Who Will Win the "Rookie of the Year" Award? Ailee vs. B.A.P vs EXO

Talks about the rookie artist, who shone the most this year, are already taking place.

Strong candidates for the rookie award include EXO-K, B.A.P and Ailee. It is reported that other girl groups or male solo artists have not yielded as great results as those three candidates.

B.A.P had a busy year filled with various promotions. They debuted this past January and have released four tracks so far. They started with their debut track, “Warrior,” then “Power,” “No Mercy” and “Crash.” Reportedly, B.A.P will be releasing another new track soon.

Many of the other existing boy groups have many nuna (older female) fans. However, B.A.P has tried to differentiate themselves by targeting female teens. Their fan cafe membership exceeds 60,000 and they set records with the #1 rank in various countries such as Taiwan, Malaysia and Germany.

SM Entertainment‘s rookie group EXO had a stand-out number of sales this year. As soon as EXO came out with their debut album “MAMA,” they sold over 100,000 copies in just one month. After debuting “MAMA” on April 9, EXO-K sold over 70,000 copies and EXO-M sold over 30,000 copies for a total of around 110,000 copies. This is quite an accomplishment for a rookie artist. The concept of having two sub-groups, EXO-K and EXO-M at the same time seems to have succeeded.

Ailee is being evaluated as the most successful mainstream rookie artist. After her debut track “Heaven” was released, it stayed on the top of the charts for a while. Her  “Immortal Song” appearances also helped her succeed. Her attractive looks as well as her exceptional vocal skills have made her possibly the most famous rookie artist this year.

It is reported that she is preparing to release a new track this month and is currently wrapping up preparations for her come back.

Soompiers, who do you think deserves the rookie of the year award?