sold over 1 million digital copies on QQ Music, Kugou, and Kuwo, China's three major music platforms in a day. The album debuted at No. 172 on the United States "Billboard" 200 with 6,000 equivalent album units, 4,000 of which were in traditional album sales, earning the band their second entry on the chart. They also debuted at no. 1 on the World Albums chart and the Heatseekers Albums chart. In their home country, South Korea, the physical version of the album topped the Gaon Albums chart. Two final concerts were held at Gocheok Sky Dome in January 2017 to wrap up their 10th anniversary tour and "Made"'s promotional activities.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: As per South Korea's mandatory military service requirement, T.O.P. enlisted for his two-year service on February 9, 2017, as a conscripted policeman. The remaining members continued promotions without him, holding their fifth annual Japanese dome tour, the Last Dance Tour, in November with 14 concerts in four cities with an attendance of 696,000 fans. The two final shows of the tour were also held at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul on December 30 and 31. In 2017, YG Entertainment released a reality program starring the group named "Run, Big Bang Scout!" through YouTube Red, which was the service's first original content to be produced in a country outside of the United States. The first episode of the program was free-released and has gathered over 12.7 million views on YouTube. The following year, the remaining members began their enlistment: G-Dragon on February 27, Taeyang on March 12, and Daesung on March 13, 2018. Seungri was initially announced to enlist on March 25, 2019. The single, "Flower Road", was released on March 13, 2018, as a goodbye to their fans. "Flower Road" set a record in China, reaching over a million sales in 3 days and 14 hours, the shortest amount of time for a Korean artist. The song also topped "Billboard"'s World Digital Songs Chart, and the Gaon Digital Chart, where the song recorded the highest digital index of the year thus far.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: On March 11, 2019, Seungri announced his retirement from the entertainment industry due to scandals surrounding the Burning Sun nightclub, resulting in his departure from Big Bang. On July 6, 2019, T.O.P was the first member to be discharged from the military. He was followed by G-Dragon on October 25, 2019. Taeyang and Daesung were discharged on November 10. On January 3, 2020, it was announced that Big Bang would be performing at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which would have marked their first performance as a group in three years. In March, despite reports suggesting otherwise, all four members renewed their contracts with YG Entertainment and were preparing for a comeback that was eventually delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: On February 7, 2022, YG Entertainment announced Big Bang will return with a digital single in spring. They also announced that T.O.P has ended his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment, although he will still participate in group activities. The group released a new single titled "Still Life" on April 5, their comeback in four years and their first as a quartet. "Still Life" debuted at number one on the South Korea Gaon Digital Chart, making it Big Bang 11th number-one song, a record for any group in history of the chart. From only three and half days tracking, the single also reached top 10 on "Billboard"'s Global 200 and Global Excluding US charts, becoming the third Korean act to do so. The single debuted at number one on the Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam Singles Charts, number three on Taiwan Singles Chart and Australia Hitseekers Singles becoming their first entry on the countries. As well debuting in top 100 in multiple countries including Indonesia, New Zealand, Netherlands, Hungary, Japan, UK and Canada.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang have been praised for their musical individuality and ability to fuse a pop sound with rap, R&B and dance elements. They are known for experimentalism and for a "dominating style of music that surpasses genre boundaries". During the early days of their career, Big Bang's music was predominantly hip hop and pop rap, although they incorporated R&B songs into their albums as well. A writer for Yahoo! Japan once compared their early materials to that of American hip-hop artists such as The Black Eyed Peas, stating that their songs included "catchy vocals, [...] rap and characters". The song "Ma Girl", Taeyang's first solo from the group's first album, was described as "[s]mooth, sexy and bass-heavy" and reminiscent of Omarion. Similarly, Seungri's first solo from the same album, "Next Day", was stated to have an "intense '90s Usher vibes".


title: Big Bang (band)

text: The group's first EP "Always" (2007) was a sonic departure from their previous efforts, experimenting for the first time with electronic dance music and setting it as the new musical trend in Korea. From their EP "Hot Issue" (2007), the "shibuya-kei-influenced" track "Fool" contained a "heavy dance beat paired with a smooth disco coating." "Haru Haru" from "Stand Up (2008)" was admired for "weaving in and out of tempos seamlessly and forcing a sense of anxiety on the listener through the beating undercurrent" and hailed as an "experiential masterpiece". They also collaborated with the Korean rock-band No Brain on the rock song "Oh My Friend". "Alive" (2012) showcased more of the group's raw voices over their usual autotune with "a mature kind of intensity"; its tracks further expanded the group's diverse genre experimentation portfolio. Lead single "Blue" was distinguished for its "more interesting electronic samples and production techniques", "Bad Boy" was described as a "nostalgic" and "perfect pop song" that "transcends language", and "Monster" was praised for its mournful vocals and orchestral sound.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: On their "career-exemplifying" third album "Made" (2016), the group mixed a variety of electronic music with soft rock. "Loser" was cited for "introduc[ing] a more mature style" to Big Bang's discography "without losing the images they had enforced through previous releases", while "Bang Bang Bang" was noted for its modern EDM-inspired sound. The "boundary-pushing elements" of "Bae Bae" helped popularize the trap genre in K-pop. "Let's Not Fall in Love" focused on the group's less-seen "tender" side with a "lush" production that "evokes a range of emotions". "Girlfriend" was a "mellow hip-hop throwback to the group's early days".


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Since members of the band have also experimented widely with other genres on solo projects, the group has been described as "rich in variety". Taeyang's EP "Hot" was mainly a collection of R&B songs, the singer naming the genre his "main focus". Daesung's first digital single, "Look at Me, GwiSoon" was a trot song, which drew criticism due to Big Bang's image as "hip-hop artists". On his debut album "Heartbreaker", G-Dragon incorporated dance, hip-hop, and R&B. Justin McCurry from "The Guardian" stated, "Each of the five members has his own individual look, and their musical range is equally eclectic, covering R&B, hip-hop, house, electro and pop." Big Bang have been described as "artistic superheroes" for their "versatility and success in whatever they do". Their continued experimentation with a diverse range of musical styles and their distinct personalities have been highlighted as some of the main reasons for their popularity and longevity. "The Chosun Ilbo" explained that their "strong lead among idol groups" was a result of the quality of their music, noting that "whenever Big Bang promotes new songs, they want to introduce something new and tell us new stories." Internationally, however, Big Bang is often referred to as a "K-pop" group, a label they do not appreciate. G-Dragon commented, "We are Korean, so obviously they call our music K-pop. But we never thought of our music as K-pop. Our music is just our music." T.O.P also disagreed with the "K-pop" label, opining that "[y]ou don't divide pop music by who's doing it. We don't say, for instance, 'white pop' when white people make music."


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang are known for maintaining tight control over their music, heavily involving themselves in songwriting and record production since their debut, unlike many Korean idol groups. As leader, G-Dragon has had a central role in producing almost their entire discography across a ten-year span and was credited as the main songwriter for the group's earlier hits such as "Lies", "Last Farewell", and "Haru Haru". The single "Last Dance" was written collaboratively by G-Dragon, T.O.P, and Taeyang and co-produced by G-Dragon.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Recurring concepts in Big Bang's lyrics are love and relationships. In "Bingle Bingle", the protagonist pleads to his lover to take the next step in their relationship. In contrast, "Let's Not Fall in Love" halts the growth of a new relationship, depicting hesitation toward opening up to someone. Big Bang's songs have covered other themes as well, ranging from mature to personal. "Fantastic Baby" and "Bang Bang Bang" are often categorized as club music due to their lyrical content, the former described as having an "anarchistic" theme, and the latter being dubbed the "party anthem of 2015". The use of vulgarity in "Fxxk It" was seen as evidence of the members' growth, and the lyrics of "Bae Bae" were also noted for their sexual metaphors. On the other hand, their song "Loser" attempted to "humanize the group" by discussing their flaws, "Sober" talks about chasing one's dream, and "Last Dance" is an ode to the band's time together.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: G-Dragon's contributions to the group's musical output were praised by "The Korea Times", who described him as a "genius singer-songwriter". The rapper himself describes Big Bang as "an idol group not born of talent but through effort." A writer for Yahoo! Japan complimented the group for their involvement in their own work, stating that "perhaps by contributing to their own materials, not only do they become in sync with one another, but each person's personality stands out."


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang have been praised for their live performances, stage presence, and choreographies. Early in their career, the group was choreographed by Seungri and frequent collaborator Shaun Evaristo. Although they once relied heavily on street dancing for their moves, they have since used other styles of choreography. One of the moves from their debut single "La La La", involving the group lifting their shirts to expose their abdomens, quickly gained popularity online and became one of the top searches on the internet. The choreography for "Last Farewell", in which a particular move mimics "jump roping", also gained widespread domestic attention. The choreography for "Bang Bang Bang" by Parris Goebel was one of the most popular dances of 2015. The group's use of props during performances—including "an abundance of pyrotechnics, streamers[,] confetti", LED lights, fog, as well as digitalized "fire-breathing dragons and a rotor-spinning helicopter"—has been well received by critics.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Their unique stage fashion and hairstyles has also been highlighted. Fuse TV noted that "their outfits are almost as entertaining as their performances." The group initially adopted the "hip-hop" concept for their debut. However, the release of "Always" in 2007 marked a change in image, with the group leaning towards a more preppy-punk style. Their skinny jeans and Converse shoes trended widely in South Korea, and Taeyang received attention trading his cornrows for a faux hawk. Big Bang also wore custom-printed hoodies for many of their performances and music videos and have been seen in brands such as Bape, 10 deep, Louis Vuitton, Jeremy Scott, and Phenomenon. The group was also credited for bringing back "old school" fashion into the mainstream, popularizing high-top sneakers from brands such as Nike and Reebok. Described as the "most fashionable" one in the group, G-Dragon famously wore triangular scarves that were later nicknamed "Big Bang scarves" during promotions for the single "Lies". T.O.P also became known for wearing sunglasses during performances.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: In a review of their world tour, "The Muse" admired the group for playing every song like it was the last and for their precision delivery and individual strengths. At the peak of popularity of Psy's "Gangnam Style", "The New York Times" journalist Jon Caramanica noted how Big Bang's concert in New Jersey was the "true wild heart of K-pop" as opposed to Psy, highlighting their brightly colored costumes, choreography, and stage presence. In 2012, they ranked first in the Philippines's Top 3 Mall of Asia Arena concerts, and their concert in Lima was named the best in South America for the year. When compared to western artists such as Justin Bieber and One Direction, Big Bang's performances were noted for having their "edges [...] crisper, the sound louder, the dancing sharper". Their Alive Tour show at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey was ranked second on the "New York Times"' list of the best concerts in 2012. In March 2012, Krista Mahr from "Time" magazine praised the group's concert at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, describing them as "K-pop gods" for their stage presence. Big Bang's Made World Tour in 2015 was also a critical and commercial success, the "Los Angeles Times" calling their Anaheim show an "incredibly significant moment for K-Pop", praising the diversity of their songs and performances and noting how the concert "escalated the craft of live K-Pop — which sometimes doesn't live up to the overwhelming enthusiasm of its fans — into a sleeker and more adventurous kind of arena spectacular." Including the group in their list of best concerts of the year for the second time, "The New York Times" noted how the "electric, sleek and dizzyingly busy concert by one of South Korea's most vital K-pop acts made even its biggest American counterparts look like rank amateurs."


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang is responsible for more than half of all albums sold by the label in Korea from 2014 to 2017, before their hiatus due to military enlistment. They were the first Korean mainstream hip hop idols, credited for helping popularize the genre throughout Asia as one of the driving forces behind the Hallyu Wave. "The Korea Times" called Big Bang "the icons of Korean pop [music]" and stating that G-Dragon's rise to one of the most accomplished songwriters in K-pop "has inspired many young idol-wannabes to become singer-songwriters." "Yonhap News Agency" noted that the group helped “spread K-pop as a cultural brand spanning the U.S., Europe, Latin America and the Middle East." In 2011, the BBC declared that "K-pop bands, including Big Bang, are making their mark around the world", specifically citing the group's contribution to YG Entertainment's economic growth. After the group won the 2011 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Worldwide Act, Google announced that its subsidiary YouTube would launch its own channel for K-pop music in recognition of its popularity and success. British newspaper "The Guardian" also discussed how the win had "shed light on the rise of Korean music across Europe". Jacques Peterson from "The Sydney Morning Herald" attributed Big Bang's success to giving a "idiosyncratic twist" on genres that breaks the mould of the idol group formula. Suk Park, the president of DramaFever, hailed them as the vanguard of K-pop. "The Michigan Daily" have described Big Bang as a rare group that "both innovates and defines the direction a genre takes", affirming that the group and its members "have left a musical imprint that has affected the global music market." Seoul-based entertainment journalist Mark James Russell praised the group for defying categorization, stating how "[o]f all the mainstream acts, they’re doing the most to push boundaries of what is considered K-pop." Anna Fifield from "The Washington Post" claimed that they "have defined and redefined South Korean pop music. They've defied the idea that so-called K-Pop is inevitably sugarcoated and factory-produced, and that boy bands are all about pretty faces and lip-synching." "Los Angeles Times" praised Big Bang's constant sonic and image reinvention, calling the group as "one of the most inventive, aesthetically visionary acts in its genre." In an article commemorating Big Bang's tenth anniversary, "Billboard" stated that "no act has enthralled the Korean music world in the past decade quite like Big Bang" and later adding that they have "shaped the Korean music industry" and were enabled to "surpass international boundaries and shirk off the limitations of K-pop's youth-focused industry."


