2PM

2PM is a South Korean boy band, originally a seven-member group, but currently consisting of six members due to the sudden contract termination of leader Jaebeom following an Internet controversy in September 2009. They are managed by JYP Entertainment. The current members are Junsu, Junho, Nichkhun, Taecyeon, Wooyoung and Chansung.

2PM is made by Korean musician Park Jin Young after GOD for the first time in 10 years to launch boyband. 2PM is one of the two subgroups branched out from the eleven-member (before Jaebeom's departure) boy band One Day, the other being 2AM. They debuted with the song "10 Jeom Manjeome 10 Jeom" (10점 만점에 10점, lit. 10 Points Out of 10 Points), which showcased their acrobatic dance styles. They achieved their first No. 1 song with "Again & Again".

History

Pre-Debut

The members of 2PM all auditioned (except Nichkhun, who was scouted.) to become part of JYP Entertainment, to which the Wonder Girls & 2AM also belong. Some members held their auditions in other countries; for example, Park Jaebeom auditioned in the United States. Other members already had experience in the entertainment industry prior to their acceptance into JYP Entertainment, such as Kim Junsu, who had won various singing competitions, and Ok Taecyeon, Lee Junho and Hwang Chansung, who had participated in the show 'SuperStar Survival'.

2PM's and 2AM's training days were filmed in a documentary called Hot Blood Men, which aired on Mnet. The show documented the time by time training program of the JYP trainees who were to be part of the group "One Day", as well as the elimination of three trainees from the group during the time.

2008: Debut and early success

Unlike other Korean record labels, their record label JYP Entertainment opted to promote them with a more mature than "pretty-boy" (in Korean ggotminam) image.

2PM debuted with their single "10 Jeom Manjeome 10 Jeom" (10점 만점에 10점, lit. 10 Points Out Of 10 Points) on September 4, 2008. On October 17, 2008, they began promotion of "Only You", another song from their debut mini album "Hottest Time of the Day."

On April 16, 2009, the group released their second mini album 2:00PM Time For Change, which they began promoting on April 23. On May 9, 2009, they won their first Mutizen Song award on M!Countdown since their debut; in the same week, they won their second Mutizen on SBS Inkigayo. The group earned their third Mutizen the following week, completing the triple crown and making them ineligible to win for the following weeks. However, the award that had been eluding them - Music Bank - was quickly won soon after. On June 11, 2PM began promotions for "Niga Mipda" (니가 밉다, lit. I Hate You) on M!Countdown. On July 2 and 3, 2PM achieved first place on the M!Countdown and Music Bank charts for the song "Niga Mipda". They achieved the triple crown for the song on M!Countdown by July 16. On July 30, 2PM won the 'Only One Song' award on M!Countdown.

2009: Controversy and rise to prominence

On September 4, 2009, articles surfaced on the internet regarding Jaebeom's posts from 2005 on his personal Myspace account, in which he expressed his dislike for Korea while still a trainee for JYP Entertainment. Jaebeom issued an apology regarding this matter. Although outraged protesters demanded that Jaebeom should be forced out of 2PM, JYP Entertainment CEO Park Jin-young stated on September 7 that he was going to continue to remain part of the group. The following day, Jaebeom announced on his official fancafe that he would be leaving the group and returning to the United States, with plans of going back to school and bettering his understanding of music, and also apologized to the other 2PM members for not being a good leader and older brother to the group. Park Jin-young has confirmed that he will respect the singer's decision, and that 2PM will continue on as a 6-member group. Additionally, due to the sensitive topic of Jaebeom's departure, all 2PM members were withdrawn from their regular appearances on variety shows.

The group finished re-filming their music video for "Heartbeat", the title song of their first full-length album, without Jaebeom on October 31, 2009. During a press conference, it was revealed that Jaebeom's vocals would not be removed from the songs. The day after the now 6-member 2PM's full-length album was released, Park Jin-young released a statement that Jaebeom would return as a member of 2PM if he wanted to make a comeback, while indicating that his return was not imminent. In further support of Jaebeom's place in the group, the six 2PM members have also decided to distribute their income from their 1st album with him, sending him an equally divided amount of the earnings.

The group's first full length album, titled 1:59PM, was released on November 10, 2009. Both the album and title track, "Heartbeat", quickly rose to the #1 position on multiple music sales charts. The group made their first comeback performance, signifying the beginning of their promotional activities for the album, on M.Net's ‘O Good Concert’ on Thursday, November 12, 2009, subsequently making their KBS Music Bank, MBC Music Core and SBS Inkigayo comebacks on Friday, November 13, Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15, respectively.

On November 20, 2009, 2PM performed at and was honored with two awards by the M.net Asian Music Awards (previously known as M.net KM Music Festival): the award for Best Male Group and Artist of the Year (the latter being one of the three most prestigious awards, or "Daesang"s, at the show, which also include Song of the Year and Album of the Year). The group paid homage to him during their performance of "Again & Again", in which a spotlight was shown over Jaebeom's usual position in the dance formation and his vocals were not replaced.

On November 26, 2009, after two weeks of promotional activities for the 1:59PM album, 2PM earned their first #1 on a TV music show (KBS Music Bank's "K-Chart") since the album's release, with "Heartbeat", which went on to take #1 on the K-Chart for three more weeks. In addition, "Heartbeat" achieved the "Mutizen" song award Triple Crown on SBS Inkigayo by being the #1 song the Inkigayo "Take 7" chart for three weeks, the maximum amount of time for which a nominated song is eligible to win. On December 30, 2009, at Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)'s end of the year Music Festival, "Again & Again" was recognized as "Song of the Year", winning with 57,060 votes.

2PM followed up end-of-2009 activities with the second single off of 1:59PM album, "Tired of Waiting". The song was performed live for the first time at the SBS Music Festival on December 29, 2009. 2PM's promotion for the album ended with their SBS Inkigayo performance on January 17, 2010.

2010: Don't Stop Can't Stop

On the cover of KoreAm, August 2010

On February 25, 2010, JYP Entertainment announced that Park Jaebeom would not be returning to 2PM, as his contract with the company had been permanently terminated.] A fan meeting/press conference was held two days later with the 6 remaining members of 2PM and JYP Entertainment CEO Choi Jungwook in attendance, where it was announced that although 2PM would continue promoting as 6 members, a new leader would not be chosen to replace Park.

In mid-April 2010, 2PM released image and video teasers for their third single Don't Stop Can't Stop, for which the group promised to showcase an even stronger side of themselves than before. The EP, containing six tracks, was released on April 19, 2010. The lead single, Without U, quickly rose to the #1 position on 6 different music charts. The group made their television performance comeback on Mnet's music program M! Countdown on April 22, 2010.

2PM has been confirmed as the opening act for their label-mates, popular girl group Wonder Girls for 9 shows on the latter's United States headlining summer tour. 2PM also performed at the 8th annual Korea Times Music Festival in Los Angeles, California on May 1, 2010, and at the Dream Concert in Seoul, South Korea on May 22, 2010.

On May 24, 2010, 2PM released the song "What's Your Celebration?" for the FIFA 2010 World Cup. The song samples K'Naan's Wavin' Flag.

On July 11, Taecyeon & Wooyoung left the position of MCs at SBS Inkigayo. And a while after, on August 2, Wooyoung also left Winwin to concentrated on 2PM's busy schedule. Then they have prepared so hard for their 1st concert in Seoul & Busan. The 1st concerts took place on July 31, August 1 (in Seoul) & August 7, 8 (in Busan) (2AM & missA were invited as the guests of the concert).

2PM's first concerts were ended successfully with the number of 12,000 people (not only are Korean, but also come from Japan, Taiwan, China & Thailand) attended each day. In these concerts, 2PM performed in turn all their hit-songs since 2008. Also, the members put their impressive solo performances on the stage; which attracted a lot attention. The concerts ended with the song "THANK YOU" written by 2PM. 2PM sent the messages to all fans, who always stand by them & support them no matter what. Towards these concerts, 2PM proved how they improved & how they passed through together with their fans, Hotttest. After the success of first concert, JYPE has informed that 2PM will have two encore concerts in Seoul on September 4 & 5 to celebrate their 2nd anniversary.

On October 11, 2010, 2PM released their fourth extended play, Still 2:00PM, with the lead single "I'll Be Back" staying at number one for two consecutive weeks in the Music Bank. On November 1, 2010, Still 2:00PM debuted unexpectedly on the 13th spot of the Billboard's World Album-Chart though no specific promotions for the album were made in the US.

