Ha Sung-woon, SEVENTEEN, AHOF, Stray Kids, PLAVE, BTS, Tomorrow X Together, Kang Daniel, SHINee, and ENHYPEN have been named the winners of the September TENASIA Artist Top Ten K-Pop Boy Brand category.
In September, TENASIA conducted a global voting service, dividing categories into K-Pop Boy Brand, K-Pop Girl Brand, and Hot Genre Brand.
Ha Sung-woon emerged as the top K-Pop Boy Brand. Debuting in 2014 with the group HOTSHOT, he gained fame as the main vocalist of Wanna One, formed through Mnet's audition program 'Produce 101 Season 2' in 2017. Ha Sung-woon performed at the ATA Festival on August 28, a large-scale K-Pop event held at Hangang Nanji Park in Seoul on August 27-28.
SEVENTEEN secured the second spot. They recently held the 'SEVENTEEN WORLD TOUR 'NEW_' IN HONG KONG' at Kai Tak Stadium on September 27-28, attracting over 72,600 fans. SEVENTEEN will visit five North American cities next month and perform at Japan's four major domes in November and December. Additionally, SEVENTEEN will host 'SEVENTEEN THE CITY' in Los Angeles, marking their return to the city after nearly a year.
The third position went to the group AHOF, a nine-member boy band formed through SBS's audition program 'Universe League.' They released their first mini-album 'WHO WE ARE' in July. Member Chihen has temporarily halted activities due to health issues since September 16. AHOF also graced the cover of the inaugural issue of the global K-POP magazine 'FI (Faves Idol)' on September 30.
Following them were Stray Kids, PLAVE, BTS, Tomorrow X Together, Kang Daniel, SHINee, and ENHYPEN.
The rankings for Ha Sung-woon, SEVENTEEN, AHOF, Stray Kids, PLAVE, BTS, Tomorrow X Together, Kang Daniel, SHINee, and ENHYPEN were determined by a combination of 30% media index from the online music site Melon, 10% Google Trends index, and 60% global popularity votes through TENASIA's voting service.
The criteria for K-Pop Boy Brand and K-Pop Girl Brand include male and female idol groups and solo artists within the top 20 on the Melon chart for the month. The Hot Genre Brand includes domestic groups and solo artists with a history of entering the Melon chart and Idol Champ monthly chart, also within the top 20 for the month.
Each month, the winners of the TENASIA Artist Top Ten receive benefits such as exclusive feature articles and promotion as the Artist Top Ten on TENASIA's main page.
By Min-kyung Lee, TENASIA Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr