2 rankings that prove the popularity of aespa among Korean men, leaving their seniors like TWICE, BLACKPINK, IZ*ONE behind

The result also showed aespa’s outstanding popularity among Korean military soldiers.

After the success of 2 hit songs, “Next Level” and “Savage”, aespa is increasing their position in the Korean “idol” industry despite having just debuted for only more than 1 year. Not only standing out from the list of the 4th generation rookies and gaining a huge and devoted fandom, aespa has also become one of the most famous girl groups to Korean military soldiers aged around 20s. The result of the two rankings below is the most precise proof.

From October 27th to November 14th, the Korean Military Force conducted a survey that asked, “Which famous stars do you want to be with while being on guard in winter?”, with a total of 718 soldiers participating in voting. As a result, aespa won 1st place with most comments saying, “They’re my bias”, “They’re so pretty”, “aespa is the motivation for my military life”, etc. In particular, many soldiers mentioned aespa Winter as they thought her name would suit the “winter mission” well.

This is the TOP 10 of the survey:

1. aespa (102 votes, 14,2%)

2. IU (99 votes, 13,8%)

3. fromis_9 (72 votes, 10%)

4. Son Heung-min (45 votes, 6,2%)

5. BLACKPINK (36 votes, 5%)

6. IZ*ONE (25 votes, 3,4%)

7. Yoo Jae-suk (21 votes, 2,9%)

8. Park Hyo-shin (18 votes, 2,5%)

9. ITZY (13 votes, 1,8%)

10. Lee Seung-gi (12 votes, 1,6%)

Besides, Korean soldiers also joined another questionnaire surveying, “Which celebrities do you want to have them suddenly visiting your military barracks during Chuseok holiday?”. In this poll, aespa ranked No.2, following IU. Once again, aespa beat their famous seniors, such as BLACKPINK, TWICE, and IZ*ONE, to prove their popularity.

The full top 10 of this survey are as follows:

•  1. IU (128 votes, 25%)
•  2. aespa (87 votes, 17%)
•  3. fromis_9 (75 votes, 15%)
•  4. Brave Girls (52 votes, 10%)
•  5. Oh My Girl (35 votes, 7%)
•  6. BLACKPINK (20 votes, 4%)
•  7. TWICE (14 votes, 3%)
•  8. Nobody (9 votes, 2%)
•  9. IZ*ONE (6 votes, 1%)
•  10. Heize (5 votes, 1%)
•  Other (78 votes, 15%)

Many Korean netizens, after seeing this poll result, were surprised because they thought girl crush groups like aespa would not be really popular with men.  Many people believe that being loved by both men and women is the reason why aespa (along with IU) has received so many advertising contracts.

• “I thought girl crush groups like aespa wouldn’t attract male fans, but it was a surprise. Both Karina and Winter are very popular with men”
• “There must be a reason why both IU and aespa are getting so many advertising contracts”
• “But it’s true that aespa has a lot of fangirls and fanboys”
• “When they first debuted, they got into a lot of serious rumors, but it’s amazing to be this successful now.”
• “Wow but IU is amazing… She’ll turn 30 next year, which means almost all soldiers will call her noona yet her popularity is still at the top…”
• “Wait but why is fromis_9 ranked so high???””
  • “This group is very popular in the army. My boyfriend was discharged from the army 2 weeks ago and he said that many soldiers are their fans”
  • “fromis_9 is known as the soldier’s pick “
  • “I heard fromis_9 is very popular with men. There are a lot of people around me who like them”
• But why did Son Heung Min suddenly appear among a bunch of female idols ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㄱ So funny
• “For the time being, I’m quite surprised with BLACKPINK’s ranking… 6th place??????? And fromis_9 is more popular than I thought”
• Winter already has a face that is loved by men, but I didn’t think Karina would be so popular.”