title: Big Bang (band)

text: In recognition of their global popularity, Big Bang are a prominent face of South Korean tourism. Their Big Show concerts were promoted by the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Visit Korea Committee from 2010 to 2012 due to the group's "big economic impact on the country." In 2014, Korea Post honored Big Bang by releasing official postage stamps containing images of the group. In 2016, they were chosen as ambassadors for the country's "Creative Korea" tourism campaign and ranked second on "Time" magazine's reader polls for Most Influential People in the World, behind only American politician Bernie Sanders. The same year, "Forbes" listed the group at number 54 on their annual list of "Celebrity 100", having earned $44 million from June 2015 to June 2016 and becoming the first Korean act to appear on the list; the group had the third highest annual earnings ever for a boy band, behind only One Direction and Backstreet Boys. Big Bang was named one of the most influential artists of the Hallyu Wave by "The Korea Herald" and among the acts that best represent K-pop, as well as the "Top Male Idol Group in the Past 20 Years" in "Dong-a Ilbo's" survey of both the Korean public and music critics. Additionally, Big Bang were the highest ranking musicians in "JoongAng Ilbo"'s "Most Powerful Figures In Korean Entertainment" list, placing fourth. In 2017, they became the first Korean artists to be included on "Forbes" 30 Under 30 list of musicians. Singles released by the group such as "Lies" and "Fantastic Baby" are often considered some of K-pop's biggests hits and most iconic songs. In their list of "The 21 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time", "Spin" magazine ranks "Bad Boy" at number thirteen and "High High" by the duo GD & TOP at number seven. "Fantastic Baby" ranked at number twenty-two on "Rolling Stone"'s "50 Greatest Boy Band Songs of All Time" list. It placed second on "Stereogum"'s list of "Best K-pop Videos", with "Love Song" at thirteenth. "Lies" was also chosen as the "Song of the Decade" by Mnet's "M! Countdown" in 2014 and voted the "Top Male Idol Song in the Past 20 Years" in a "Dong-a Ilbo" survey that also ranked "Bae Bae", "Fantastic Baby" and "Haru Haru" at fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. "Fantastic Baby" was included in "The 100 Greatest Music Videos of the 2010s" by "Billboard", which deemed the song one of K-pop's most impactful videos of all time. "Bad Boy", "Bae Bae" and "Fantastic Baby" were listed at eighth, 40th and 65th, respectively on "Billboard"'s "The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s".


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang's music has influenced numerous artists, including BTS, Pixie Lott, A*M*E, Cho PD, Got7, Astro, Teen Top, Monsta X, Chang Kiha, SF9, Victon, Dynamic Duo, Zion T., Sonamoo, Topp Dogg, Nu'est, Mamamoo's Hwasa, Loona's Vivi, Secret Number's Jinny, Block B's U-Kwon, iKon, Blackpink, Sơn Tùng M-TP and Grimes. Chinese boy band OkBang was specifically fashioned after Big Bang and was described as having "many similarities to Big Bang in terms of musical style, wardrobe and hairstyles." Filipino singer-actress Glaiza de Castro also draws inspiration from Big Bang and their stage presence. Rapper BewhY, the winner of "Show Me the Money 5", revealed that he started rapping after listening to Big Bang, while IU started gaining domestic popularity after covering songs by the group.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Big Bang's influence extends beyond the music industry, having shaped major fashion international trends. Dubbed "Big Bang fashion", their style has been followed extensively throughout Asia and made them into a cultural phenomenon in South Korea. The clothes that members wore on stage were often copied and sold at Dongdaemun Market. In 2011, Big Bang collaborated with Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo to create a line of T-shirts that quickly sold out. "The Chicago Sun-Times" called the members "the most daring, dapper dressers in the world" and praised their style as "bold, innovative and trend-setting". Their impact on the Korean fashion industry was highlighted in "Vogue Korea"'s exhibition in Seoul.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: The group has released multiple hit songs, the Gaon Chart reporting that music consumers have learned to trust the group's quality and calling them a "phenomenon" because their material is "consumed evenly by a variety of age groups." Big Bang won several Song of the Year awards at numerous award shows, including at the 13th Korean Music Awards for "Bae Bae" and at the 30th Golden Disc Awards for "Loser". They were crowned Artist of the Year at the 17th Seoul Music Awards in 2008 and at the 7th Melon Music Awards in 2015 and became the first artist to win more than one Artist of the Year Award from the Mnet Asian Music Awards (2008, 2012, and 2015). The group also won multiple Best New Artist awards in the early days of their career in Japan. They became the first and only Korean act to win at the MTV Italian Music Awards, when they took home the Best Artist from the World award in 2016. The group has been honored as the Most Influential Group in Asia at the 5th Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards and with a Special Achievement award at the 58th Japan Record Awards.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: The group's albums "Hot Issue" (2007), "Stand Up" (2008), "Remember" (2008), "Tonight" (2011) and "Alive" (2012) were also cited as some of the most successful digital albums in history. In 2014, the tenth anniversary of the digital music market release in South Korea, Big Bang was revealed to be the act with the second-most digital number one songs in history. With the "Made" singles in 2015, they became the first. Their breakthrough hit was 2007's "Lies", the first song to spend over 50 weeks on the Melon Chart, including 22 weeks in the Top 10; it remained in the top 100 for over 54 weeks. Their follow-up single "Last Farewell" tied the all-time record for the most weeks spent at number one on Melon, topping the chart for eight consecutive weeks. In 2011, Big Bang reached the top of Cyworld's Hall of Fame, making them the best selling artist of all time on the chart. "Tonight" became the first K-pop album to reach the Top 10 on the US iTunes chart. In 2015, they became the first act to have three songs in the top five of the Gaon Digital Year End Chart, as well as the first act to hold the first and second spots simultaneously in the same year. They also became the first act to top the Gaon Digital Chart for four consecutive months. Their third studio album "Made" (2016) was certified Diamond by the Chinese music service QQ Music and became one of the best-selling albums of all time in China. In 2016, "Lies" and "Haru Haru" were, respectively, the second and the fifth most downloaded songs in South Korea since 2006. They also became the first Korean act to have nine music videos exceed 100 million YouTube views, and the music video for "Fantastic Baby" became the first by a K-pop group to surpass 300 million views on YouTube.


title: Big Bang (band)

text: Their first world tour set the record for highest ticket sales in Taiwan, while their London shows gathered the largest crowd for a K-pop concert held in the UK. Their Japan Dome Tour in 2013 was the highest-grossing tour by a foreign act in Japan. Additionally, their Made World Tour, the most attended tour headlined by a Korean act in history, broke several records at the time, including those the most viewed online K-pop concert in history, the first foreign act to hold a Japanese dome tour for three consecutive years, the only foreign act to hold three concerts in a row at the Shanghai Arena, the first Korean act to hold a two-day concert in Kuala Lumpur, the largest K-pop arena tour in United States history, the first foreign act to sell out three concerts in Hong Kong on two separate occasions, one of the most expensive concerts in Malaysian history, the largest tour in China by any Korean act, and the biggest K-pop concert staged in Canada. Behind-the-scenes footage from the tour was documented in their first film, "Big Bang Made", which became the most viewed music documentary in Korea. Their tenth anniversary concert at the Seoul World Cup Stadium was attended by 65,000 people, the biggest audience ever for a single headlining act in the country. With their Last Dance Tour in 2017, Big Bang became the first foreign act to hold a Japanese dome tour for five consecutive years.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: Zauner started the band as a side project in 2013, when she was leading the Philadelphia-based emo group Little Big League. She has said that she named the band after seeing a GIF of Japanese breakfast and deciding that the term would be considered "exotic" to Americans; she also thought it would make others wonder what a Japanese breakfast consists of.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: In 2014, she returned to her hometown of Eugene, Oregon, to care for her ailing mother. She continued to record music and songs, first to cope with stress, then, after her mother died, with grief. The songs eventually became Japanese Breakfast's debut studio album: "Psychopomp" (2016), released by Yellow K Records. Its critical and commercial success led Japanese Breakfast to sign with the record label Dead Oceans, which released the band's second and third studio albums: "Soft Sounds from Another Planet" (2017) and "Jubilee" (2021). "Jubilee" was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album and Japanese Breakfast for Best New Artist at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards and became the band's first album to chart on the "Billboard" 200, where it peaked at 56.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: The first Japanese Breakfast release was "June" (2013), the result of a month-long project in which Zauner and Rachel Gagliardi recorded one song a day and posted them on the Tumblr blog rachelandmichelledojune.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: In 2014, Zauner participated as Japanese Breakfast in a song project with musicians Gabrielle Smith, Florist, Frankie Cosmos, and Small Wonder, who posted songs daily on the Tumblr blog may5to12songs. She released her songs from the project on Bandcamp as two digital albums: "Where Is My Great Big Feeling?", released on June 6; and "American Sound" on June 24. Both were released weeks later as the cassette tape "American Sound/Where Is My Great Big Feeling".


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: While in Oregon with her family in 2014, Zauner continued recording as Japanese Breakfast, starting with samples of music as a meditative exercise and "instant gratification". She said she had more to say after "Tropical Jinx", the 2014 studio album by her emo group Little Big League.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: In 2015, while working at an advertising agency, Zauner recorded her first studio album as Japanese Breakfast: "Psychopomp," named for the mythological creature. She said her "dark and heavy-handed" record dealt with her mother's death, although she tried to make the music urgent and "sonically upbeat." The album's rollout on Yellow K Records began in January 2016 with the release of the single "In Heaven" via Stereogum. A music video was released; it is no longer available on YouTube. A second single, titled "Everybody Wants to Love You" was released on February 18, 2016, and the album itself was released on April 1, 2016. Around this time, Japanese Breakfast signed with Dead Oceans, which on June 23, 2016, announced the signing and said "Psychopomp" would be re-released internationally. To promote the album, the band released music videos for the songs "Jane Cum" and "Everybody Wants to Love You" and opened for Japanese-American singer-songwriter Mitski alongside American musician Jay Som. "Everybody Wants to Love You" was later ranked as the 154th best song of the 2010s decade by Quinn Moreland of Pitchfork.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: On May 4, 2017, Japanese Breakfast released the single "Machinist" and announced the upcoming release of a second studio album, "Soft Sounds from Another Planet", whose lyrics are largely concerned with Zauner's detachment and trauma. The music video for "Machinist", directed by Zauner in collaboration with Adam Kolodny, stars Zauner as a woman who falls in love with a robot and tears apart her spaceship trying to build a body for it. The song "Boyish" was released as a single on June 7, 2017. A third single from the album, "Road Head", was released on July 6, 2017. The full album was released on July 14, 2017. To promote the album, the band released a video game, "Japanese BreakQuest", in which the main character, "J-Brekkie", gathers a band to prevent an alien invasion. The game was developed by Zauner and game designer Elaine Fath, and uses songs from the album, rendered as 8-bit MIDI tracks by Peter Bradley. To support the album, Japanese Breakfast toured Oceania, Asia and North America from 2017 to 2019. Along the way, the band opened for English shoegaze band Slowdive, American musician (Sandy) Alex G, and Canadian duo Tegan and Sara.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: On October 19, 2017, a music video for "Body is a Blade" was released. It was animated using old family photographs and video of Zauner visiting locations from the photos. She described it as "a really personal mixed media piece, almost like a moving scrapbook". On February 13, 2018, the music video for "Boyish" was released. It depicts a girl going to a high school dance, where Zauner and her band, accompanied by fellow indie musician Leslie Bear, are playing a set. The video also features a cameo appearance by musician Lindsey Jordan and was directed by Zauner, who at the time of its release described it as her "favorite video yet" and has retrospectively considered it to be her "magnum opus".


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: In 2018, indie game developer Shedworks sent Zauner preliminary images from their video game "Sable" and commissioned her to write its soundtrack. Unlike the pop songs she writes for Japanese Breakfast, the Sable soundtrack is mostly ambient music"." Zauner took inspiration from other game soundtracks, notably the soundtracks to the Final Fantasy games, "Secret of Mana" (1993), "Chrono Cross" (1999) and two games in The Legend of Zelda series: "Majora's Mask" (2000) and "Breath of the Wild" (2017). Her commission was announced during E3 2018. The game was to be released in 2019, but was delayed twice. In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Zauner began reworking the songs after playing updated versions of the game. The game and its soundtrack were released on September 23, 2021.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: In 2019, Japanese Breakfast released two singles under the W Hotels music label: "Essentially" and a cover of the Tears for Fears song "Head over Heels." Zauner recorded the singles in Bali, which she described as a "glamorous change" because she had typically recorded in "cold studios." Proceeds from the latter single were donated to the American Civil Liberties Union. That year, Zauner told "Flood Magazine" that she aimed to make a "fun album" for Japanese Breakfast's third album. This would manifest as "Jubilee", her second studio album for the Dead Oceans label"."