2PM was granted the “Most Popular Asian Singer” award at the Mandarin Music Honors 2010 in China. The boys attended the grand event on October 18 at Wukesong Arena; it was the tenth annual MMH, and was broadcasted on MTV and CCTV in China. Previously, Rain, Jang Nara, and Shin Seung Hoon have each taken home the “Year’s Best Korean Singer” award, but this is the first time a Korean artist has ever won the “Most Popular Asian Singer” award. To the delight of fans, boys performed “Heartbeat” and their new hit, “I’ll Be Back.” 2PM shared, “We are so happy to be at one of Asia’s biggest music award shows as Korea’s representative; we wanted to perform for all our Asian fans. We also won this award! We would appreciate more love and support in the future.”

2PM officially debuted on Japan on December 8 with their first live event in Japan at the Ryogoku Kokugikan Gymnasium, a place well known for sumo games. The platinum showcase was called the “2PM 1st Contact in JAPAN” LIVE. The stadium holds more than 10,000 spectators and 2PM put on a total of three showcase performances, so in total more than 30,000 people came to get a glimpse of 2PM.

2011 - Present

2PM Performing a concert, in April 2011

On March 6, 2011, it was announced that 2PM will release their Japanese Debut-Single "Take Off" on May 18, which was also featured as an Ending Song for the Blue Exorcist anime series.[35] Due to the major online pre-order of the limited version A, regular version and limited version B of the single, "Take Off" has ranked from No. 1 to 3, respectively, on the pre-order chart of Tower Records Japan. It has also reached No.1 in the USEN's J-Pop Chart. 2PM is the first Korean band that has reached that spot in this particular chart.

While dominating the music charts with #1 spot on Japanese music charts with ‘Take Off,’ 2PM also managed to dominate ticket booth sales as they quickly sold out all the seats for their Japanese concert tour. Well, the tour is over now and it has reportedly been a huge success. 2PM’s first Japanese concert tour–entitled ‘2PM 1st Japan Tour 2011 ‘Take Off”–kicked off in Sapporo on May 6 and ended earlier today on the 13th in Tokyo. Tour stops also included Fukuoka (8th), Osaka (9th) and Nagoya (10th). 2PM also added another concert in Tokyo on the 12th to please fans who couldn’t get a hold of a ticket when they were first released. In response to the success of their tour, 2PM stated, “Before the tour started, we were nervous and had our worries. However, the love that our fans showed us at the concert became our strength; it was really touching. We deeply thank our Japanese fans for loving both our music and us. In addition, we want to thank the staff members for working so hard. We will work even harder in the future.

After 2PM's first venture to the Japanese music market, JYP Entertainment released a set of publicity photos of the band along the tracklist of their upcoming second studio album entitled "Hands Up" on June 12, 2011. One day later, MTV Korea announced the release date of the album as June 20. The MV for the title track was filmed in Singapore and for the first time, the album featured two songs composed by 2PM members: "HOT" by Junsu and "Give it to Me" by Junho.

Hands Up successfully managed to snag the coveted “all-kill” crown on all of the major charts. Not only has their title track landed at the number one spot, several of their ancillary songs on their album also managed to place on the charts as well. The promotions ended on Sunday, July 24, with a total of only 1 month after its release in order for the boys to prepare for their Japanese promotions and their 'Hands Up Asia Tour'.

Starting in July, “2PM Show“ will broadcast on SBS’s E!TV cable channel with all six members, and it will mark the first time 2PM emcees a program with their name on it. SBS E!TV’s PD Kim Yong Kyu expressed great anticipation for the show, as he stated, “The key point is that all of the members will be included in the show. 2PM is showing great enthusiasm for the program, especially because the show will require the members to fulfill missions given to them by the viewers.” “2PM Show” will heavily rely on social networking sites to communicate with fans and netizens alike. Currently, producers are utilizing the official “2PM Show”Twitter website to ask survey questions such as “Which member seems to have the least perseverance?”, “Who is most likely to be the best father in the future?”, “Who is most likely to get married first?“, and more. PD Kim commented further by saying, “We will not only focus on 2PM’s younger fan base, but also on their growing 20-to-40 year old fan base as well. The program will concentrate on unlikely mission topics like ‘Be a father for a day’ to appeal to a larger audience. 2PM will distance themselves from their ‘beastly idol’ image and will even take on a cooking mission as well.” 2PM previously starred in cable shows like “Wild Bunny” and “Idol Army Season 3” during their rookie years. However, after their rise in popularity, it is rare for all the 2PM members to appear on a single show together. As such, fans are showing fervent support for the show, especially because of the busy overseas and individual schedules the members had to endure until now. Regarding 2PM’s busy schedule, PD Kim replied, “The members have shown an interest in having a show with their own name before. It is true that 2PM has a tight schedule, but the members have a strong desire to carry out the program, so I do not expect members to pull out midway through.”

