By 2025.01.06
A HAPPY NEW YEAR！
Happy New Year!
Thank you for your continued support of this column this year.
Now, for the first entry of the new year, I would like to review the predictions I made a year ago.
Looking back about a year ago.
In Season1#5, I wrote a column titled 2024 KPOP Outlook.
If you haven’t read it, I would greatly appreciate it if you could read the article from Season1#5 and then return to this piece.
So, let’s get to the conclusion right away.
I had predicted, “2024 will be the year of the resurgence of girl groups.”
Was my prediction from a year ago correct or not?
The answer is…
“It can’t be said to be completely right, nor can it be said to be completely wrong.”
Although I wrote it myself, it turned out to be a rather ambiguous result, neither a big hit nor a complete miss.
In 2024, there were three songs that became explosive hits in KPOP.
ILLIT’s “Magnetic”
aespa’s “Supernova”
And Rosé & Bruno Mars’ “APT.”
Indeed, one of the three explosive hit songs is aespa’s “Supernova,” a solid girl group track.
Moreover, “Supernova” did not just fit into the category of a hit song; it achieved remarkable success.
It accomplished a “Perfect All Kill” by simultaneously reaching number one on all major music charts in South Korea, and it maintained the number one position on Melon, a major South Korean music chart, for 15 consecutive weeks, surpassing NewJeans’ record of 14 consecutive weeks with “Ditto,” thus setting a new record for the longest consecutive number one.
Additionally, the album “Armageddon,” which includes “Supernova,” sold 1.15 million copies in its first week, achieving four consecutive million-seller albums and reaching number one on the US Billboard World Albums chart.
Furthermore, it was selected as number one in Billboard’s “The 25 Best K-Pop Songs of 2024: Staff Picks,” announced at the end of the year.
Billboard praised it as “the representative K-POP track of the year. This three-minute song perfectly combines innovation and structure, featuring three full choruses, dynamic sections, an emotional bridge, and an overwhelming dance break. Yet, aespa maintains a high level of completeness and consistency throughout the song, showcasing new horizons.”
Moreover, at the largest KPOP music awards, the “2024 MAMA AWARDS,” “Supernova” won Song of the Year.
Both domestically and internationally, “Supernova” was hailed as the best KPOP song of the year.
Considering that 2023 was the year of NewJeans, which established the Y2K boom and easy listening in KPOP, it is hard to believe that in just one year, aespa, a leading girl group, achieved such career-high sales and success, even though they were already a popular group.
In that sense, it feels appropriate to say that it was indeed a year of resurgence for girl groups!
Additionally, in July, the pioneer girl group 2NE1 announced their full-group activities for the first time in ten years, and tickets for their Asia tour, which started in October, sold out across the board.
YG Entertainment’s rookie girl group BABYMONSTER’s first full album “DRIP,” released on November 1, topped the iTunes album charts in 11 countries and regions, and the music video for “DRIP” surpassed 100 million views in just 21 days.
Thus, there are countless examples of how girl groups advanced in 2024.
So why can’t the author confidently declare that 2024 was the year of the resurgence of girl groups?
It boils down to the fact that when asked by casual KPOP fans, not many would respond, “2024 was the year of girl groups!”
The number one factor is undoubtedly the presence of ILLIT.
ILLIT’s debut song “Magnetic,” released in March this year, went viral worldwide.
In South Korea, like aespa, it achieved a “Perfect All Kill,” and it became the first KPOP debut song to chart on the US Billboard main chart “HOT100,” continuing to chart for 22 consecutive weeks.
In Japan alone, it achieved a cumulative play count of 100 million on the Oricon weekly streaming ranking in its 11th week.
This is the fastest record for a female group in history, second only to BTS in KPOP overall.
Additionally, it topped the TikTok Weekly Top 20 for five consecutive weeks.
Moreover, ILLIT has elements that cannot be measured by these numbers alone.
That is the recognition among non-KPOP fans.
The aforementioned US Billboard main chart “HOT100” is difficult to enter solely based on fan listening; it requires general users to listen to the song.
Furthermore, in Japan, they achieved the remarkable feat of appearing on both the Japan Record Awards and the Kohaku Uta Gassen, two major year-end music programs, in their debut year.
Considering these factors, I believe that ILLIT’s “Magnetic” likely has greater general recognition than aespa’s “Supernova.”
Indeed, when asked what the best-selling KPOP song of 2024 was, I suspect a significant number of people would respond with “Magnetic.”
Another major factor that prevents us from declaring a resurgence of girl groups is Rosé & Bruno Mars’ “APT.”
While Rosé is a member of the representative girl group BLACKPINK, “APT.” is not a girl group song.
On the contrary, it is a super catchy pop song that captured the spotlight in KPOP discussions after autumn.
In fact, it overshadowed both “Supernova” and “Magnetic.”
The music video surpassed 260 million views within two weeks of its release, achieving a “Perfect All Kill” in South Korea.
On Spotify, it topped both the global and US charts.
In the UK singles chart, it reached number two, the highest for a KPOP female artist.
Additionally, it topped the iTunes charts in 40 countries and regions.
Thus, in 2024, KPOP experienced three big waves with “Supernova,” “Magnetic,” and “APT.”
Honestly, it seems rare to have three explosive hit songs from different artists in recent years.
However, I believe this helps everyone understand.
My prediction from a year ago that “2024 will be the year of the resurgence of girl groups” resulted in a rather ambiguous outcome of “It can’t be said to be completely right, nor can it be said to be completely wrong.”
This year, I hope to train and improve my KPOP insights to make accurate predictions for 2025, as I conclude my New Year’s greeting.
The End
Nekomachi Peko
Head of the KPOP Department at SKOOTA
Originally a rock music enthusiast who once considered working for Rockin’ On. Became interested in KPOP through BTS, then fell for BLACKPINK, and gradually immersed in the KPOP scene. Became a dedicated fan of Kep1er, who debuted from the survival audition program “Girls Planet 999,” leading to a full immersion in KPOP.
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