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: The rollout of "Jubilee" began on March 2, 2021, with the release of the album's lead single, "Be Sweet", and a video for the song. Two other singles—"Posing in Bondage" and "Savage Good Boy"—were released before the album itself dropped on June 4. Zauner said the album was inspired by joy, in contrast to earlier Japanese Breakfast albums, and that she was inspired to "go big" by Icelandic musician Björk's third album, "Homogenic" (1997). "Jubilee" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album and Japanese Breakfast for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, but lost at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards to St. Vincent's album "Daddy's Home" and to Olivia Rodrigo. On June 10, 2021, a cover by Japanese Breakfast of the song "Be Sweet" in the fictional Simlish language was released for the eleventh expansion pack for "The Sims 4". On August 7, Japanese Breakfast embarked on the Jubilee Tour.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: In March 2022, Japanese Breakfast announced that they would open for English indie rock band Florence and the Machine and American indie rock bands the National and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: In mid-2022, Japanese Breakfast and Chicago-based Goose Island Brewery teamed up to produce a limited-edition lager named "Be Sweet" after the song. The beer was sold at the Pitchfork Music Festival in July 2022; proceeds were donated to Heart of Dinner, a charity that helps elderly Asian-Americans who struggle with food insecurity in New York City.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: Japanese Breakfast's sound has primarily been described as indie pop containing elements of experimental pop, lo-fi, dream pop and indie rock. The band's early releases, including "Psychopomp", have been described as lo-fi. The band's second album, "Soft Sounds from Another Planet", has primarily been labeled as an indie pop album with elements of shoegaze and experimental pop. "Jubilee" was also considered to be an indie pop album, with elements of indie rock, shoegaze, and chamber pop.


title: Japanese Breakfast

text: The band has re-recorded and re-released at least two songs to give them wider audiences: "Boyish", on "Soft Sounds," was originally released as "Day 6" on "June"; and "In Hell", on "Jubilee," was originally a bonus track on the Japanese deluxe edition of "Soft Sounds".


title: Gdańsk

text: Gdańsk ( , ; ; ; , ) is a city on the Baltic coast of northern Poland. With a population of 470,621, Gdańsk is the capital and largest city of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. It is Poland's principal seaport and the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.


title: Gdańsk

text: The city lies at the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay, close to the city of Gdynia and resort town of Sopot; these form a metropolitan area called the Tricity ("Trójmiasto"), with a population of approximately 1.5 million. Gdańsk lies at the mouth of the Motława River, connected to the Leniwka, a branch in the delta of the Vistula River, which connects Gdańsk with the Polish capital Warsaw.


title: Gdańsk

text: The city's history is complex, with periods of Polish, Prussian and German rule, and autonomy as the Free City of Danzig. An important shipbuilding and trade port since the Middle Ages, in 1361 it became a member of the Hanseatic League which defined its economic, demographic and urban landscape for several centuries. In 16th century, Gdańsk experienced its Golden Age and thanks to its grain exports became one of the wealthiest cities in Europe. From 1918 to 1939, Gdańsk lay in the disputed Polish Corridor between Poland and Germany; its ambiguous political status created tensions that culminated in the Invasion of Poland and the first clash of the Second World War at nearby Westerplatte. The contemporary city was shaped by extensive border changes, expulsions and new settlement after 1945. In the 1980s, Gdańsk was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement, which played a major role in bringing an end to Communism in Poland and helped precipitate the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact. In 2012, the city was one of the host cities of UEFA Euro 2012 jointly held by Poland and Ukraine.


title: Gdańsk

text: Gdańsk is home to the University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk University of Technology, the National Museum, the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, the Museum of the Second World War, the Polish Baltic Philharmonic and the European Solidarity Centre. Among Gdańsk's most notable historical landmarks are the Town Hall, the Green Gate, Artus Court, Neptune's Fountain, and St. Mary's Church, one of the largest brick churches in the world. The city is served by Gdańsk Lech Wałęsa Airport, the country's third busiest airport and the most important international airport in northern Poland. Companies headquartered in Gdańsk include energy provider Energa SA and clothing retailer LPP.


title: Gdańsk

text: Gdańsk is among the most visited cities in Poland receiving 3.4 million tourists per year. The city also hosts St. Dominic's Fair, which dates back to 1260, and is regarded as one of the biggest trade and cultural events in Europe. Gdańsk has also topped rankings for the quality of life, safety and living standards worldwide, and its historic city center has been listed as one of Poland's national monuments. Nearby sights include Malbork Castle, the Kashubian Lake District, Hel Peninsula and the resort town of Sopot.


title: Gdańsk

text: There are countless theories as to the origin of the city's name, with some being the subject of speculation. It is likely that the name was derived from "Gdania", a river presently known as Motława on which the city is situated.


title: Gdańsk

text: Linguists argue that the name stems from the Proto-Slavic adjective/prefix "gъd-", which meant wet or moist with the addition of the morpheme "ń"/"ni" and the suffix "-sk". Conrad Celtes and Johann Uphagen believed that the appellation was given to the settlement by the Germanic Goths. Other scholars from the 19th century claimed that the name originated from the expression "ku Dansk", which meant "to/towards Denmark".


title: Gdańsk

text: The name of the settlement was recorded after St. Adalbert's death in 997 CE as "urbs Gyddanyzc" and it was later written as "Kdanzk" in 1148, "Gdanzc" in 1188, "Danceke" in 1228, "Gdańsk" in 1236, "Danzc" in 1263, "Danczk" in 1311, "Danczik" in 1399, "Danczig " in 1414, "Gdąnsk" in 1656. In Polish the modern name of the city is pronounced . In English (where the diacritic over the "n" is frequently omitted) the usual pronunciation is or . The German name, "Danzig", is pronounced . The city's Latin name may be given as either "Gedania", "Gedanum", or "Dantiscum"; the variety of Latin names reflects the mixed influence of the city's Polish, German and Kashubian heritage. Other former spellings of the name include "Dantzig", "Dantsic", and "Dantzic".


title: Gdańsk

text: On special occasions the city is also referred to as "The Royal Polish City of Gdańsk" (Polish: "Królewskie Polskie Miasto Gdańsk", Latin: "Regia Civitas Polonica Gedanensis", Kashubian: "Królewsczi Polsczi Gard Gduńsk"). In the Kashubian language the city is called . Although some Kashubians may also use the name "Our Capital City Gduńsk" ("Nasz Stoleczny Gard Gduńsk") or "The Kashubian Capital City Gduńsk" ("Stoleczny Kaszëbsczi Gard Gduńsk"), the cultural and historical connections between the city and the region of Kashubia are debatable and use of such names rises controversy among Kashubians.