On September 2nd, ‘Beast idols’ 2PM finally held their first concert for their first Asia tour titled “2PM HANDS UP TOUR CONCERT“. With amazing performances, stellar live vocals as well as colorful stages, this 2PM concert made the crowd’s hearts beat with excitement and sheer satisfaction. The concert was applauded as a success, and the boys hope to deliver even better ones for the future stops. 2PM stated with overflowing joy, “We waited patiently and prepared diligently for today, the day we got to meet with our fans. The two hours we spent together was like a happy dream. Armed with the love and energy that fans gave us today, we will show an even better stage for our Asia Tour. For the people who suffered for our fans and our concert, thank you. We will always be a 2PM who tries our best“. 2PM kicked off their Asia Tour with a two-day concert in Seoul on September 2 and 3. They headed to Taiwan for October 7 and 8, Indonesia for November 11, Singapore for November 19 and Malaysia for November 26 until now.

On November 30, 2011, 2PM released their first studio album in Japanese language called "REPUBLIC OF 2PM". It contains all their Japanese singles released so far (Take Off, I'm Your Man and Ultra Lover) plus the Japanese version of their most recent Korean hit song “Hands Up”, as well as a new song composed by Junsu for Japanese fans called “Hanarete Itemo,” and 4 other completely new songs. The main point of the album artwork motif is a taste of the 50’s and 60’s. The high production cost of this unique work includes a reserved hotel, a gigantic constructed set, a chartered helicopter, a limousine, and more.

The boys of 2PM showcased their masculine appeals at their most recent Arena Tour stop. 2PM kicked off their first Japanese Arena Tour: ‘Republic of 2PM‘ at the Osaka-Jo Hall on December 5 and 6, and their explosive fame was confirmed by the 20,000 fans that filled every seat in the enormous facility. The arena tour began after the boys released their first full-length Japanese album ‘Republic Of 2PM’, and they will be performing 9 shows total in six different cities. The members performed their major Korean hits as well as the songs from their first full-length Japanese album. 2PM put on an energetic performance that lit up the stage, and even spoke to their fans in an Osakan accent. 2PM also gifted their fans with a performance of “Hanarete Itemo“, a song member Junsu wrote and composed for their fans, which caused the touched audience members to shed some emotional tears. The official Japanese 2PM fanclub ‘Hottest Japan‘ was also established along with the arena tour kick off, and the boys will be heading to Nagoya to perform on the 8th, followed by Tokyo on the 14th, Fukuoka on the 17th and 18th, and the Nippon Budokan on the 20st and 21st.

In order to celebrate their first anniversary in Japan, 2PM held a special event for the chosen 10,000 of the many fans that purchased their first Japanese album ‘Republic of 2PM‘ on December 10 at Makuhari Messe. The night was filled with fun programs, such as special video footage, a talk show, Q&A session, a quiz game, present give-away, and more.

Oricon released their sales for 2011, announcing that 2PM was the 2nd best selling new artist in Japan, only behind Johnny & Associates's group Kis-My-FT2, with 990 million yen (12.68 million USD) only in singles, albums and DVDs sales.

2PM concluded their “2PM Arena Tour 2011 ‘Republic of 2PM’” at the Nippon Budokan on December 21st. During the final encore, 10,000 fans sang “Hanarete itemo” surprising the boys. 2PM thanked the audience with teary eyes by saying, “We were deeply moved by everyone’s surprise event“. 2PM is already scheduled to have a 6 day performance at Nippon Budokan. While reflecting on their tour 2PM remarked, “It’s hard to believe that our first arena tour is over. Thank you so much. When you’re tired or when it’s hard, we hope that you can look back at this moment and get energy and power from it. We hope to continue making great music. Let’s see each other again at our next live!”. In regards to the impact 2PM’s upcoming Budokan performance, JYPE recently commented, “While other Korean artists have performed at the Budokan, never before has a K-pop act held six consecutive shows. 2PM will be the first ever Korean band to do that. Given that they only made their official Japanese debut last year, this is a phenomenal feat.

