Top Korean Girl Groups

Top 10 Korean Girl Groups 2018

## ***1. BLACKPINK***

**BLACKPINK** (Hangul: 블랙핑크), stylized as **BLΛƆKPIИK**, is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa, and Rosé.

The group debuted on August 8, 2016, with their single *Square One*, which spawned **"Whistle,"** their first number-one song in South Korea. The single also included **"Boombayah,"** their first number one on *Billboard* World Digital Songschart, which set the record as the most-viewed debut music video by a Korean act. With the group's commercial success in their first five months, they were hailed as the New Artist of the Year at the 31st Golden Disc Awards and the 26th Seoul Music Awards.

Black Pink is the highest-charting female K-pop act on the *Billboard* Hot 100, peaking at number 55 with **"Ddu-Du Ddu-Du"**,and on the *Billboard* 200, peaking at number 40 with ***Square Up*.**

## ***2. Twice***

**Twice** (Hangul: 트와이스; Japanese: トゥワイス) is a South Korean girl groupformed by JYP Entertainment through the 2015 reality show *Sixteen*. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaeyoung, and Tzuyu. The group debuted on October 20, 2015, with the extended play (EP) ***The Story Begins*.**

Twice rose to fame in 2016 with their single **"Cheer Up"**: the song charted at number 1 on the Gaon Digital Chart and became the best-performing single of the year. It also won "Song of the Year" at two major music awards shows—Melon Music Awards and Mnet Asian Music Awards. Their subsequent single **"TT"**, from their third EP ***Twicecoaster: Lane 1***, claimed the top spot for four consecutive weeks. The EP was the highest selling K-pop girl group album of 2016, which sold 350,852 copies by year-end. Within 19 months after debut, Twice has sold over 1.2 million units of their four EPs and special album.

## ***3. Red Velvet***

**Red Velvet** (Hangul: 레드벨벳) is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group debuted on August 1, 2014, with their digital single "Happiness" and with four members: Irene, Seulgi, Wendy and Joy. In March 2015, Red Velvet added a fifth member, Yeri, to the group.

Since their debut, Red Velvet has earned success and recognition. Their first EP, ***Ice Cream Cake**,* topped the Gaon Album Chart in early 2015. Similarly, the group's first full-length album *The Red* (2015) and the extended plays ***The Velvet*, *Russian Roulette*,** both released in 2016, and ***Rookie* (2017)** all reached number 1 on the Gaon Album Chart. Additionally, *T**he Red*****, *Rookie* and *The Red Summer* (2017)** also topped the *Billboard* World Albums, and with the release of their second studio album ***Perfect Velvet*** (2017), they became the K-pop girl group with the most number-one albums on the chart and tied for most number-one albums among all K-pop acts. They have received several awards for music, choreography, or popularity, including the Golden Disc New Artist Award and the Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Female Group in 2017.

## ***4. Girls' Generation***

**Girls' Generation** (Hangul: 소녀시대; RR: '**Sonyeo Sidae'**), also known as **SNSD**, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece group, Jessica later departed from the group in September 2014.

Girls' Generation debuted in 2007 with their Korean eponymous debut album. Though the album gained some attention, it was not until 2009 that the group rose to fame with the single **"Gee"**, which claimed the top spot on KBS's *Music Bank* for a record-breaking nine consecutive weeks and was named the most popular song of the 2000s in South Korea by Melon. Girls' Generation further consolidated their popularity on the South Korean music scene with follow-up singles **"Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", "Oh!", and "Run Devil Run",** which were released in mid-2009 and early 2010.

## ***5. GFriend***

**GFriend** (Hangul: 여자친구; RR: '**Yeoja Chingu'**) is a six-member South Korean girl group formed by Source Music in 2015.[2]The group consists of Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, Yuju, SinB and Umji. They made their debut with the EP *Season of Glass*on January 16, 2015.

GFriend won several 2015 female rookie awards and has garnered momentum since their debut, despite coming from a small company.

In 2016, they continued their success with their third EP *Snowflake* and won first place on many music shows with the title song **"Rough"**. They released their first full-length album ***LOL*** in July 2016. In 2017, GFriend made a comeback with a new concept with their fourth EP ***The Awakening*** and the pre-orders for the album exceeded 100,000 units. GFriend released their fifth EP ***Parallel*** in August 2017 and the extended play was re-released a month later under the title ***Rainbow***. In 2018, GFriend held the first concert since debut called ***Season of GFriend*** and later their first Asia Tour with the same name. GFriend made an official Japanese debut with a compilation album, ***GFriend 1st Best*** on May 2018.

## ***6. Mamamoo***

**Mamamoo** (Hangul: 마마무), sometimes stylized as **MAMAMOO**, is a South Korean girl group formed by RBW(formerly WA Entertainment) in 2014. The group officially debuted on June 19, 2014 with the single "Mr. Ambiguous". Their debut was considered by some critics as one of the best K-pop debuts of 2014. They are recognized for their retro, jazz, R&B concepts and strong vocal performances.

The group made their official debut on June 19 with lead single **"Mr. Ambiguous"** from their first extended play **(EP) *Hello*.**

 On November 21, Mamamoo released their second EP ***Piano Man*** with the title track of the same name. The title song peaked at 41 on Gaon's Digital chart. By the end of 2014, Mamamoo ranked tenth highest among idol girl groups for digital sales, 19th in album sales, and 11th in overall sales according to Gaon's year-end rankings. On the January 10 episode of competitive singing show *Immortal Songs 2*, Mamamoo performed a rendition of Joo Hyun-mi's **"Wait a Minute"**, reaching the final round before losing to Kim Kyung-ho.

## ***7. EXID***

**EXID** ( Hangul: 이엑스아이디; short for "Exceed in Dreaming"), is a South Korean girl group formed in 2012. The group currently consists of five members: Solji, LE, Hani, Hyelin and Jeonghwa. EXID debuted in February 2012, with the single **"Whoz That Girl".** Though the album gained some attention, it was not until 2014 that the group unexpectedly gained popularity with the single **"Up & Down"**, which reached number one on the Gaon Singles Chartfour months after release due to a fan-recording of a live performance becoming a viral video. EXID released their second EP ***Ah Yeah*** in April 2015, to commercial success. They followed this with their first studio album ***Street***(2016) and the EPs ***Eclipse*** and ***Full Moon*** (2017).

## ***8. f(x)***

**f(x)** ( Hangul: 에프엑스) is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2009. The group is composed of four members: Victoria, Amber, Luna and Krystal. Originally a five-piece group, Sulli left the group in August 2015. Since their debut, f(x) has released four full-length albums, two extended plays, and one repackaged album.

f(x) has been recognised for their experimental style and eclectic, electropop-based sound. They are one of the few recognized K-pop groups internationally, becoming the first K-pop act to perform at SXSW. Their acclaimed second album, ***Pink Tape*,** was the only K-pop album on US music channel Fuse's '41 Best Albums of 2013'.

## ***9. Girl's Day***

**Girl's Day** (Hangul: 걸스데이) is a South Korean girl group formed by Dream Tea Entertainment in 2010. The group currently consists of four members: Sojin, Minah, Yuraand Hyeri. Members Jisun and Jiin officially left the group in 2010, while Jihae left in late 2012.

In order of release, the group's biggest hits include **"Twinkle Twinkle", "Hug Me Once", "Expect", "Something",** **"Darling", and "Ring My Bell"**, all of which have sold more than one million digital copies each.

Over the span of their career, Girl's Day has endorsed over 20 brands, including LG Electronics, Ezaki Glico's Pocky, Lotte World, Nexon and Bullsone. Girl's Day ranked 13th in Korea Power Celebrity in 2015, a list ranking Korea's most powerful and influential celebrities. In 2016, the group ranked 26th, whereas member Hyeri ranked 3rd.

## ***10. Apink***

**Apink** (Korean: 에이핑크, Japanese: エーピンク; also written as **A Pink**) is a South Korean girl group formed by Plan A Entertainment (formerly A Cube Entertainment). The group debuted on April 19, 2011, with the mini album, *Seven Springs of Apink* and with seven members: Park Cho-rong, Yoon Bo-mi, Jung Eun-ji, Son Na-eun, Hong Yoo-kyung, Kim Nam-joo and Oh Ha-young. Hong left the group in April 2013 to focus on her studies.

Since their debut, Apink has earned success and recognition, the group has won awards at shows such as the 26th Golden Disc Awards, 21st Seoul Music Awards and 13th Mnet Asian Music Awards. Their first music program win was on M Countdown on January 5, 2012, for **"My My"** from their second EP S***now Pink.*** Apink has won more than 30 music awards and 32 music program awards. To date Apink has released seven Korean mini-albums, three Korean studio albums and three Japanese studio albums.