Recently, on Korean social media, end-of-year summary topics have attracted much attention.
With the rapid development of many 4th Gen girl groups, K-netizens have been discussing the achievements of some prominent celebrities in 2023, and selected who they think are the No.1 4th Gen girl group.
The results are based on comparing various factors such as concert revenue, Spotify streaming, Oricon sales in Japan, domestic ranking systems like iChart and Circle Chart, as well as performance on Billboard charts, YouTube, TikTok figures, and so on. In the end, the four girl groups brought to the forefront are NewJeans, IVE, aespa, and LE SSERAFIM.
International achievements of the top 4th Gen girl groups
According to the aforementioned discussion, the No.1 4th Gen girl group in terms of world tour revenue is aespa. Their tour “SYNK: Hyper Line” successfully sold over 330,000 tickets, filling up many popular venues in North America and Japan.
Following closely is IVE with over 150,000 tickets sold, and LE SSERAFIM with over 100,000 tickets. NewJeans couldn’t be assessed because they haven’t embarked on any tour.
Considering international achievements, NewJeans is the undisputed leader with a series of trend-setting songs. The group, formed by Min Hee-jin, dominates K-pop with five songs entering the Billboard Hot 100, namely “Super Shy” (#48), “OMG” (#74), “ETA” (#81), “Ditto” (#82), and “Cool With You” (#93). Meanwhile, LE SSERAFIM also achieved an admirable position at #119 with “Perfect Night.”
Concerning YouTube subscribers, NewJeans attracts a considerable audience, gaining over 4.5 million new subscribers. The NewJeans TikTok channel has accumulated over 6.4 million followers.
Meanwhile, aespa, LE SSERAFIM, and IVE also gained notably-sized followings.
In Japan, LE SSERAFIM leads in direct import sales, with “Unforgiven” surpassing 118,000 copies sold, followed by IVE’s “I AM” and “Baddie,” with sales of 40,000 and 69,000 copies, respectively. NewJeans sold 36,000 copies for “OMG” and 69,000 for “Get Up,” while aespa sold 56,000 copies for “Spicy” and 26,000 copies for “Drama.” On Oricon, NewJeans is the highest-ranking female Korean artist (#15 with “Ditto,” #25 with “OMG”).
On the other hand, IVE is named as the No.1 4th Gen girl group in terms of most streams on Korean platforms, followed by NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM, and aespa, sequentially. On the Circle Chart, NewJeans tops in terms of album sales, followed by IVE, aespa, and LE SSERAFIM.
NewJeans on a different level, achieved what BLACKPINK couldn’t
Looking at the overall achievements of NewJeans, IVE, aespa, and LE SSERAFIM in 2023, the Korean online community has diverse reactions. From surprise at NewJeans’ international dominance to pride in IVE’s domestic success, each group has its strengths targeting specific markets. Overall, NewJeans is considered to “outshine” and is the No.1 4th gen K-pop girl group due to numerous hard-to-break records.
Even in their debut year, NewJeans has achieved something that the globally renowned BLACKPINK hasn’t – consistently winning “double Daesang” at year-end award ceremonies. From MAMA and MMA to AAA, NewJeans has won big with multiple small awards and 2 Daesangs.
Below are some comments from netizens:
- NewJeans is the undisputed champion, even winning Daesang awards in the first year, which BLACKPINK couldn’t win
- It’s clear that IVE has a strong presence in South Korea.
- HYBE’s stable position with 2 top girl groups is impressive. Both of them are performing exceptionally well in South Korea, Japan, and the United States as well.
- I think domestically it the ranking should be NewJeans > IVE > LE SSERAFIM, but if we talk about the international scene, I think it’s correct to say NewJeans > LE SSERAFIM > aespa > IVE.
- Oh wow, LE SSERAFIM has achieved a lot of impressive records.
- NewJeans has too many great songs… even their recent remix album is good.
- I’m genuinely surprised that NewJeans is performing so well both domestically and internationally; they are indeed on a different level…
