According to the Korea Times, Kpop girl groups that once dominated the charts are gradually losing their position, leaving only a few strong in the context of changing music.
aespa and IVE are among the few girl groups with outstanding products in the first half of 2025. Many other girl groups, including names from big companies such as ILLIT, Le Sserafim, Baby Monster, have not met expectations.
Recently, The Black Label's newly released boy-band mixed music group, Allday Project, topped Melon's daily chart with their debut single "Famous".
Melon is famous for being a "concrete ranking" that is unlikely to be crowded into, even for top Kpop artists, making the Top 1 achievement of this rookie group special.
Girl groups that used to be a part of Melon's top position have now been replaced by solo artists, bands (with a solo singer) and mix groups such as Allday Project.
According to the Korean Music Content Association's digital rankings, based on data from major platforms, only four girl groups have entered the Top 10 every week from January to June 21.
IVE, released in February, is the only girl group to reach 2 Top 10 positions, with the song "Rebel Heart" reaching No. 1 and " Attitude" reaching No. 7.
aespa has the song "Drama", released in October last year, remaining in the Top 10 for the entire first half of 2025.
Baby Monster's "Sheesh" and Le Sserafim's "Hot" entered the Top 10 and Top 9, but struggled to stay in the top for just 1 week.
Apart from IVE and aespa, few girl groups have made a remarkable impact.
This shows a clear contrast to the revival of the girl group 2-3 years ago. In the first half of 2023, artists such as NewJeans, Le Sserafim, aespa, IVE, i-dle, NMIXX, STAYC and FIFTY FIFTY regularly occupied more than half of the Top 10 on major Korean music charts.
But this year, even rookies from big companies like H4T4 and KIKI, along with previous breakthrough names like FIFTY FIFTY, H1-KEY, Kiss of Life and Young Posse, have failed to maintain their appeal.
Album sales also reflect a similar trend. Only 2 girl groups sold over 1 million copies in their first week.
i-dle's album "Good thing" sold 1.06 million copies, IVE's album " Attitude" sold 1.04 million copies.
Le Sserafim's album "Easy" reached 670,000 copies, 300,000 copies lower than the previous album. NMIXX, ILLIT, and ITZY achieved similar sales to their previous works.
Experts say the reason for the public's loss of interest in Kpop is due to ongoing political issues.
Others pointed out that public fatigue stems from high-level conflicts in the Kpop industry, such as the disagreement between HYBE Group and former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin, which may have hurt groups like Le Sserafim and ILLIT.
"Famous girl groups have chosen to play safely this year and that has not attracted attention. HYBE's controversy has added fatigue, reducing public interest in Kpop, music critic Jung Min Jae analyzed.
Music critic Lim Hee Yoon notes that the broader change in content consumption has affected Kpop. streaming platforms and short content are providing alternatives to Kpop.
"The audience is increasingly listening to solo artists and bands on music platforms, instead they interact with Kpop through short videos. That also shows that the charts do not reflect the actual activities of fans," said critic Lim.
