Media experts rank the Top 5 rising K-Pop rookies of 2015

Korean medial portal Star News gathered several media experts such music officials, composers, broadcasting PDs, music critics, and more to vote on the Top 5 rookies of 2015.

Bringing 28 experts in total, they chose the best team, both male and female groups, who debuted in 2015.

Revealing the results on December 15th, G-Friend was named by an overwhelming vote as the #1 rookies this year with 14 votes.

G-Friend debuted in January 2015 with “Glass Beads,” returning in July with their 2nd mini-album Me Gustas Tu, with the latter being a hit after their stage performance went viral due to the slippery stage.

Boy group SEVENTEEN from Pledis Entertainment comes in #2 with 5 of the votes.

After years as trainees, the 13-member group finally debuted in June 2015 with Adore U before returning with “Mansae” (Boys Be) in September 2015. They received a lot of attention not only for their visual members with Vernon even taking part of Show Me The Money 4 this year, but due to the group members’ talents to participate as producers, lyricists, and composers of their own albums so early in their career. Additionally, they recorded a high amount of albums sold, rare for a rookie.

YG Entertainment group iKON takes #3 with 4 votes. Despite debuting late in the year (October 2015), iKON shot to popularity right away with their tracks breaking the Top 10 upon its releases. So far they have published a total of six music videos with two more on the way on December 24th.

Girl group TWICE from JYP Entertainment takes #4 with 3 votes and indie band hyukoh comes in #5 with 2 votes.


NETIZEN REACTIONS
Koreaboo has collected reactions from Netizens who commented on the original article from our Korean source. The below comments are the most popular comments at the time of this article being published.


[+202, -280] Hyuk Oh’s a rookie? Why is SEVENTEEN so high and iKON so low

[+191, -155] We’re not saying they should be ranked high because the company is big but SEVENTEEN isn’t really THAT big

[+164, -83] Does this make sense at all?ㅋㅋ

[+94, -29] What’s up with the comments. So only idols from big companies can rank high? G-Friend and SEVENTEEN both deserve it. They even said the rank wasn’t solely dependent on how well they did.

[+85, -24] Pfft so according to the comments only idols from big companies can rank high?

[+66, -12] Pfft these comments both those teams deserve to be where they are

Source: Pann and Star News