There have been a lot of new K-Pop boy groups debuting in the last couple of years, from big and small labels alike. These artists are generally considered rookies for about the first two years of their career no matter where they debuted from or how successful they are, so any group that debuted from late 2021 until now fit this criterion.
RIIZE | SM Entertainment
Recently, the brand reputation rankings for rookie male K-Pop idol groups were revealed, and it has fans talking due to how many of them are unfamiliar with a large number of the groups in the top ten.
BOYNEXTDOOR | KOZ Entertainment
The top three on the list are probably fairly predictable — they go to ZEROBASEONE, RIIZE, and BOYNEXTDOOR. ZEROBASEONE’s popularity comes from the members’ participation on Boys Planet, while RIIZE and BOYNEXTDOOR are both under “Big Four” labels (SM Entertainment and HYBE Labels respectively).
ZEROBASEONE | WAKEONE
Past that, the groups become relatively less well-known. Fourth place goes to virtual idol group PLAVE, fifth to EVNNE (made up of runners-up from Boys Planet), and sixth to FANTASY BOYS (made up of the finalists from My Teenage Boy).
PLAVE | VLAST
Seventh place is taken by TEMPEST (under Yuehua Entertainment), eighth by YOUNITE (managed by Brand New Music), ninth by NINE.i (under FirstOne Entertainment), and finally tenth goes to THE WIND (working under WithUs Entertainment).
A forum post discussing these rankings was recently made online, and a lot of the discussion revolves around how many of the commenters don’t know most of the groups on the list.
On Twitter, though, there does seem to be a bit more recognition for the smaller groups!
TEMPEST at #7, let’s gooo! https://t.co/TeZWurCh2p pic.twitter.com/UTa90wTis9
— VixxxiE ×CHIKA CHIKA VROOM VROOM× (@_HubixiE_) November 2, 2023
Plave managed to get into number 4 despite being a virtual boyband, from nugu company, and only has 1 mini album (as for now) https://t.co/rNWey7ixmb
— Numero_Eunho (@da_man0000) November 2, 2023
BOYNEXTDOOR TOP 3 YES THAT’S MY BOYS RIGHT HERE https://t.co/KA1ZCrEf3e
— marie onedoor (@mashihoshy) November 2, 2023
NINE.I TOP 9 OMG IM SO PROUD OF THEM https://t.co/1teWz8TdwZ
— gwen in NEVERLAND (@Wonnettee) November 2, 2023
Glad to see fantasy boys in no. 6 ! https://t.co/DE4P8AgsD0
— Ayam (@CAINOSURE) November 2, 2023
Evnne #5 i see you kingssss https://t.co/SYZk0OxdzK
— dahlia ⁰-¹ ❅ |ZB1 MELTING POINT NOV 6 (@kamsluvr) November 2, 2023
How many of these boy groups are you familiar with?
How many do you know?