2AM

2AM is a South Korean four-member ballad boy band under JYP Entertainment. The members are Jo Kwon, Jinwoon, Seulong, and Changmin. 2AM is one of the two subgroups branched out from the eleven-member (before Jaebeom's departure) boy band One Day, the other being 2PM. They officially debuted on July 11, 2008 on KBS's Music Bank, performing their debut song "This Song". They won their first Mutizen at Inkigayo on February 7, 2010 with "Can't Let You Go Even If I Die".

History

Predebut

Along with the members of 2PM, 2AM appeared on the documentary Hot Blood that was aired on Mnet, documented their rigorous training program of their pre-debut days. Changmin was the only member of One Day to not appear in the documentary because he was serving in the military at that time. Initially, Jinwoon was eliminated on Hot Blood, but he ended up in 2AM due to Daehun's withdrawal from JYPE. Jo Kwon trained for 2567 days, 10 days past 7 years after joining JYPE.

2008–2009 Debut

2AM's first single, "This Song", was released on July 21, 2008. They made their debut performance on July 11, 2008, performing their debut song "This Song".

2AM made a comeback with another single album, "Time For Confession", on March 19, 2009 with "Confession of a Friend" being the title track.

2010–Present: 1st Mini Album and Saint o'Clock

2AM made a comeback with a second album, "죽어도 못 보내", on January 21, 2010 with "Even If I Die I Can't Let You Go" as the promoted track. In the week before the release, JYP Entertainment revealed a total of four teasers on their Youtube account. Along with a group teaser, the individual shots were based on the seasons. On February 7, 2010, 2AM won their first Mutizen award on Inkigayo since their debut. On February 25, 2010, their second win was on Mnet M! Countdown. They won a second Mutizen on their final day of promotions for "(Even If I Die I Can't Let You Go" on March 7, 2010.

On March 5, 2010, 2AM revealed cuts of their new image through their official website. Jo Kwon, Changmin, Seulong, and Jinwoon respectively transformed to a club DJ, an ice hockey player, a biker, and a basketball player for their new 10 minute drama-music video. The repackaged mini album featured four additional songs, three from their first and second singles and one entirely new song titled "I Was Wrong", which was their promoted track. One representative stated, “The song we’re releasing is something that 2AM has never shown before and is a brand new type of music”. A portion of the song was revealed in the first episode of 2AM's new reality show 2AM DAY on March 10, where the members playfully sing along to it in the car. Four teasers were released for each member from March 12 to March 14. A leaked version of Part 1 of the music video was released on March 15, having been recorded by camera at 2AM's subway showcase. The album was released on March 18, 2010 and "I Was Wrong" won the Mnet M! Countdown on April 1, 2010.

From June 30, 2010 to July 20, 2010, 2AM opened for Wonder Girls on the second leg of Wonder Girls World Tour. 2AM is also featured in Made in Wonder Girls.

On October 26, 2010, 2AM released their first full-length album entitled Saint o'Clock, with "You Wouldn't Answer My Calls" and "Like Crazy" as the promoted tracks. The won a Mutizen award for "You Wouldn't Answer My Calls" on Inkigayo on November 14.

Japan Debut

Following the Korean success of their 2010 album Saint o'Clock, 2AM recently announced their plans of releasing a JAPAN SPECIAL EDITION of the album on November 9. At the same press conference, they also announced that in January 2012, they will also be releasing their debut Japanese single "Never Let You Go (Shinde mo Hanasanai"), a Japanese version of the band's Korean single, "Even if I Die, I Can't Let You Go.

Tours

2AM held their first concert entitled "Saint o'Clock" in Seoul at Korea University, Hwajeong Gym from December 24 to 26, 2010. 2AM serenaded the crowd with their hit songs such as "You Wouldn't Answer My Calls" and "Like Crazy". 2AM also performed a series of girl group medley such as Wonder Girls's "So Hot", 4minute's "Hot Issue" and miss A's "Bad Girl Good Girl". The crowd went crazy when 2AM danced to After School's "Bang!" as the boys are also dressed in aqua blue cheerleader outfits. For their solo stages, Changmin wowed the crowd with Tom Jones's "Sex Bomb" and also ripped his shirt. Seulong danced to "Beautiful Monster" and also revealed his chiseled abs. Jinwoon performed Muse's "Hysteria" with his electric guitar and Jo Kwon danced to Lady Gaga's hit song "Telephone". The guests for the three-day concert includes B2ST, 8eight, Lim Jeong Hee, IU and T-ara.

