[Roootan]

As im not from korea/or anywhere close, im not really familiar with who's the main group/soloist in korea. For me personally, it cant be anything other tha SG, but for all those who know, who is generally regarded as the most famous singer/s in korea?

[ihlubdbsg]

lol. Funny that you ask for an UNbiased opinion. I think everyone is some-what biased whether they admit it or not. xD Can you tell who I think is the most popular? xD lmao! Anyway, as for the MOST POPULAR GROUP/SOLOIST in Korea... Like any other country, there are many. It also really depends on what time frame you're looking at... Now? Two years ago? O_o Sorry, I don't mean to be an @$$ about this. :X I think I'll stalk this thread just to read what people will say. xD

[sujinny]

BoA is the most popular soloist in Korea (to me). and I'm not being biased!
and even though they disbanded, I'll say H.O.T. was really popular back then
along with Shinhwa (though Shinhwa is still popular now)
and DBSK. <-- I think that's me being biased lol.. but they really are popular =x

oh, and lee hyori is really popular too..
there are a lot more though :]

[--hearts.]

I doubt any of the answers will be unbias, but it also depends on what category. If we're talking largest fanbase...DBSK wins hands down. 800,000 OFFICIAL fans and counting. No wonder it's a world record. o.O

[EverCool]

Rain is the most popular soloist. (He is known as the Prince of Korea or Asia one of the other) and DBSK is the most popular group hands down.

[yumidoma]

H.O.T => legends..of K-pop industry...take is this way..they were the creater of K-pop Music..Industry (too sad they got disband)

Boa... the most famous...soloist female artist...

Bi/Rain...ithe pride of Asia.....top soloist Male artist

Shinwa....the longest running Korean boyband ever in the history of K-pop...

DBSK....the most successful and best boyband in Asia.....(ppl say tht they were re-creation of H.O.T)
but DBSK...surpassed..all the other artist....also..they have the world largest fanclub....

[annameg]

well, according to koreans that i have met..
korean stores, shops, restaurants, street^^
(lol AND those are like 30ish old people)

its always like :

"DONG BANG SHIN KI! number ONE! SUPER popular" ^^ <<<< unbiased right there^^

nobody's sure really, with the time and all that.^^;

advice:
fly.to.korea. for a purely UNBIASED answer^^

soloist? BI RAIN. lol.

[jingaling.]

most popular group? dbsk. this is not biased. maybe somewhat.
just fly over to korea and you can tell. they're .... really popular.
especially when it comes to big concerts such as the dream concert & asia song festival,
where cassiopeia dominates more than half of the stadium.
most popular soloist would be boa or bi.

[silverfire444]

lmao, unbiased opinion? that'll be pretty hard to give. personally, i think that based on things like sales and fan club numbers, groups like DBSK, Shinhwa, Big Bang, Super Junior for the boys, and Wonder Girls and SNSD for the girl groups. these groups tend to have pretty good sales for Korean singers, plus i'm pretty sure their fanclubs are enormous. there's also boa and rain, of course, though because they've been busy with their overseas work i'm not sure how well their korean fans are holding up.

there are also some other groups and singers who sell pretty well, but they're not popular in the sense that they appear on television a lot like the groups i mentioned before are. but really, it's difficult to give a biased answer, plus there are many factors what makes singers and groups truly popular.

[kiwistar]

unbiased?

DBSK, SuJu, SNSD....you simple cannot deny that SM has crazy mad promotions skills, whether you actually like the artist or not.

Big Bang - big hit = Lies

Wonder Girls - big hit = Tell Me

SG Wannabe

Eru maybe? Epik High, Clazziquai...
maybe Younha, Lee Soo Young

Boa and Hyori?

Ivy was extremely popular last year

[kayzpal]

I have several Korean friends and one of them is a good friend of mine. She said DBSK is very popular that's for certain. But then Big Bang is somewhat popular as well. And when I asked about Rain, their reaction was "Oh yeah...him. Yeahhh... Nah..." He is VERY popular though, but I think they kinda bored of him or something.

[talkplayloveS2]

d-d-d-d-d-dong bang shin ki!
...haha

talented, funny, cute, hot, witty [changmin], EUKYANG EUKYANG

[cartoongirl7]

Even speaking from an unbiased point of view, DBSK still takes the cake for Korea's top group. Hell, they could be the most popular of all of ASIA if you just look their skyrocketing popularity in China, Taiwan, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, etc.

They have 800,000 official Korean fans, which alone sets the current world record. Not to mention they have hundreds of thousands more fans from all over the world (Just think, Big East isn't even counted!).

As for soloists...most likely Rain or BoA. I favor BoA more, but Rain's no doubt popular too : )

[love-yun]

dbsk

but i think it also depends on timing
wondergirls had a popularity boost through "tell me" and big bang with "lie"
i can't really say they're the most popular, but those singles did have a big effect

dbsk, just because they're the most popular at the moment
cassiopeia is a humungous fanbase - proves how popular the boys are

[chrissatinee]

Well everyone answers biased.
but its up to you to believe wether its true or not.

Well it depends, it we're talking about now. . .

Groups:
Boy - DBSK
Girl - I say SNSD or WG, but I go more towards SNSD, there is no reason.

Soloist:
Boy - Rain?
Girl - BoA

Before. . . Im not so sure since I didnt get into Kpop back in the 90's

Groups:
Boy - H.O.T; Shinhwa
Girl - SES; Fin.KL


and i dont know about Soloist.

[baby2swt]

Right now, in my opinion

It's DBSK hands down. Serious. I don't think anyone can come close to their status YET.
Largestfanbaseintheworldanyone?
Solo would probably be BoA and Rain; he might not be as popular in Korea, but all over Asia... he's HUGE.

S.E.S. and H.O.T. were the IT groups back in their days.
I loved S.E.S.

and just because.
Super Junior. LOL
They have a pretty big fanbase.
This is me being a bit biased, but still.
It has some truth in it.

[dewya_21]

you know...go and read asianfanatics news. they have a lot of articles on dbsk and rain....you can kind of tell which groups are most popular because of all the articles they have up...

thats my advice...or follow the beat of which ever group sounds best to you...

[jjoongieluv]

H.O.T => legends..of K-pop industry...take is this way..they were the creater of K-pop Music..Industry (too sad they got disband)

Boa... the most famous...soloist female artist...

Bi/Rain...ithe pride of Asia.....top soloist Male artist

Shinwa....the longest running Korean boyband ever in the history of K-pop...

DBSK....the most successful and best boyband in Asia.....(ppl say tht they were re-creation of H.O.T)
but DBSK...surpassed..all the other artist....also..they have the world largest fanclub....

im going to have to agree with this

[poco123]

This is my unbiased opinion

Disbanded/Old school popular groups:
Boys: H.O.T., Sechskies, Seo Taeji and Idols.=> They are THE legends! Seo Taeji, nothing more to say. H.O.T. was like THE hottest group EVER! And their fans are still loyal to them. It may not seem, but Sechskies was DEFINITELY worthy enough to be called their rivals. They EACH had enough fans to fill up a stadium.
Girls: S.E.S., Fin.KL=> S.E.S. is definitely the more popular one, but Fin.KL was worthy of being called their rivals.

Now:
Boys: DBSK, Shinhwa, Super Junior (tiny bit biased), SS501, 1TYM => I find Shinhwa became more popular recently, and they still exist so . DBSK=Guiness World Records: 800 000 official fanclub members; enough said. Super Junior, part of the big 3 (Dongbangjunior501), extremely popular in MANY Asian countries such as China, Philippines Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand. Also, fans all over the world . SS501, although compared to many other groups, they're still one of the most popular, part of the big 3. 1TYM, same as Shinhwa, still here and have a LOT of fans.
Girls: Wonder Girls, SNSD=> Tell Me, Girl's Generation. SNSD, the first girl group in SIX years to get album sales over 100 000 copies. 3 of the songs they promoted in their album got first in a music show.

Soloists:
Guy: Bi=> 100 most influential people. Time Magazine, two/three years in a row. Enough said.
Girl: Boa=> Debuted when she was 11, current shareholder of SM. Extremely popular in Korea and Japan

That's my opinion

[pochacco3]

Well, I would say popularity has to depend on the time frame...

I gotta agree with everyone's opinions

I would say right NOW, popularity wise it would be
DBSK
Shinhwa (bit biased here) = lots of fans still, longest running k-pop group
Super Junior
Other groups that are starting to become popular are Big Bang, SS501, SNSD, Wondergirls

PAST, popularity would belong to....
H.O.T
Shinhwa
Fin.K.L
S.E.S

There might have been other groups I missed out but these are just general

Solo artist: NOW = Boa/ Lee Hyori and Rain / Se7en (but now both male artist r busy overseas)