Seo Taiji and Boys

On 11th April 1992, Seo Taiji and

Boys debuted with their single “ I
Know” which indicates the
beginning of today’s K-pop. They
had hugely changed the Korean’s
musical and performance landscape
with the combination of American-
style pop music with South Korea’s
culture1. They were also the driving
force to K-pop idols with the
establishment of “Big 3” – SM, JYP
and YG in the following years2.
 K-pop in late ‘90s
1SM Entertainment was established.

1SeoTaiji and Boys was officially disbanded.

1 The first idol boy group, H.O.T. 3YGEntertainment was founded by Yang
debuted with “Candy”.
Hyun-Suk and his younger brother.
4 The first idol girl group, S.E.S. debuted
with “I’m Your Girl”. 6JYP Entertainment was founded by
5 Idol boy group, Sechs Kies debuted with
J. Y. Park.
“School Anthem”.

7 Idol 5 Idol
boy group, Shinhwa debuted with
girl group, Fin.K.L debuted with
“Blue Rain”. “Resolver”.

8 Idol boy group, g.o.d debuted with

“To Mother”.
 K-pop (2000-2003)

9g.o.dhad saw a quick rise in the

1BoA debuted at the age of 13.
2000 Other 1st generation idols
keep active with comebacks.
2001 popularity and was given the
moniker “band for everyone” by
almost winning all the rewards.

9Rain 10BoA’s second Japanese album

debuted as solo male

2002 singer. Meanwhile, BoA

started to be popular with
2003 “Valenti”, which is also her best
selling album, sold for over 1
her song “No. 1”. million copies and followed by
11her 1st Japanese concert tour.
 K-pop (2004-2007)
12Rainlaunched world tour in 8 countries
and became 1st Korean singer that has gone
on an all East-Asia tour. 13Super Junior, 13
members boy group, debuted with “Twins”.
9TVXQ debuted and soon gained
lots of popularity. Rain’s 3rd album
“It’s Raining” sold with over 1
million copies throughout Asia.
16Wonder Girls officially debuted with
“Irony”. SNSD debuted with “Into the New
World”. Wonder Girls’ song “Tell Me” had
started the imitation wave. Also, Bigbang’s
“Lies” was gaining lots of attention too.
14Rain was mentioned by Time magazine as
one of the “100 Most Influential People
Who Shape Our World”.15TVXQ’s 3rd album
recorded highest selling record of the year.
On the other hand, 9Bigbang debuted.
 K-pop (2008 & 2009)
Year 2008 & 2009 are one of the most important moments in K-pop
history where it marked the beginning of K-pop’s mega-hits and
helped K-pop to grow worldwide.

17It was the biggest year for Wonder Girls where
they had “So Hot” at the 1st half of year and the
well-known hit song “Nobody” during the 2nd half
of the year. They are the 1st ever K-pop group to
get into Billboard chart, ranked 76th of Billboard
Hot 100. Meanwhile, TVXQ made a comeback
with the album “Mirotic” which sold for almost
500k copies in just 4 months and topped the
Japanese Oricon Weekly Chart with records.
Bigbang also showed their growth in popularity
with the song “Haru haru”. Besides, IU debuted
with “Mia”.
2009
18SNSD released “Gee” and it quickly became the
mega hit as many records at the music charts
were created. Super Junior’s “Sorry Sorry”
became instant hit locally and internationally
after its release with the brainwashing rhythm
and choreography. Also, 2NE1 debuted with
“Fire” and gained the public attention
immediately. After that, Brown Eyed Girls ranked
top at charts with their iconic song
“Abracadabra”. Groups like 2PM, 2AM, 4Minute,
f(x), Kara,T-ara and others also enjoyed high
popularity with their hit songs.
 Psy

Year 2012 is another blooming year for K-

pop where the famous “Gangnam Style”
was released and 19it was the 1st video to
hit 1 billion views on YouTube. Prior to
Psy, most Westerners were still unfamiliar
with K-pop. 20The song had opened up K-
pop as well as South Korea’s food, culture,
drama, movies and many more to the
whole world. Afterwards, K-pop continued
to increase its popularity until today.
 Unique parts of K-pop

Fanchants Fandom Lightstick

21A way for the fans to Each K-pop group has a 23A glowstick with
interact with their idols fan club with unique specific colour and shape
during the performance. name and colour which which forms a sea of light
It can be random which aims to connect the fans wave in concert. It acts
related to the song and with the idols. For more like a symbol of the
idol, lyrics, idol group’s example, 22ONCE fandom’s unity and
name or members’ names. (Fandom of TWICE with strength to the idols.
the colour Neon
Magenta) and others.
 Thoughts

From the first idol group, H.O.T. to today’s BTS, it was proven that the idol
group formula which is 1a combination of singing, dancing, rapping and
disparate personalities of members, along with the fandom, fan chant and light
stick culture has been a very successful one. We had witnessed the growth of
the popularity of K-pop from 1st ever Billboard’s Hot 100 chart entry by
Wonder Girls to 24BTS topped the chart in September 2020. I believe that
other than the music industry, the K-dramas, movies and variety shows did
huge contribution too to the soared in popularity of K-pop. The repetitive lyrics
and catchy melody of the songs, as well as the intricate yet brainwashing
choreography which lead to the astounding performance are always the key
points of K-pop. However, it would not have been what we saw today without
the efforts of the predecessors and even until today, many of the songs in ‘00s
and ‘10s are still so iconic. Let’s look forward to more great creations from the
K-pop and don’t forget to appreciate the past era’s works.
 Thanks

DISCLAIMER: The work is focusing on the

music industry of South Korea. However,
not all the important and meaningful
moments of the K-pop history were written.
Some of the moments were chosen to
express and explain the timeline of K-pop.

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