so let's start the ranking from 10th to 1st one....
10 T-ara
active: 2009 until now Genre: K-pop Company: MBK Entertainment
Ok, wait...I thought T-ara is only 2ed Tier in kpop, how can they get into top 10 spot. Here's why
T-ara is a 6 member kpop girl group(original 5 member) formed in 2009 by MBK Entertainment.
T-ara gained nationwide recognition after releasing "Roly-Poly" in 2011, which went on to become the Gaon chart's best-selling single of the year. At the height of K-pop's mainstream popularity in Japan, T-ara signed onto management agency J-Rock for $4.7 million—reportedly the highest figure of any Korean girl group expanding into the territory at the time. Both their debut single and studio album reached number one on the Oricon weekly charts and were subsequently certified Gold
In 2012, T-ara was surrounded in controversy due to allegations of internal discord, which resulted in member departures and a dip in popularity for the group. T-ara's later material, both Korean and Japanese, was released to varying degrees of success before the group began focusing on promotional activities in China.
T-ara gained immense popularity for their cover of Chopstick Brothers' "Little Apple" in 2014, which attracted the attention of Wang Sicong who signed the group onto his media firm, Banana Culture. T-ara is regarded as one of the most popular K-pop girl groups in China. As of 2015, they have sold 36.18 million records, making them one of the best selling girl groups of all time.
Did you see the number 36.18 million records?....Yes, that's the number they sell...
the most well known Member JiYeon from T-ara
9 S.H.E.
active: 2001 until now Genre: C-pop(Mandarin) Company: HIM International Music
Since releasing their debut album Girls Dorm (2001), S.H.E has recorded 12 albums with sales totaling more than 10 million. Globally, their albums sold over 16 million copies, it's one of the most popular, and the longest running girl groups from Taiwan. They were the only Chinese speaking girl group, and one consistently ranked in top 10 of the most popular girl groups in the world for more than 10 years as well.
At 2004,The release of S.H.E's sixth album, Encore, accommodate Selina's graduation from university in late November. Encore sold one million units in Asia within one week of its release; since then, that number has surpassed 2 million. By the time Encore was due for release, media outlets had already begun labelling S.H.E as "The Number One Girl Group in Asia" back in 2004.
In recent years, 3 members from the group went to solo career and achieved different degree of success. For example, Hebe's Vancouver concert last year draws many S.H.E fans as well.
S.H.E member Hebe success after her solo debut
8 MAX
active: 1995 until now Genre: J-pop Company: Avex Trax
MAX, whose name is an acronym for "Musical Active eXperience", is a 4 member J-pop girl group. The original members of MAX made their musical debut as members of the Super Monkey's along with lead vocalist Namie Amuro.
Queen of J-Pop Namie Amuro was originally part of the MAX
They branched out on their own in 1995, becoming stars in their own right with selling several million albums and a string of consecutive top 20 singles from 1996 to 2000. Until today, MAX has sold over 10 million records.They were the second in J-pop history which has the most consecutive top 10 singles.Different from most other J-pop girl groups at that time, MAX established a new style for female idol groups, straying away from the traditional cute and innocent idol mold. instead focusing on high impact choreography and a sexier, more adult image.
In December 1996, they released their debut album Maximum. The album debuted at #1 and went on to sell over one million copies. At the peak of J-pop Music back in late 90s, and the most competitive period in J-pop, MAX managed to be one of the most popular girl group at that time even without Namie Amuro
7 Fin K.L
active: 1998 until 2002 Genre: k-pop Company: DSP Media
Yes, I give No 7 to the famous classic kpop girl group Fin K.L. Fin.K.L was a kpop girl group debut at 1998 under DSP Media. Their name stands for Fin Killing Liberty, and was intended to mean that the group stood against "the oppression of all freedom".Fin.K.L was one of the most popular K-pop girl groups of all time, selling for over 2.2 million albums within 4 years of their career. Being the biggest rival of S.E.S., Fin.K.L won numerous music awards within their active years. They won 1998 New Groups award,KMTV98 new girl group award, totally 6 award. Then, Fin KL released two albums at 1999, which helped Fin.K.L win the Daesang award(highest award in kpop) at the end of the year, KMTV99 best girl group award, 1999 SBS Music award,and 1999 KBS Music award. In the following year 2000, Fin K.L won 7 awards at the end of the year with their breaking record, even most boy groups can't even reach that level of popularity. Until today, Fin K.L was considered one of the most successful kpop girl group in history.
After the group disbanded at 2002, leader Lee Hyori became one of the most famous female solo artist in kpop of all time. At the age of 38, she's still active in kpop scene and performance.
One of Fin K.L's old classic Forever Love at 1999
6 2NE1
active: 2009 until 2016 Genre: k-pop Company: YG Entertainment
2NE1 was a 4 member kpop girl group formed under YG Entertainment at 2009. Their first EP spawned the number-one single "I Don't Care", which won them the "Song of the Year" award at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Their follow-up singles, such as "Go Away", "Lonely" and "I Am the Best", were similarly successful, with "I Am the Best" winning 2NE1 their second "Song of the Year" award in 2011.
2011 Kpop song of the year "I Am the Best" from 2NE1
In 2012, The New York Times named 2NE1's performance at the Prudential Center in New Jersey as one of the "Best Concerts of 2012". As of 2015, they have sold 66.5 million records, making them one of the best selling girl groups of all time. (Including both physical sales and digital sales).
The youngest member, Minzy, officially left the group on April 5, 2016,while the rest of the group disbanded on November 25, 2016.
CL was considered the baddest female in kpop nowadays.
Until here, I wrote about from rank 10th to 6th, maybe many kpop or Jpop fans still have different opinion about that. But the next top 5 girl groups in Asia of all time basically have no argument about that...
5 S.E.S.
active: 1997 until 2002 Genre: k-pop Company: SM Entertainment
There are two kpop girl groups who dominate kpop for their active days. One is SNSD(Girls' Generation) nowadays, the other one is S.E.S. in the past.
S.E.S. was a 3 member kpop girl group formed under SM Entertainment at 1997. They were also known as the female counterpart of H.O.T., and raised phenomenal popularity at the time.S.E.S. is considered one of K-pop's first highly successful girl groups. They were challenged by groups like Fin.K.L and Baby V.O.X, which debuted soon after S.E.S. and also enjoyed success. Overall, S.E.S. won 1998,1999,2001, 3 Golden Disk Award with complete domination in kpop. Since 2000, from 2000 to 2002, S.E.S won all of the best female group awards. Just think about how popular they were back then.
S.E.S. lead singer/dancer Bada became a role model for many current kpop girl group members nowadays.
At year 1999, S.E.S. released their 3rd album LOVE, which sold over 780,000 copies, it is the best selling album for kpop girl groups of all time. Until today, SNSD doesn't have one album physically sold over this number.
4 SPEED
active: 1996 until 2001 Genre: J-pop Company: Toy's factory
Speaking of influence of girl groups in general in Asia or real popularity back in 90s, most people will immediately think about SPEED first.
SPEED was a 4 member J-Pop Girl group debut at 1996 under Toy's factory.Speed made their major label debut on August 5, 1996 and became an immediate success. They would eventually become the most successful girl group anywhere in Asia with sales of over 20 million singles and albums in just three years and eight months. Following their disbandment at 2002, the group reunited several times for charity, but on August 20, 2008 they officially announced plans to reunite permanently.
At 1996, Body & Soul was quickly followed up by the ballad single "Steady" which was their first million-selling single (1.27 million copies). Following Steady, Speed decided to go with a more upbeat song and released "Go! Go! Heaven". The video for the song was filmed on location in New York and Miami. The song sold over 665,000 copies and became the girls first single to hit No.1 on Japan's Oricon weekly charts.
A lot of people still think the success of SPEED back in late 90s was a miracle., especially back in J-pop's golden age when solo artists was in trend. Even I have one of their CD back then and I don't even listen to J-pop Music because most of my friends listen to their songs at that time.
1997 to 2000 J-pop SPEED period
In October 1997, they released "White Love". Their style saw a change from dance music to a ballad for the single. The Winter-themed single became the smash hit single of that year's holiday period. By the time the single exited the charts it had already sold an impressive 1.845 million copies.After White Love, Speed continued on with their more mature style and released the anthem-like song "My Graduation". The single sold 1.475 million copies and became famous as Japan's highest-selling single on the subject of graduation. At that time, Speed are the only female group in J-Pop to achieve the Dome Tour and had an average age of 15.25 at the time, thus they also hold the record for the youngest performers to complete the feat.
After the release of "All My True Love", Speed followed up by releasing their greatest-hits album: Moment, which topped the charts and shipped over 2.3 million units in a year alone.
A lot of people still think the success of SPEED back in late 90s was a miracle., especially back in J-pop's golden age when solo artists was in trend. Even I have one of their CD back then and I don't even listen to J-pop Music because most of my friends listen to their songs at that time.
SPEED member Imai Eriko continue to be famous after solo debut
3 Morning Musume
active: 1997 until Now Genre: J-pop Company: Zentima
Before SNSD debut, Morning Musume is considered one of the most famous girl groups in Asia. Morning Musume, also knowns as Momusu, is a Japanese female idol group formed by Rock singer-songwriter turned record producer Tsunku, They are the lead group of Hello! Project that specialises in upbeat, pop-oriented music coupled with dance performance
.It consists of members mostly in their late adolescence and early 20s. The average age of the group members has remained more or less unchanged since its original formation because the group maintains a "school-like" system for their continuous line-up changes, with older members "graduating" and new, usually younger, members selected from nationwide auditions admitted to the group almost annually.(Morning Musume was the very first idol group who uses this method, later on kpop idol groups such as Super Junior, even early SNSD wants to use the generation, graduate those kind of things).