Other contributions

2AM endorsed up to $1 million for products commercials in early 2010, including Pepsi and BHC Chicken. It was also announced that 2AM would be the new faces of Samsung's Dugeunduguen Tomorrow campaign with Kara, succeeding 4Tomorrow in 2009.

In April 2010, they participated in the original soundtrack of drama series Personal Taste with a ballad titled "Like A Fool", which also became a number one hit.

2AM was chosen to represent Asia on Listen Up! The Official 2010 Fifa World Cup Album with the song titled "No. 1". The song was digitally released on May 18, 2010. In October 2010, the band represented Korea and performed at the 7th Asia Song Festival, organised by Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange, at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.

Wonder Girls

Wonder Girls is a South Korean girl group. Its producer and manager is singer-songwriter Park Jin-Young and the Wonder Girls is signed to his talent agency, JYP Entertainment. Each of the five original members were selected through auditions. Debuting in early 2007, they became popular in the fall of that year with the song "Tell Me." They have scored five consecutive #1 hit singles: "Tell Me", "So Hot", "Nobody", "2 Different Tears" and "Be My Baby. In 2008, they won two Daesangs ("Artist of the Year" Awards).

The group began their entry into the American market in 2009, with the English version of their hit single "Nobody".

They are co-managed in the United States by JYP Entertainment and Jonas Group.

History

2007–2008: Debut, The Wonder Begins, and The Wonder Years

As a group, the Wonder Girls is introduced through the program called MTV Wonder Girls which was filmed and directed by MTV. The first four episodes outlined the characteristics and profiles of each member and showcased their schedules for the day. Shortly after selecting Yeeun as the fifth member, the Wonder Girls had their first showcase in the MTV Studio. For the showcase, they performed a cover of "Don't Cha" by the Pussycat Dolls as well as their own songs, including "Irony" and "It's Not Love". Sunye performed a solo act by singing her cover of Destiny's Child's "Stand Up for Love", while Hyuna performed solo through a showcase of her dancing skills. The other three members — Yeeun, Sunmi and Sohee — performed a cover of Janet Jackson's "Together Again".

The Wonder Girls officially debuted in early 2007 on MBC's "Show! Music Core", singing "Irony", the hip-hop single from their debut mini-album, The Wonder Begins. The mini-album sold 11,454 physical copies in 2007. The Wonder Girls official fanclub was established, with the name of "Wonderful". Additionally, the group held several showcases in China after receiving Chinese lessons. Throughout the rest of 2007, however, members of the Wonder Girls were beset by various injuries and health problems. On June 25, Sohee was sidelined for a month after tearing a knee ligament in a fall from a running motorcycle during the filming of her movie, 뜨거운 것이 좋아 ("I Like It Hot"). The remaining four members continued performing until late July, when Hyuna was withdrawn from the group by her parents due to their concern over her problems with chronic gastroenteritis and fainting spells. In the autumn of 2007, Good Entertainment, the talent agency sent their trainee Yubin to JYP Entertainment as a replacement for Hyuna. She made her debut three days later in the group's live performance of "Tell Me" on Music Bank.

Their first full-length album, The Wonder Years, was released the following week with "Tell Me". Due to the last-minute addition of Yubin, the album version does not contain her part. However, the performance version of the song was reworked to include a bridge with rapping by Yubin. The single was a hit and reached number one on various Korean television and internet music charts, including KBS's Music Bank.[citation needed] The choreography for the song was simple and widely imitated: by October, many fan performances of the dance circulated on video sharing sites such as YouTube and Daum, including one by a group of policemen who were eventually profiled on SBS's Star King. The dance's popularity was immense and the explosive attention it received became widely known as the "Tell Me Virus", earning the group the title of 'Korea's Little Sisters'.[citation needed] Videos of the dance came from fans in the Philippines and as far away as France, and the song also earned the Number One spot in Thailand.

The Wonder Girls had an extensive promotional schedule for their album and in late 2007 they began performing their second single, "This Fool". They made numerous appearances on variety and game shows, sang live on radio shows, at music festivals, on music programs, and in special joint performances with other groups such as Big Bang and Girls' Generation. MTV has also aired four seasons of The Wonder Life, a reality TV series starring the girls. The Wonder Girls returned to Korea in spring of 2008. In May, a picture of each member was released over a period of five days, starting with Yeeun and ending with Sohee. A preview track from the upcoming single was then released. There were rumours that past member Hyuna would be returning to the group; JYP Entertainment however confirmed the story was untrue. Their new single, "So Hot", was released on May 22, 2008; the song topped online charts soon after. They then performed in mid-2008 on MBC's Show! Music Core, performing "So Hot" and "This Time". The full single was released soon after containing the title track, the rap version of "Tell Me", "This Time", and "You're Out". Due to a vocal cord injury, Yubin temporarily lip-synched her parts under doctor's orders.

