2020 may have been a difficult year, but K-pop showed no signs of slowing down their hustle. Now that the year is over, Genius Korea has shared who their top artists for 2020 are. Keep on reading to see who made their rankings.
Back on Dec. 28, Genius Korea selected their top artists for the year 2020, with their community moderators compiling the rankings. All artists on the list were active in 2020. To select who makes their list, Genius Korea looks into total page views and concurrent page views via lyric searches on Genius.
Unsurprisingly, BTS ranked at number one. Know as the "Princes of Pop," BTS was able to soar even higher in 2020. In Feb. 2020, BTS dropped "Map of the Soul: 7", which ended up becoming the best-selling album in South Korean history and the first album to be certified Quadruple Million. Two months after the album's release, BTS was named the best-selling artist in South Korean history, selling more than 20 million albums cumulatively.
In Aug. 2020, BTS dropped their all-English single "Dynamite", which debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the first time a South Korean musical act ever had a song hit number one in the United States. The song earned BTS a Grammy nomination for "Best Pop Duo/Group Performance" at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. They earned their second number-one single in Oct. 2020 with their remix of Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo's "Savage Love (Laxed - Siren Beat)".
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In Nov. 2020, BTS dropped their album "BE" with the title track "Life Goes On". The title track hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it the first time a predominantly Korean song would hit number one in the United States.
The number two is the "World's Biggest Girl Group", BLACKPINK! 2020 was arguably BLACKPINK's busiest year to date. In April, they collaborated with Lady Gaga for "Sour Candy", which was included in the latter's "Chromatica" album. In June, BLACKPINK returned with "How You Like That", a pre-release to their studio album. This was BLACKPINK's first comeback in a year and two months.
In July, BLACKPINK released their second pre-release single "Ice Cream" with Selena Gomez. In Oct. the girl group finally released their much-anticipated full-length studio album "THE ALBUM". "THE ALBUM" peaked at number two on the Billboard 200 and the UK Album Chart, which makes them the highest-charting female Korean girl group ever. They also became the first-ever milion-seller girl group, selling 1.2 million copies of "THE ALBUM" in less than a month.
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That same month, Netflix dropped their BLACKPINK documentary, "BLACKPINK: Light Up The Sky", which documents their careers from their pre-debut, debut, to 2020. They are currently set to have their first online concert, "THE SHOW" on Jan. 31.
From 3-10, Genius Korea's top artists are:
3. (G)I-DLE
4. NCT
5. Stray Kids
6. BTS's V
7. ITZY
8. DAY6
9. Agust D (BTS's Suga)
10. MONSTA X
Did your favorite artist make the list?
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Written by Alexa Lewis