title: Gdańsk

text: The oldest evidence found for the existence of a settlement on the lands of what is now Gdańsk comes from the Bronze Age (which is estimated to be from 2500–1700 BC). The settlement that is now known as Gdańsk began in the 9th century, being mostly an agriculture and fishing-dependent village. In the beginning of the 10th century, it began becoming an important centre for trade (especially between the Pomeranians) until its annexation in 975 by Mieszko I.


title: Gdańsk

text: The first written record thought to refer to Gdańsk is the "vita" of Saint Adalbert. Written in 999, it describes how in 997 Saint Adalbert of Prague baptised the inhabitants of "urbs Gyddannyzc", "which separated the great realm of the duke [i.e., Bolesław the Brave of Poland] from the sea." No further written sources exist for the 10th and 11th centuries. Based on the date in Adalbert's "vita", the city celebrated its millennial anniversary in 1997.


title: Gdańsk

text: Archaeological evidence for the origins of the town was retrieved mostly after World War II had laid 90percent of the city centre in ruins, enabling excavations. The oldest seventeen settlement levels were dated to between 980 and 1308. Mieszko I of Poland erected a stronghold on the site in the 980s, thereby connecting the Polish state ruled by the Piast dynasty with the trade routes of the Baltic Sea. Traces of buildings and housing from the 10th century have been found in archaeological excavations of the city.


title: Gdańsk

text: The site was ruled as a duchy of Poland by the Samborides. It consisted of a settlement at the modern Long Market, settlements of craftsmen along the "Old Ditch", German merchant settlements around "St Nicholas's" church and the old Piast stronghold. In 1186, a Cistercian monastery was set up in nearby Oliwa, which is now within the city limits. In 1215, the ducal stronghold became the centre of a Pomerelian splinter duchy. At that time the area of the later city included various villages. From at least 1224/25 a German market settlement with merchants from Lübeck existed in the area of today's Long Market.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1224/25, merchants from Lübeck were invited as "hospites" (immigrants with specific privileges) but were soon (in 1238) forced to leave by Swantopolk II of the Samborides during a war between Swantopolk and the Teutonic Knights, during which Lübeck supported the latter. Migration of merchants to the town resumed in 1257. Significant German influence did not reappear until the 14th century, after the takeover of the city by the Teutonic Knights.


title: Gdańsk

text: At latest in 1263 Pomerelian duke, Swantopolk II. granted city rights under Lübeck law to the emerging market settlement. It was an autonomy charter similar to that of Lübeck, which was also the primary origin of many settlers. In a document of 1271 the Pomerelian duke Mestwin II addressed the Lübeck merchants settled in the city as his loyal citizens from Germany.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1300, the town had an estimated population of 2,000. While overall the town was far from an important trade centre at that time, it had some relevance in the trade with Eastern Europe. Low on funds, the Samborides lent the settlement to Brandenburg, although they planned to take the city back and give it to Poland. Poland threatened to intervene, and the Brandenburgians left the town. Subsequently, the city was taken by Danish princes in 1301.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1308, the town was taken by Brandenburg and the Teutonic Knights restored order. Subsequently, the Knights took over control of the town. Primary sources record a massacre carried out by the Teutonic Knights against the local population, of 10,000 people, but the exact number killed is subject of dispute in modern scholarship. Multiple authors accept the number given in the original sources, while others consider 10,000 to have been a medieval exaggeration, although scholarly consensus is that a massacre of some magnitude did take place. The events were used by the Polish crown to condemn the Teutonic Knights in a subsequent papal lawsuit.


title: Gdańsk

text: The knights colonized the area, replacing local Kashubians and Poles with German settlers. In 1308, they founded "Osiek Hakelwerk" near the town, initially as a Slavic fishing settlement. In 1340, the Teutonic Knights constructed a large fortress, which became the seat of the knights' Komtur. In 1346 they changed the Town Law of the city, which then consisted only of the "Rechtstadt", to Kulm law. In 1358, Danzig joined the Hanseatic League, and became an active member in 1361. It maintained relations with the trade centres Bruges, Novgorod, Lisboa, and Sevilla. Around 1377, the Old Town was equipped with city rights as well. In 1380, the "New Town" was founded as the third, independent settlement.


title: Gdańsk

text: After a series of Polish-Teutonic Wars, in the Treaty of Kalisz (1343) the Order had to acknowledge that it would hold Pomerelia as a fief from the Polish Crown. Although it left the legal basis of the Order's possession of the province in some doubt, the city thrived as a result of increased exports of grain (especially wheat), timber, potash, tar, and other goods of forestry from Prussia and Poland via the Vistula River trading routes, although after its capture, the Teutonic Knights tried to actively reduce the economic significance of the town. While under the control of the Teutonic Order German migration increased. The Order's religious networks helped to develop Danzig's literary culture. A new war broke out in 1409, culminating in the Battle of Grunwald (1410), and the city came under the control of the Kingdom of Poland. A year later, with the First Peace of Thorn, it returned to the Teutonic Order.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1440, the city participated in the foundation of the Prussian Confederation which was an organisation opposed to the rule of the Teutonic Knights. The organisation in its complaint of 1453 mentioned repeated cases in which the Teutonic Knights imprisoned or murdered local patricians and mayors without a court verdict. On the request of the organisation King Casimir IV of Poland reincorporated the territory to the Kingdom of Poland in 1454. This led to the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the State of the Teutonic Order (1454–1466). Since 1454, the city was authorized by the King to mint Polish coins. The local mayor pledged allegiance to the King during the incorporation in March 1454 in Kraków, and the city again solemnly pledged allegiance to the King in June 1454 in Elbląg, recognizing the prior Teutonic annexation and rule as unlawful. On 25 May 1457 the city gained its rights as an autonomous city.


title: Gdańsk

text: On 15 May 1457, Casimir IV of Poland granted the town the "Great Privilege", after he had been invited by the town's council and had already stayed in town for five weeks. With the "Great Privilege", the town was granted full autonomy and protection by the King of Poland. The privilege removed tariffs and taxes on trade within Poland, Lithuania, and Ruthenia (present day Belarus and Ukraine), and conferred on the town independent jurisdiction, legislation and administration of her territory, as well as the right to mint its own coin. Furthermore, the privilege united "Old Town", "Osiek", and "Main Town", and legalised the demolition of "New Town", which had sided with the Teutonic Knights. By 1457, "New Town" was demolished completely, no buildings remained.


