Now that all of BTS have enlisted, this question arises: which K-pop group has what it takes to pick up where they left off?
In 2024, the Korean music industry is gearing up for some major shifts with BTS’ military service. Members of big groups like BLACKPINK and EXO are focusing on solo activities. BIGBANG’s G-Dragon has parted ways with YG to join a new company.
Music critic Cha Woo Jin predicts this trend will gain momentum, “K-pop has gone global, making it easier for artists to navigate the international market. With the reputation they’ve built, artists no longer need to heavily rely on their companies. This means many contract terms will need reevaluation if companies want to keep artists for the long haul.”
Leading Contenders
SEVENTEEN is without doubt a frontrunner. The group sold a whopping 16 million albums in 2023 alone, with their standout release “FML” snagging prestigious awards like Album of the Year at the 38th Golden Disc Awards, Best Album at the 19th MAMA, 8th Asia Artist Award, and the 33rd Seoul Music Award.
Over the past year, SEVENTEEN not only pulled off a successful “Follow” tour, connecting with over a million fans worldwide, but also made history in November 2023 by becoming the first K-pop group to speak and perform at the 13th UNESCO Youth Forum. This solidifies their status as representatives of youth, not just a trend in the K-pop scene.
Stray Kids has also achieved impressive feats. Their album “Rock Star,” dropped in November last year, made its mark on the Billboard Hot 100 at 90th place, placing them as the second K-pop boy group, after BTS, to achieve this.
With albums like “Oddinary” (2022), “Maxident” (2022), “5 Star” (2023), and “Rock Star” (2023) all dominating the Billboard 200, Stray Kids has garnered praise from esteemed music experts worldwide.
Music critic Kim Do-heon believes that there shouldn’t be discussions about “next BTS”. He emphasized, “All the things that BTS created are their own achievements, not something belonging to K-pop in general. Even when a group as popular as BTS appears, their image and the messages they deliver will be very different from what BTS did. We should find the next great K-pop group, not a group to replace BTS”.
Promising groups of the new generation
NewJeans has dominated the music scene in 2023 with most of their songs going viral. The HYBE girl group also achieved many great awards at Korean and overseas award ceremonies, including Daesang Song of the Year at the 38th Golden Disc Awards, Song of the Year and Artist of the Year at Asia Artist Awards 2023, Melon Music Awards 2023 and MAMA Awards 2023.
NewJeans’s second album “Get Up” was released in July last year and it has sold 2 million copies. This number helped NewJeans set a new record for K-pop girl groups. In addition, “Get Up” also entered TOP 5 Best-selling Albums in the US in 2023.
Lee Gyu-tak, a cultural research specialist at George Mason University, picked IVE and LE SSERAFIM as groups with much potential. He said, “IVE attracts many Korean fans with their unique charms, while LE SSERAFIM is very famous among overseas K-pop fans. NewJeans, IVE, and LE SSERAFIM are proving themselves as the future of K-pop”.
Source: K14
