Exo (Korean: 엑소; stylized as EXO) is a South Korean-Chinese boy group based in Seoul. Formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2011, the group debuted in 2012 with twelve members separated into two subgroups, Exo-K and Exo-M, performing music in Korean and Mandarin respectively. Exo's first album XOXO (2013), which contained the breakthrough hit "Growl", was a critical and commercial success, winning both Disk Daesang at the 28th Golden Disk Awards and Album of the Year at the 15th Mnet Asian Music Awards. It sold over one million copies, making Exo the best-selling Korean artist in twelve years.Subsequent albums and EPs continued with strong sales, and Exo were ranked the most influential celebrity by Forbes Korea for the year 2014 and 2015. They have been named "the biggest boyband in the world" by media outlets, saying that "EXO are at the forefront of pop domination, with knife-point choreography seamlessly gelled to songs crafted by some of the world’s most gifted writers and producers, honed by their myriad of personalities and talents." In May 2014, Kris filed a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment to be removed from the group. Luhan followed suit in October 2014. In April 2015, Tao suspended his activities and subsequently followed suit in August 2015. Following their departures, Exo carried on with nine members. In July 2016, it was announced that the lawsuit between Luhan, Kris, and S.M. Entertainment had been settled: the two idols will maintain their contract with SM until 2022, S.M. Entertainment will contract out their work outside of Korea and Japan—i.e. to their current Chinese agencies—and they will "share related revenues with S.M. Entertainment."
2. BIG BANG
Big Bang (Korean: 빅뱅) is a South Korean boy band formed by YG Entertainment. Consisting of members G-Dragon, T.O.P, Taeyang, Daesung, and Seungri, the group officially debuted on August 19, 2006. Despite initial lukewarm receptions, their breakthrough came with the extended play, Always (2007), which yielded the number one song "Lies" (Korean: 거짓말; Revised Romanization: Geojitmal). The song went on to top major Korean music charts for a record-breaking seven consecutive weeks, and won the group the Song of the Year award at the 9th Mnet Korean Music Festival. Big Bang's follow-up releases furthered their success and popularity: Hot Issue (2007) spawned the chart-topping song "Last Farewell," (Korean: 마지막 인사; Revised Romanization: Majimak Insa), while Stand Up (2008) produced "Day by Day" (Korean: 하루하루, Revised Romanization: Haru Haru). After receiving the Artist of the Year award from the 2008 Mnet Korean Music Festival, the group expanded their endeavors to Japan, releasing both their second Korean studio-album, Remember, and their first Japanese album, Number 1, in the same year, and consequently winning three awards at the 9th MTV Video Music Awards Japan. They would go on to release three more Japanese studio albums: Big Bang (2009), Big Bang 2 (2011), and the Japanese-language edition of Alive (2012). Amidst their Japanese promotions, the members branched out to do solo activities: Taeyang and G-Dragon released solo albums, G-Dragon and T.O.P formed a sub-unit, Seungri and Daesung acted in musicals and hosted variety shows, and T.O.P went on to star in various films and television shows. After a two-year hiatus in South Korea, Big Bang reunited in 2011 with their EP Tonight (2011). Promotions were cut short when multiple members encountered legal issues. By the end of the year, Big Bang emerged as the inaugural Best Worldwide Act winner at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards. Three months after their win in Europe, Big Bang released their most successful physical album, the Korean EP Alive (2012), which won them their second Artist of the Year Award at the 14th Mnet Asian Music Awards. Alive became the first Korean album to chart on the Billboard 200, with the group embarking on their first ever world tour that concluded in early 2013. In 2015, after a three-year hiatus, Big Bang made their highly anticipated comeback in their native country with the release of four singles, "M", "A", "D", and "E", to precede their third Korean studio album, Made, released in 2016. The album was met with critical and commercial success, netting in sales of over 30 million records throughout Asia and winning the group their third Artist of the Year Award at the 17th Mnet Asian Music Awards. The group commenced their second world tour, that gathered 1.5 million attendance, making it the largest tour by any Korean act. Labeled as the "Kings of K-pop" and "Nation's Boy Band," the members’ involvement in composing and producing their own music, most notably G-Dragon, has earned the group respect and praise from the music industry. Including the members' solo releases and sub-units, Big Bang have sold over 140 million records, with over 128 million singles and 13 million albums in Korea, Japan and China, making them the best-selling digital group of all-time in Asia and one of the best-selling boy bands in the world. They have won numerous awards and set several records, including being the act who spent the most months at number one on the Gaon Chart and the most weeks at number one on Melon, besides being the all-time best-selling artist in Cyworld. Big Bang was the first Korean artist to enter Forbes Magazine's Celebrity 100 and the 30 under 30 most influential musicians in the world lists. Citing their global popularity and contribution to K-pop, The Washington Post have described them as "the biggest band in Asia" and the Hollywood Reporter as "the biggest boy band in the world."