title: Gdańsk

text: Gaining free and privileged access to Polish markets, the seaport prospered while simultaneously trading with the other Hanseatic cities. After the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) between Poland and the Teutonic Order the warfare ended permanently. After the Union of Lublin between Poland and Lithuania in 1569 the city continued to enjoy a large degree of internal autonomy (cf. Danzig law). Being the largest and one of the most influential cities of Poland, it enjoyed voting rights during the royal election period in Poland.


title: Gdańsk

text: In the 1560s and 1570s, a large Mennonite community started growing in the city, gaining significant popularity. In the 1575 election to the Polish throne, Danzig supported Maximilian II in his struggle against Stephen Báthory. It was the latter who eventually became monarch but the city, encouraged by the secret support of Denmark and Emperor Maximilian, shut its gates against Stephen. After the Siege of Danzig, lasting six months, the city's army of 5,000 mercenaries was utterly defeated in a field battle on 16 December 1577. However, since Stephen's armies were unable to take the city by force, a compromise was reached: Stephen Báthory confirmed the city's special status and her Danzig law privileges granted by earlier Polish kings. The city recognised him as ruler of Poland and paid the enormous sum of 200,000 guldens in gold as payoff ("apology").


title: Gdańsk

text: During the Polish–Swedish War of 1626–1629, in 1627, the naval Battle of Oliwa was fought near the city, and it is one of the greatest victories in the history of the Polish Navy. During the Swedish invasion of Poland of 1655–1660, commonly known as the Deluge, the city was unsuccessfully besieged by Sweden. In 1660, the war was ended with the Treaty of Oliwa, signed in the present-day district of Oliwa.


title: Gdańsk

text: Around 1640, Johannes Hevelius established his in the Old Town. Polish King John III Sobieski regularly visited Hevelius numerous times.


title: Gdańsk

text: Beside a majority of German-speakers, whose elites sometimes distinguished their German dialect as Pomerelian, the city was home to a large number of Polish-speaking Poles, Jewish Poles, Latvian-speaking Kursenieki, Flemings, and Dutch. In addition, a number of Scots took refuge or migrated to and received citizenship in the city. During the Protestant Reformation, most German-speaking inhabitants adopted Lutheranism. Due to the special status of the city and significance within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the city inhabitants largely became bi-cultural sharing both Polish and German culture and were strongly attached to the traditions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.


title: Gdańsk

text: The city suffered a last great plague and a slow economic decline due to the wars of the 18th century. As a stronghold of Stanisław Leszczyński's supporters during the War of the Polish Succession, it was taken by the Russians after the Siege of Danzig in 1734. However, by the end of the 18th century, Gdańsk was still one of the most economically integrated cities in Poland. It was well-connected and traded actively with German cities, while other Polish cities became less well-integrated towards the end of the century, mostly due to greater risks for long-distance trade, given the number of violent conflicts along the trade routes. The Danzig Research Society, which became defunct in 1936, was founded in 1743.


title: Gdańsk

text: Danzig was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia in 1793, in the Second Partition of Poland. Both the Polish and the German-speaking population largely opposed the Prussian annexation and wished the city to remain part of Poland. The mayor of the city stepped down from his office due to the annexation, and also notable city councilor Jan (Johann) Uphagen, historian and art collector, whose Baroque house is now a museum, resigned as a sign of protest against the annexation. An attempted student uprising against Prussia led by was crushed quickly by the authorities in 1797.


title: Gdańsk

text: During the Napoleonic Wars, in 1807, the city was besieged and captured by a coalition of French, Polish, Italian, Saxon, and Baden forces. Afterwards, it was a free city from 1807 to 1814, when it was captured by combined Prussian-Russian forces.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1815, after France's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars, it again became part of Prussia and became the capital of within the province of West Prussia. The city's longest serving president was Robert von Blumenthal, who held office from 1841, through the revolutions of 1848, until 1863. With the unification of Germany in 1871 under Prussian hegemony, the city became part of the German Empire and remained so until 1919, after Germany's defeat in World War I.


title: Gdańsk

text: When Poland regained its independence after World War I with access to the sea as promised by the Allies on the basis of Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points" (point 13 called for "an independent Polish state", "which should be assured a free and secure access to the sea"), the Poles hoped the city's harbour would also become part of Poland.


title: Gdańsk

text: However, in the end – since Germans formed a majority in the city, with Poles being a minority (in the 1923 census 7,896 people out of 335,921 gave Polish, Kashubian, or Masurian as their native language) – the city was not placed under Polish sovereignty. Instead, in accordance with the terms of the Versailles Treaty, it became the Free City of Danzig, an independent quasi-state under the auspices of the League of Nations with its external affairs largely under Polish control – without, however, any public vote to legitimize Germany's loss of the city.


title: Gdańsk

text: Poland's rights also included free use of the harbour, a Polish post office, a Polish garrison in Westerplatte district, and customs union with Poland. The Free City had its own constitution, national anthem, parliament, and government (). It issued its own stamps as well as its currency, the Danzig gulden.


title: Gdańsk

text: With the growth of Nazism among Germans, anti-Polish sentiment increased and both Germanisation and segregation policies intensified, in the 1930s the rights of local Poles were commonly violated and limited by the local administration. Polish children were refused admission to public Polish-language schools, premises were not allowed to be rented to Polish schools and preschools. Due to such policies, only 8 Polish-language public schools existed in the city, and Poles managed to organize 7 more private Polish schools.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1937, Poles who sent their children to private Polish schools were demanded to transfer children to German schools, under threat of police intervention, and attacks were carried out on Polish schools and Polish youth. German militias carried out numerous beatings of Polish activists, scouts, and even mailmen, as "punishment" for distributing the Polish press. German students attacked and expelled Polish students from the technical university. Dozens of Polish surnames were forcibly Germanized, while Polish symbols that reminded that for centuries Gdańsk was part of Poland were removed from the city's landmarks, such as the Artus Court and the Neptune's Fountain.


title: Gdańsk

text: From 1937, the employment of Poles by German companies was prohibited, and already employed Poles were fired, the use of Polish in public places was banned and Poles were not allowed to enter several restaurants, in particular those owned by Germans. In 1939, before the German invasion of Poland and outbreak of World War II, local Polish railwaymen were victims of beatings, and after the invasion, they were also imprisoned and murdered in concentration camps.


title: Gdańsk

text: In the early 1930s, the local Nazi Party capitalised on pro-German sentiments and in 1933 garnered 50% of vote in the parliament. Thereafter, the Nazis under Gauleiter Albert Forster achieved dominance in the city government, which was still nominally overseen by the League of Nations' High Commissioner. The German government officially demanded the return of Danzig to Germany along with an extraterritorial (meaning under German jurisdiction) highway through the area of the Polish Corridor for land-based access from the rest of Germany. Hitler used the issue of the status of the city as a pretext for attacking Poland and in May 1939, during a high-level meeting of German military officials explained to them: "It is not Danzig that is at stake. For us it is a matter of expanding our Lebensraum in the east", adding that there will be no repeat of the Czech situation, and Germany will attack Poland at first opportunity, after isolating the country from its Western Allies.


