SM Entertainment is a record label and talent agency in South Korea. It is one of the main entertainment businesses in Korea. It was founded by Lee Su-man, a former singer. It was originally focused solely on entertainment management. Since then, however, they have expanded their business interests to establishing subsidiary companies and incorporating affiliates. They have foreign subsidiaries, such as SM Japan, Asia, and USA.

Debut of stars
Known for their dedication to quality of talent, SM has produced many hit groups and solo artists since 1996. The first debut under the label was the boy group H.O.T. in 1996, followed by girl group S.E.S. in 1997. Being an influential contributor to the "First generation of K-pop", SM continued to produce hit artists such as Shinhwa in 1998, Fly to the Sky in 1999, soloist Boa in 2000 andTVXQ in 2004. A rising popularity of K-pop in the West saw further debuts become vastly successful like Super Junior in 2005, Girls' Generation in 2007, Shinee in 2008, f(x) in 2009 and EXO in 2012. The newest groups from SM are Red Velvet - debuted in 2014, NCT in 2016, WayV - a China based subunit of NCT in 2018, and AESPA in 2020.

Artists

Recording artists
Soloists

 BoA
 Kangta
 J-Min
 Dana  
 Sunday  
 Henry  
 Taemin  
 Zhou Mi  
 Kyuhyun   
 Taeyeon  
 Ryeowook 
 Yesung  
 Luna  
 Lay  
 Hyoyeon  
 Chen
 baekhyun
Wendy 
Joy

Groups
 H.O.T
 S.E.S
 TVXQ
 TRAX
 CSJH The Grace
 Super Junior
 Girls' Generation
 Shinee
 f(x)
 EXO
 Red Velvet
 NCT
 WayV

Sub-units
 Super Junior-K.R.Y.
 Super Junior-T
 Super Junior-M
 Super Junior-Happy
 Super Junior-D&E
 Girls' Generation-TTS
   Girls' Generation-Oh!GG
 EXO-M
 EXO-K
 NCT U
 NCT 127
 NCT DREAM

Project groups
 S.M. The Ballad
 M&D
 Younique Unit (Inactive)
 S.M. The Performance 
 Toheart (Inactive)
 Super M

Actors/Actresses

Do Kyungsoo  EXO
lay   EXO
suho   EXO
sehun   EXO
baekhyun  EXO
chen   EXO
xiumin   EXO
chanyeol   EXO
kai   EXO
 Choi Jong-yoon
 Kim Ian
 Kim Min-jong
 Lee Jae-ryong
 Lee Yeon-hee
 Yoo Ho-jeong
 Lina
 Im Yoon-ah
 Kwon Yuri
 Sulli

Entertainers
 Kim Kyung-sik
 Lee Dong-woo

Studio artists

Pianists
Song Kwang-sik

Former artists

Former recording artists

 Hyun Jin-young (1990–1993)
 Han Dong-joon (1991–1992)
 Kim Kwang-jin (1991–1992)
 Major (Seo Yeon-soo and Im Bum-jun, 1994)
 J&J (Jay Kim and Jay Kang, 1994)
 H.O.T. (1996–2001)
Moon Hee-joon (1996–2005)
Lee Jae-won (1996–2001)
Tony An (1996–2001)
Jang Woo-hyuk (1996–2001) 
 Shinhwa (1998–2003)
 Fly to the Sky (1999–2004)
 Jang Na-ra (2001–2008)
 M.I.L.K (2001–2003)
Seo Hyun-jin (2001–2007)
 Sugar (2001–2006)
 Black Beat (2002–2007)
 Shinvi (2002–2003)
 Isak 'N' Jiyeon (2002–2004)
Kim Isak (2002–2012)
TVXQ
 Kim Jae-joong (2003–2009)
 Park Yoochun (2003–2009)
 Kim Junsu (2003–2009)
 TRAX
 Kang Jung-woo (2004–2006)
 No Min-woo (2004–2009)
CSJH The Grace
 Stephanie (2005–2016)
Super Junior
 Han Geng (2005–2009)
 Kim Kibum (2004–2015)
Girls' Generation
 Jessica (2007–2015)
Tiffany (2007–2017)
Sooyoung (2007–2017)
Seohyun (2007–2017)
 Chu Ga-yeoul (2002–2012)
EXO
 Kris (2012–2014)
 Luhan (2012–2014)
 Tao (2012–2015)
 Zhang Liyin (2006–2017)
Jonghyun (2008-2017)
•f(x)
•AMBER LIU (2009-2019)
•VICTORIA SONG (2009-2019)
••PARK LUNA (2009-2019)

Former actors/actresses
 Yoon Park (2009–2013)
 Go Ara (2003–2016)

Stocks
SM Entertainment was established in 1995 with initial capital of 50 million won. In 2000, their shares were registered on the KOSDAQ market. Moreover, SM formed a music investment fund with about 10 billion won in 2001. This was the first of its kind in Korea. SM Entertainment's revenues grew 53% in 2011 compared to the year before. The company recorded 1686 billion won. The largest shareholder is Lee Su-man, who owns 21.50% of SM The affiliates of SM Entertainment includes SM Culture and Contents, SM Entertainment Japan Inc., Starlight, Galgali Family Entertainment, Dream Maker Entertainment Limited, SM Amusement, SM F&B Development, M Studio City, SM Brandmarketing, SM Entertainment USA Inc., and SM Krage.

References

South Korean record labels
Entertainment companies
1995 establishments in Asia