They held the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an amount of 50, and they have sold over 21 million copies in Japan alone.
Since there are way too much stuff to write about them, they have 17 generations in total since their debut at 1997. their 3rd generation, 7th generation, 8 to 10th generation are considered some peak of their careers.
My personal fav 7th to 8th generation of Morning Musume. (2006 to 2007)
And this year 2017, it is Morning Musume's 20th anniversary, as one of Asia's most influential and famous girl group in history.
2 AKB48
active: 2005 until Now Genre: J-pop Company: DefStar Record
Ok, Ok...I know this is confusing, there are actually Otaku fans told me he knows every member in AKB48.....I will try my best to explain this.
AKB48 is a Jpop girl group named after the Akihabara (Akiba for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. The group has expanded since then to include over 130 members as of December 2015.(I believe this is probably even more than morning musume).
AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with its own theater (unlike pop groups performing occasional concerts and seen on television) and performing daily so fans could always see them live. This "idols you can meet" concept includes teams. which can rotate performances and perform simultaneously at several events and "handshake" events, where fans can meet group members. Akimoto has expanded the AKB48 concept to several sister groups in China, Japan and Indonesia, with upcoming groups announced for the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.
The group is one of the highest-earning musical performers in Japan, with 2013 sales of over $128 million, and has been characterized as a social phenomenon. As of June 2017, the group has sold over 50 million records,including over 6 millon albums. AKB48 is the highest selling musical act in Japan in terms of singles sold. AKB48's thirty-five latest singles have topped the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, with thirty singles selling over a million copies each. Their highest selling single, "Tsubasa wa Iranai", sold over 2.5 million in 2016 according to Billboard / Soundscan. In 2010, "Beginner" and "Heavy Rotation" placed first and second, respectively, on the list of Japan's best-selling singles for the year.From 2011 to 2016, AKB48's singles have occupied the top four or five spots of the Oricon Yearly Singles Chart.
1 SNSD
active: 2007 until Now Genre: k-pop Company: SM Entertainment
There's a bit controversial about No 1 girl groups in Asia. AKB48 and SNSD are both great, and actually AKB48 had more digital sales and physical sales globally than SNSD. But overall in terms of popularity and other factors, I still think SNSD deserve the first spot, even these two groups are pretty close....
Girls' Generation, also known as SNSD is a 9 member(turned 8 without Jessica) kpop girl group formed by SM Entertainment at 2007. 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.
One of the most popular kpop song of all time SNSD 'Gee" at 2009
One of the most popular kpop song of all time SNSD 'Gee" at 2009
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.
Kpop SNSD Period.(2009 to 2013)
In mid-2010, Girls' Generation signed with Nayutawave Records (present-day EMI Records Japan) to venture into the Japanese music scene. Their June 2011 self-titled Japanese debut album peaked atop the Japanese Oricon Albums Chart and became the first album by a non-Japanese girl group to be certified million by the Recording Industry Association of Japan. The group's third Korean studio album The Boys was released in October 2011 and became the best-selling album of 2011 in South Korea with sales of over 380,000 copies. An English version of the single "The Boys" was released by Interscope Records in an attempt to expand the group's endeavor to the global music scene. The group's 2013 fourth Korean studio album I Got a Boy was supported by the single "I Got a Boy", which was subjected to major attention from Western media following its winning the Video of the Year award at the inaugural YouTube Music Awards.
On September 29, 2014, member Jessica announced that she had been dismissed from the group. S.M. Entertainment confirmed this and stated that Jessica was no longer a member of Girls' Generation due to conflicts between her and the group's schedules. Girls' Generation continued to promote as an eight-member group thereafter
One of the most well known former SNSD member Jessica
One of the most well known former SNSD member Jessica
Their fifth Korean studio album, Lion Heart, was released in 2015. In 2017, Girls' Generation released their sixth Korean studio album, Holiday Night, to commemorate the group's tenth debut anniversary..
The group's immense popularity in their native country South Korea has earned them numerous accolades and the titles "The Nation's Singers" and "The Nation's Girl Group". Girls' Generation is also deemed one of the prominent figures of the Korean Wave and one of the most popular K-pop acts internationally. They are the first Asian girl group to achieve five music videos with over 100 million views on YouTube: "Gee", "I Got a Boy", "The Boys", "Mr. Taxi", and "Oh!". In Japan, they became the first non-Japanese girl group to have three number-one albums on the Japanese Oricon Albums Chart, and their three Japanese concert tours attracted a record-breaking 550,000 spectators, more than any other Korean girl group.
End of the article. If you have any question about any of the top 10 girl groups, feel free to leave a comment or ask me here.
