It all began in 2007 with the debut of Wonder Girls and Girls' Generation. Wonder Girls rose to the top of K-pop with "So Hot" and "Nobody" in 2008, followed by Girls' Generation's "Gee" in 2009. Then came the mass production of girl groups in order to follow in their footsteps. In 2009 alone came f(x), RAINBOW, SECRET, After School, T-ARA, 4minute and 2NE1. In 2010, more followed: Girl's Day, Nine Muses, miss A and SISTAR.

SISTAR came into existence in the middle of the girl-group whirlpool that threw K-pop into chaos. Their songs in the debut year, "Push Push," "Shady Girl," and "How Dare You," all had success. They were in no place, however, go against Girls' Generation's "Oh," Wonder Girls' "2 Different Tears," T-ARA's "Crazy Because of You" or 2NE1's "Go Away."

In 2011, "So Cool" was ranked number 6 on Melon's yearly chart, but T-ARA and 2NE1 were ahead of them.

Then came the rapid drought and decline of girl groups in 2012. With Psy's "Gangnam Style" taking over K-pop and the rest of the world and Busker Busker fending off all challengers in girl groups, it seemed that the reign of girl groups was all but over. Then came SISTAR's "Alone" and "Loving You" that saw enormous success as they went on to place number two and four in 2012's yearly charts.

On June 11, SISTAR released "Give It To Me" along with their second regular album. Currently, the song is number one in all nine Korean music charts.

Once again, SISTAR could not have come back at a more opportune time, when the rise of Jo Yong Pil and continued success of Psy, along with audition stars like Roy Kim and Ak Dong Musician have been dominating K-pop, leaving little room for girl groups.

With 2NE1 set to come back this summer, the talk about the end of an era of girl groups will likely subside, at least for now.