Wonder Girls performing "Nobody" at the 2008 BICHE opening ceremony in October.

After a very brief hiatus, the Wonder Girls made a comeback in early fall of 2008. The full music video for "Nobody" was revealed, and the single was digitally released simultaneously. They performed the following weekend on Show! Music Core, Music Bank, and Inkigayo. The song went to #1 on KBS' Music Bank, staying there for four consecutive weeks, and also won Cyworld's "Song of the Month" award in September and October 2008. Like "Tell Me", "Nobody" also sparked a dance craze.

At the 2008 MNet KM Music Festival Awards, the Wonder Girls took home three awards, including the highly-desired "Song of the Year" award, as well as "Best Music Video" for "Nobody", and "Best Female Group". The group also won an award at the 2008 Golden Disk Awards a month later for high digital sales. At the 18th Seoul Music Awards, the Wonder Girls won the Daesang ("Artist of the Year" award), the highest award offered, for "Nobody", along with two other awards.

In February 2008, the Wonder Girls joined their producer Park Jin-young for his month-long concert tour through Korea and the United States (including New York City and Los Angeles) as special guests, and took the opportunity to film the music video for "Wishing on a Star" while in New York City. Park had stated that the concerts were also meant to be a showcase for his other protégés, such as Min, G-Soul, and Lim Jeong Hee. They were also selected as a top girl group by Virgin Media, which put them amidst the popular girl groups Pussycat Dolls, Girls Aloud, and Danity Kane.

In October 2008, the Wonder Girls were signed by the Creative Artists Agency (CAA). By the end of 2008, the Wonder Girls had earned ₩12 billion (equivalent to $9 million US) as a group.

2009: American debut

The Wonder Girls tour started on February 28, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. The Wonder Girls, along with mentor JYP, then held concerts in the United States, visiting Los Angeles on March 5, La Mirada on March 6, and New York City on March 8. They also performed for a small crowd at MTV Iggy on March 10. The group then returned to South Korea, holding concerts in late March in Seoul and Busan. This tour was documented in the M.net reality show Welcome to Wonderland.

After the end of the tour, the Wonder Girls debuted a music video for "Now", a cover of Fin.K.L's single from their third album. They also created a commercial for LG, with a version featuring only the dance was released online on April 9, 2009. The Wonder Girls also started their official MySpace Music account. The page confirmed that the group would launch in the United States with the official release of an English version of "Nobody" in the summer of 2009.

In June 2009, JYP Entertainment announced that the Wonder Girls would be joining the Jonas Brothers on the North American leg of the Jonas Brothers World Tour 2009. The company also announced that "Nobody" would be the first English single, followed by "Tell Me", and that an English album would be forthcoming. It was later revealed that in order to concentrate on their American debut, both Sohee and Sunmi dropped out of high school.

The Wonder Girls released an English version of their single "Nobody" on June 26, 2009, just one day before the start of their tour with the Jonas Brothers. The Wonder Girls were initially signed on for 13 concert dates across the US, but they were eventually given the opportunity to join the Jonas Brothers for a total of 45 concert dates. "Nobody" eventually made a debut on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2009, making the group the first Korean group to ever enter the chart. The song also went on to top the Taiwan and Hong Kong music chart.

2010: Line-up changes, International tour, and Television Series

On January 22, 2010, it was announced that Sunmi would be postponing her musical career to pursue an academic career and that Hyerim (Lim), a JYP trainee, would take her place.[36][37] Sunmi continued as a member of the Wonder Girls through the month of February in order to complete scheduled events.

The Wonder Girls had been preparing their debut English album, with half (six tracks) to consist of English versions of Korean singles and the other half of brand new material, initially scheduled for release in February 2010. They were also planning to have a headlining tour in January 2010; however, due to the departure of Sunmi, plans for both the tour and the album were delayed.

