aespa’s members have gone from their next-level success to supernova-sized victories. The SM Entertainment quartet has topped the monthly girl group brand reputation rankings since June 2024. In September, they celebrated their third consecutive win as the leader of the pack.
With Starship Entertainment’s IVE being their constant rival on the charts, aespa has once again outshone several other iconic female groups by achieving a brand value of 5,062,660 from August 15 to September 15. The K-pop girl group has broken the winning formula of the Korean Business Research Institute’s cumulative analysis of consumer participation, interaction, media activity, and consumer engagement index.
Earlier this month, the innovative group with out-of-the-box music concepts made history as the first female artist to win the Grand Prize (Daesang) at The Fact Music Awards 2024, breaking the winning record held by HYBE label’s boy groups BTS and SEVENTEEN since the inaugural ceremony in 2018. Furthermore, the latest update of the Billboard World Albums Chart for the week ending Sept. 14 showed that aespa’s first regular album, “Armageddon,” ranked ninth, continuing its 15-week streak on the chart.
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Newsies are nowhere to be seen in the Top 30 Girl Group Brand Reputation Ranking
However, aespa’s victory soon became an afterthought as ADORE was nowhere to be seen in the Newseen Top 30 Girl Group Brand Value Ranking. This unprecedented change comes at a time when the group is caught in the middle of a complicated dynamic that has deepened the rift between parent label HYBE and ADOR’s former CEO Min Hee Jin.
Fans immediately noticed the unexpected absence of NEWGENs from the roster and blamed the result on HYBE’s mistreatment of younger artists. “NEWGENs are clearly being harmed by HYBE!” X, formerly of TWITTER, responded. Yet another user responded, “NEWGENs not being here is a crime… being harmed by HYBE is real.”
Other top 5 ranked girl groups this month
The girl groups that made it to the top 5 rankings in September were IVE, LE SSERAFIM, (G)I-DLE, and Red Velvet. While ranked #2, IVE earned a score of 3,608,799. Meanwhile, LE SSERAFIM rose from last month’s fifth spot to third with a score of 3,567,430.
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(G)I-DLE also moved up from 10th place to 4th place with a brand value of 2,779,077. Finally, Red Velvet joined the top 5 list with a score of 2,752,242.
Top 30 Girl Groups of September 2024
#1 Espa
#2 IVE
#3 Le Seraphim
#4 (G)I-DL
#5 Red Velvet
#6 Oh My Girl
#7 Twice
#8 Blackpink
#9 Girls’ Generation
#10 Apink
#11 NMIX
#12 fromis_9
#13 Fifty Fifty
#14 TripleS
#15 Elite
#16 Signature
#17 BabyMonster
#18 XID
#19 Girls Day
#20 The Kiss of Life
#21 Luna
#22 Mamamoo
#23 Stacy
#24 ITzy
#25 Cape1r
#26 UNIS
#27 Catseye
#28 WJSN
#29 DIA
#30 Laboom