title: Gdańsk

text: After the German proposals to solve the three main issues peacefully were refused, German-Polish relations rapidly deteriorated. Germany attacked Poland on 1 September after having signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union.


title: Gdańsk

text: The German attack began in Danzig, with a bombardment of Polish positions at Westerplatte by the German battleship , and the landing of German infantry on the peninsula. Outnumbered Polish defenders at Westerplatte resisted for seven days before running out of ammunition. Meanwhile, after a fierce day-long fight (1 September 1939), defenders of the Polish Post office were tried and executed then buried on the spot in the Danzig quarter of Zaspa in October 1939. In 1998 a German court overturned their conviction and sentence.


title: Gdańsk

text: The city was officially annexed by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia. About 50 percent of members of the Jewish community had left the city within a year after a pogrom in October 1937, after the Kristallnacht riots in November 1938, the community decided to organize its emigration and in March 1939 a first transport to Palestine started. By September 1939 barely 1,700 mostly elderly Jews remained. In early 1941, just 600 Jews were still living in Danzig, most of whom were later murdered in the Holocaust.


title: Gdańsk

text: Out of the 2,938 Jewish community in the city 1,227 were able to escape from the Nazis before the outbreak of war. Nazi secret police had been observing Polish minority communities in the city since 1936, compiling information, which in 1939 served to prepare lists of Poles to be captured in Operation Tannenberg. On the first day of the war, approximately 1,500 ethnic Poles were arrested, some because of their participation in social and economic life, others because they were activists and members of various Polish organisations. On 2 September 1939, 150 of them were deported to the Sicherheitsdienst camp Stutthof some from Danzig, and murdered. Many Poles living in Danzig were deported to Stutthof or executed in the Piaśnica forest.


title: Gdańsk

text: During the war, the Germans operated a Nazi prison in the city, an "Einsatzgruppen"-operated penal camp, a camp for Romani people, and several subcamps of the Stutthof concentration camp within the present-day city limits.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1941, Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union, eventually causing the fortunes of war to turn against Germany. As the Soviet Army advanced in 1944, German populations in Central and Eastern Europe took flight, resulting in the beginning of a great population shift. After the final Soviet offensives began in January 1945, hundreds of thousands of German refugees converged on Danzig, many of whom had fled on foot from East Prussia, some tried to escape through the city's port in a large-scale evacuation involving hundreds of German cargo and passenger ships. Some of the ships were sunk by the Soviets, including the after an evacuation was attempted at neighbouring Gdynia. In the process, tens of thousands of refugees were killed.


title: Gdańsk

text: The city also endured heavy Allied and Soviet air raids. Those who survived and could not escape had to face the Soviet Army, which captured the heavily damaged city on 30 March 1945, followed by large-scale rape and looting. In line with the decisions made by the Allies at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences, the city was annexed by Poland, although with a Soviet-installed communist regime, which stayed in power until the Fall of Communism in the 1980s. The remaining German residents of the city who had survived the war fled or were expelled to postwar Germany. The city was repopulated by ethnic Poles; up to 18 percent (1948) of them had been deported by the Soviets in two major waves from pre-war eastern Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union.


title: Gdańsk

text: In 1946, the communists executed 17-year-old Danuta Siedzikówna and 42-year-old , Polish resistance members, in the local prison.


title: Gdańsk

text: The port of Gdańsk was one of the three Polish ports through which Greeks and Macedonians, refugees of the Greek Civil War, reached Poland. In 1949, four transports of Greek and Macedonian refugees arrived at the port of Gdańsk, from where they were transported to new homes in Poland.


title: Gdańsk

text: Parts of the historic old city of Gdańsk, which had suffered large-scale destruction during the war, were rebuilt during the 1950s and 1960s. The reconstruction sought to dilute the German character of the city, and set it back to how it supposedly looked like before the annexation to Prussia in 1793. Nineteenth-century transformations were ignored as "ideologically malignant" by post-war administrations, or regarded as "Prussian barbarism" worth of demolition, while Flemish/Dutch, Italian and French influences were emphasized in order to "neutralize" the German influx on the general outlook of the city.


title: Gdańsk

text: Boosted by heavy investment in the development of its port and three major shipyards for Soviet ambitions in the Baltic region, Gdańsk became the major shipping and industrial centre of the People's Republic of Poland. In December 1970, Gdańsk was the scene of anti-regime demonstrations, which led to the downfall of Poland's communist leader Władysław Gomułka. During the demonstrations in Gdańsk and Gdynia, military as well as the police opened fire on the demonstrators causing several dozen deaths. Ten years later, in August 1980, Gdańsk Shipyard was the birthplace of the Solidarity trade union movement.


title: Gdańsk

text: In September 1981, to deter Solidarity, Soviet Union launched Exercise Zapad-81, the largest military exercise in history, during which amphibious landings were conducted near Gdańsk. Meanwhile, the Solidarity held its first national congress in Hala Olivia, Gdańsk when more than 800 deputies participated. Its opposition to the Communist regime led to the end of Communist Party rule in 1989, and sparked a series of protests that overthrew the Communist regimes of the former Soviet bloc. Solidarity's leader, Lech Wałęsa, became President of Poland in 1990. In 2014 the European Solidarity Centre, a museum and library devoted to the history of the movement, opened in Gdańsk.


title: Gdańsk

text: On 9 July 2001, the city was flooded, with 200 million zł being estimated in damage, 4 people killed, and 304 evacuated. As a result, the city has built 50 reservoirs, the number of which is rising.


title: Gdańsk

text: Gdańsk native Donald Tusk became Prime Minister of Poland in 2007, and President of the European Council in 2014. In 2014, the remains of Danuta Siedzikówna and Feliks Selmanowicz were found at the local Garrison Cemetery, and then their state burial was held in Gdańsk in 2016, with the participation of thousands of people from all over Poland and the highest Polish authorities.


title: Gdańsk

text: In January 2019, the Mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was assassinated by a man who had just been released from prison for violent crimes. After stabbing the mayor in the abdomen near the heart, the man claimed that the mayor's political party had been responsible for imprisoning him. Though Adamowicz underwent a multi-hour surgery, he died the next day.


title: Gdańsk

text: In October 2019, the City of Gdańsk was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award in the Concord category as a recognition of the fact that "the past and present in Gdańsk are sensitive to solidarity, the defense of freedom and human rights, as well as to the preservation of peace".