Despite the popularity, NewJeans is shockingly nowhere to be seen in the Top 30 girl group brand reputation rankings — and Bunnies claim this is because of HYBE.
On Sept. 15th, the Korean Business Research Institute published the rankings for the Top 30 most popular girl groups in September 2024.
Being on the list is a huge factor in determining the level of fame of K-pop acts, as data used include the shift in customer participation, media coverage, SNS interaction, community indexes.
For this month, the leading 4th-gen teams reigned in the Top 3, such as aespa, IVE, and LE SSERAFIM, ranked in order.
Shockingly, NewJeans, who was once No. 1, nosedived in the rankings by only ranking No. 25 in August.
This September, the girl group has been ejected from the Top 30.
Seeing this, Bunnies (NewJeans fandom) is blaming the parent label, HYBE, since NewJeans' activities were halted in the middle of its conflict with ADOR, the sub-label handling the girl group.
Fans claim that HYBE is purposely sabotaging the quintet by limiting their activities, and this leads to their index points decreasing immensely.
This speculation is backed by the fact that the team also showed their animosity with Bang Si Hyuk and poured all-out support to ADOR's former CEO, Min Hee Jin, the so-called "Mother of NewJeans."
Despite this, the fandom is confident that the group's rank will eventually rise after its viral ad for the iPhone 16 was unveiled on the 13th.
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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz