2022 is the “golden age” for Kpop girl groups, whereas boy groups struggles to remain relevant

There have never been a year where Kpop girl groups take the reins as strongly as 2022

Gone are the heydays of Kpop gen 2, when male artists were the focus of Kpop. From 2009 to 2011, all of Asia was obsessed with BIGBANG, Super Junior, SHINee, TVXQ, as well as other boy groups, and there were very few girl groups capable of standing on the same scale as these “powerhouses”. However, time has changed.

As EXO and BTS – the leading boy groups of the 3rd generation, started to focus on individual activities and commence military enlistment, girl groups took the mantle to take over Kpop. This is clearly shown in 2022, where the Top 10 of Korean music platform MelOn saw no male artist in sight.

There are many reasons why 2022 can be said to be “the year of girl groups”. First, after a long period of social distancing due to COVID-19, numerous Kpop female groups made their debut with high quality and great publicity. In addition, notable groups from the 2nd and 3rd generation also returned and surged, completely overwhelming their male counterparts.

Constant new girl groups and the return of big names 

Starting from the end of 2021, Kpop has become the playground of girl groups, as many rookie female artists debuted and left their own marks. In the first half of 2022 alone, there have been 4 notable rookies, including: IVE (December 2021), NMIXX (February 2022), Kep1er (January 2022) to LE SSERAFIM (May 2022). Social media is always full of information and discussions about these girl groups, and IVE and LE SSERAFIM were the talk of town.

Although there were a fair share of controversies, from lacking stage presence, bad vocals, to Kim Garam’s school violence accusations, the girl group market of the first half of 2022 is generally growing with remarkable publicity and recognition. 

Among Kpop companies, HYBE seems to be the most active, as after LE SSERAFIM, they also introduced rookie group New Jeans in August. Immediately after their debut, NewJeans became a “powerhouse” with their youthful Y2K concept and one-of-a-kind promotion regime. 

Kpop in 2022 is not dominated by rookies groups alone, as old faces also made their grand returns. In March 2022, (G)I-DLE made a comeback after the departure of former member Soojin, and managed to overcome past controversies with the unexpected success of TOMBOY. 

Meanwhile, SM and JYP also heated up the girl group battle with aespa’s “Girls” and ITZY’s “Sneakers” in the same month of July. 

In August, Kpop fans got more excited than ever, with top girl groups SNSD, BLACKPINK, and TWICE all releasing new music, and mega-popular rookie IVE releasing their 3rd single, providing a strong competition.  

While girl groups are taking over 2022 by storms, female solo artists seem to also be doing well this year. First, there was TWICE Nayeon’s solo debut with “POP!”, then Chungha’s return with “Sparkling”, and Sunmi’s grand comeback with “Heart Burn”. The year is simply filled with great tracks of outstanding female Kpop stars. 

High-quality music and intense competition 

Alongside the quantity of comeback, girl groups also release high-quality music that are well-received by the public. This is clearly proven in their sales figures and digital achievements in the past 8 months. 

In particular, (G)I-DLE’s “TOMBOY” and IVE’s “Love Dive” remains on the top of various charts and recorded huge numbers of YouTube views everyday, despite having been released super early on in the year.

For IVE, all 3 releases of them, from debut song “ELEVEN” to comeback tracks “Love Dive” and “After LIKE” have managed to become massive hits with their addicting and catchy melodies. With “ELEVEN”, IVE managed to secure their 1st music win after just 7 days since debut, while “Love Dive” and “After LIKE ” solidified their position in the Kpop industry. 

The position of “Love Dive” on MelOn saw a lot of fluctuations, but it never leaves the Top 10. Meanwhile, the newly-released “After LIKE” is already competing fiercely for the 1st position. 

If IVE stole the show in the first half, then the 2nd half of 2022 introduced the group’s strongest rookie contender – HYBE’s new girl group NewJeans. While NewJeans only debuted a month ago, they also won 5 music shows, and achieved a Real-Time All-Kill with MV rising to top trending videos in Korea. Their song, “Attention”, was so well-received, it even blocked BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom” from getting an all-kill. 

BLACKPINK’s highly-anticipated comeback also received explosive response, and the girl group quickly gained both domestic and international success with their pre-release single “Pink Venom”, setting new records ahead of their September full album.

Alongside landing top positions on both Korean and foreign music platforms, “Pink Venom” also proved BLACKPINK’s insane popularity through other figures. In particular, the music video for “Pink Venom” recorded 90.4 million YouTube views in the first day of release – the highest among Kpop female artists. The MV would then surpass 200 million views within 5 days, and even now, the number of views is constantly rising. 

In addition, the choreography of “Pink Venom” immediately became a new trend on video platforms, like TikTok and YouTube shorts. It seems that after 2 years of no group release, BLACKPINK is still as popular and impactful as ever. 

Alongside their viral music, BLACKPINK also becomes a hot topic with their fashion looks. For example, Jennie’s Manchester United shirt has transcended outside of Kpop fans, and Jisoo, Lisa, and Rosé all make their own deep impressions.

The lacking publicity of Kpop boy groups that even BTS couldn’t turn around

Never before has boy groups been completely overshadowed as strongly as in the first 8 months of 2022. While rookie boy groups, like TEMPEST, ATBO, etc. are basically unknown to the public, gen 4 groups like TXT, NCT, Stray Kids, ENHYPEN… gained attention mostly among Kpop fans and international audiences. 

Regarding this, many netizens explained that since boy groups are mostly focused on building their fandoms, boy group music is seldomly catered to the public’s ears, leading to low recognition. Compared to aespa, ITZY, IVE, NewJeans, or LE SSERAFIM, the above boy groups are doing way worse in digital achievements, and facing strong competition in physical sales as well. 

In 2022, the only boy groups that managed to make a sound on both international and domestic ground are BIG BANG, BTS, and SEVENTEEN. However, when it comes to achievement, all these groups fall short of the reigning female artists. In particular, BIGBANG’s “Still Life” did extremely well, but did not stay in the Top 10 for long. SEVENTEEN achieved phenomenal physical sales, but their digital rankings can still be improved. Meanwhile, BTS celebrated their 9th debut anniversary with the anthology album “Proof” and the title “Yet To Come”, but the lack of promotions has led to less impact, leading to a comeback far less impressive than BTS’ past releases. 

Meanwhile, BTS j-hope and his solo album “Jack in the Box”, was not at all well-received by the Korean public, leading to low digital ranking for the title song “Arson”. While “Jack in the Box” is still doing well internationally and among the fandom, the album’s music is simply not attractive to most of the public. 

With boy groups’ low popularity, the Kpop scale of 2022 has so far leaned completely towards girl groups.