In Forbes Korea's "30 Under 30" 2024 list, former SF9 Rowoon and boy group Stray Kids have been selected as the only K-pop artists on the list, proving their power and influence!
On February 28, the global magazine unveiled its annual rankings for "30 Under 30," which recognizes and promotes an individual's remarkable achievements despite their young age of under 30.
The selected people were considered by their power to positively contribute to the world, how they develop their talents and passion, expand their influence and inspire others to join their journey toward meaningful change.
To select the thirty significant personalities, the TOP 30 was divided into six categories; (1) Deep/Enterprise Tech, (2) Social Impact, (3) Consumer Tech, (4) ART, (5) Science/SW, and (6) Entertainment.
Forbes Korea Selects Rowoon for '30 Under 30' List
In the entertainment section, Forbes Korea explained that the six key personalities were chosen based on recommendations from entertainment experts and their fandom's influence.
Former SF9 Rowoon was chosen, with the magazine highlighting his excellence both as an idol and as a top-notch actor.
The article emphasized his performance as an idol, who transitioned as a full-fledged actor and proved that he's not only a "pretty face."
Since his acting debut, Rowoon produced prolific works across genres, including historical, fantasy, and rom-com series.
Read also: Ex-SF9 Rowoon Criticized for 'Robot-like' Hosting: 'The kid who left his group to act...'
In his first work as a main character for "Extraordinary You," there were concerns about his acting skills, but he managed to bag "Drama of the Year" and "Best New Actor" Awards at the 2019 MBC Drama Awards.
Since then, his popularity became unstoppable, wherein his succeeding works, "She Would Never Know," "The King's Affection" "Destined With You," and "The Matchmakers" were all well-received by the public.
Stray Kids Becomes Only K-pop Group in Forbes Korea's '30 Under 30'
Among numerous idols dominating the K-pop scene, the magazine chose Stray Kids, highlighting their top-tier skills in performance as well as a self-produced group.
Forbes emphasized the key role of its producing unit, 3RACHA, which is comprised of Bang Chan, Changbin and Han. Since their debut, they have been producing, writing and composing all songs on Stray Kids' album.
Later on, they then cemented their full status as a group that produced its own songs with the other members' participation in their releases as well.
As a result, they not only created a strong fan base around the world, but they also broke the wall in the US market, the largest music market, by becoming the third Korean singer to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 chart after BTS and SuperM.
They also hold the "first" artist in the history of Korean singer albums, after they sold 4.61 million album copies in the first week of its release in June 2023.
Forbes then predicted:
"An idol group in their 5th year of debut that is soaring high. Looking at their remarkable growth and progress on the world stage, the future of K-pop still looks bright."
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Written by Eunice Dawson.