3. BTS
BTS, also known as Bangtan Boys, is a seven-member South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment. Their name in Korean, Bangtan Sonyeondan (Hangul: 방탄소년단; Hanja: 防彈少年團), and Japanese, Bōdan Shōnendan (防弾少年団?), both translate to "Bulletproof Boy Scouts". They debuted on June 13, 2013, with the song "No More Dream" from their first album, 2 Cool 4 Skool, for which they won several "New Artist of the Year" awards including those at the 2013 MelOn Music Awards and Golden Disk Awards, and the 2014 Seoul Music Awards. A year after their debut, they received major bonsang awards for their subsequent albums Dark & Wild and The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 1. BTS continued rising to widespread prominence with their The Most Beautiful Moment in Life trilogy, with The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2 and The Most Beautiful Moment In Life: Young Forever both debuting inside the Billboard 200. The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 2 also charted at number one on the Billboard World Albums Chart and remained there for multiple weeks, making BTS the first K-pop act to achieve that feat. The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever went on to win the coveted "Album of the Year" award at the 2016 Melon Music Awards. This win marked BTS's first daesang, or 'grand prize', since their debut. The group continued to surpass themselves with the release of their second full album, Wings, which charted at #1 on iTunes in over 26 countries. The album also debuted at 26 on the Billboard 200, which marked the highest chart ranking for a K-pop album ever, as well as making BTS the first K-pop act to log three entries onto the chart, and the first to spend more than one week on the chart. In their native South Korea, Wings sold 681,924 albums in its first month, breaking the record for the highest first month sale for an album in Gaon history, as well as is the best selling album in Gaon history thus far. The album's title track, "Blood Sweat & Tears" (Korean: 피 땀 눈물), became the group's first domestic number one hit on the Gaon Digital Chart. To date, BTS's discography has sold an estimated 2.7 million albums worldwide. Known for their large social media presence, BTS were listed by Forbes as the most retweeted artist on Twitter in March 2016. Following that, Twitter launched its first ever K-pop Twitter emoji featuring BTS. In October 2016, Billboard placed BTS as #1 on their Social 50 chart, making them the first Korean group to top the chart. Also known for their large international fanbase, having performed and sold out tours in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America, BTS's outstanding performances won them the Best World Performer award in the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Just a year later, BTS went on to win the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Award for Artist of the Year.
4. 2 PM
2PM (Hangul: 투피엠) is a South Korean boy band formed by JYP Entertainment. The current members are Jun. K, Nichkhun, Taecyeon, Wooyoung, Junho and Chansung. Former leader Jay Park officially left the group in early 2010. The members of 2PM started when Korean musician Park Jin-young formed an eleven-member band known as One Day. Eventually the band was split into 2PM, and a similar but independent group known as 2AM. 2PM debuted with the song "10 Jeom Manjeome 10 Jeom" (10점 만점에 10점, lit. "10 Points Out of 10 Points"), which showcased their acrobatic dance styles.They achieved their first number 1 single with "Again & Again". Both singles featured on their first studio album, The First Album 1:59PM, released in 2009. The band went on to release another Korean album, known as Hands Up, in 2011. They made their Japanese debut later that year with Republic of 2PM. After more than a year, the group returned in 2013 with their third studio album Grown. In early September 2014, 2PM returned with their fourth studio album Go Crazy. On 15 June 2015, 2PM made a comeback with their fifth studio album No.5. After much anticipation 2PM returned on 13 September 2016 with their sixth studio album Gentlemen's Game.
5. GOT7
Got7 (Korean: 갓세븐; romanized as Gatsebeun, stylized as GOT7) is a South Korean boy group formed by JYP Entertainment in 2014. The group is composed of seven members: JB, Mark, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, BamBam and Yugyeom. Prior to their debut as part of Got7, JB and Jinyoung debuted in 2012 as the duo JJ Project. Got7 is the first all-male group from JYP Entertainment in six years, following the debut of 2PM in 2008. Similar to their senior group, Got7 gained attention for their stage performances due to their skills in martial arts tricking. On January 20, 2014, the group released their first EP, Got It?, which charted at number two on the Gaon Album Chart. They officially debuted on Mnet's music show M Countdown with their title track "Girls Girls Girls". On November 18, 2014, the group released their first studio album, Identify, which was followed by their second studio album Flight Log: Turbulence in 2016. For their work in 2014, Got7 won Best New Artist Group at the Seoul Music Awards and received three nominations at the 29th Golden Disk Awards, winning the New Artist Award. On October 22, 2014, Got7 made their Japanese debut with the release of their first single, "Around the World". In 2016, the group released their first Japanese studio album, Moriagatteyo.