Due to the popularity of the group in Asia and worldwide, the electronics brand Sony Ericsson chose the girls to be the ambassadors of Sony Ericsson in the Asia Pacific Region which will see promotional activities in South Korea, China, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan as well as Australia and New Zealand. After the announcement, the girls flew to Singapore where they held a press meeting performing their songs "So Hot", "Tell Me" and "Nobody".

Wonder Girls performing "Tell Me" at The Fillmore in San Francisco in June 2010. From left to right: Yeeun, Sohee, Hyerim, Yubin and Sunye.

On April 5, 2010, the Wonder Girls announced a 20-show tour of the US and Canada, the Wonder World Tour, which will include fellow label mates 2PM who will be joining them for 9 confirmed dates in Washington DC, Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Anaheim and San Francisco in conjunction with Live Nation, with other dates yet to be confirmed. The tour is a combination of the English and Korean versions of their hits, covers of popular English-language song, and their new songs from their upcoming album, as stated by Yeeun during their Ustream webchat with fans on April 17, 2010. The first leg of the tour began in Washington, D.C. on June 4, 2010.

On May 1, the Wonder Girls performed at the Korean Music Festival at the Hollywood Bowl.

The Wonder Girls followed up their tour announcement with the unveiling of the newest single/EP, titled 2 Different Tears. The title track was recorded in three different languages: Chinese, Korean and English. The music video for 2 Different Tears premiered on YouTube on May 15, 2010; it was shot in the Gyeonggi-do province of South Korea. The music video features Park Jin-Young and Korean-American comedian Bobby Lee. There are three versions of the music video : Korean, English and Chinese. Their album was released on the same day.

Between May 15, 2010 and May 31, 2010, the Wonder Girls returned to South Korea to promote the Korean version of 2 Different Tears. They had their comeback TV performance starting from M.Net's M! Countdown on May 22, 2010. On May 27, 2010, the Wonder Girls won their first #1 award for "2 Different Tears" on M! Countdown. The group wrapped up their last week of promotional activities in South Korea by performing on MBC's Music Core on May 29, 2010. During this two-week period, the Wonder Girls also appeared on several Korean variety and talk shows, including KBS's Win Win and Happy Together, as well as SBS's Family Outing 2 and MBC's Come to Play.

In May 2010, eight more US cities and two Canadian cities were added to the second leg of the Wonder World Tour. In addition, it was announced that label mates, 2AM, would open for the Wonder Girls in San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Englewood, CO, Atlanta, and Chicago. During this time, the Wonder Girls' American promotional activities continued to earn them recognition: popular concert venue House of Blues named them "Artist of the Month" for June 2010 while online concert authority Pollstar featured them in a special article titled "The Wonders of K-pop".

On July 29, MTV Korea premiered a new Season of Wonder Girls, MTV Wonder Girls (Season 4), that introduces the Wonder Girls' everyday life in the United States, such as at their New York home and studio, and preparations for the upcoming MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010. The MTV World Stage Live in Malaysia 2010 was held at the Sunway Lagoon Surf Beach on July 31. The show has been broadcast on August 21 on MTV Asia.

On July 30, M.net premiered a new show Made in Wonder Girls that take the viewers behind the scenes of the Wonder Girls their first American tour, Wonder World Tour, as well as their promotions in Singapore and Indonesia.

On August 3, the Wonder Girls performed in Singapore's SINGfest 2010 at Fort Canning Park. On September 3 The Wonder Girls Performed On Seattle For Aion.

Despite having only two weeks of promotion in Korea of "2 Different Tears" after their two year hiatus, the group ranked highly in the end of the year charts. In Gaon Chart, in all four charts : 2010 Top 100 Album Sales, 2010 Digital Comprehensive Top 100, 2010 Top 100 Download, 2010 Stream Top 100. In 2010 Top 100 Album Sales, managed to rank 50th with 28,594 albums. In addition to be in the top 50, in Digital Comprehensive Top 100, ranked sixth with 612,819,160 downloads, in Top 100 Downloads, ranked ninth with 2,790,298 in sales, and finally, ranked ninth with 28,504,554 sales in Stream Top 100.

2011: Official American debut album and return with Wonder World

In January, more info was released about the American album. JYP Entertainment's CEO Park Jin Young (JYP) hinted on his Twitter account he wrote a new song for the girls while recording in his drama "Dream High".[54] He later tweeted that he is not the only producer for this album.[55] In addition to this, Rainstone (Rhee Woo Seok) of JYP Entertainment, the songwriter behind the Wonder Girls' international hit, "Nobody", stated that the album was expected to have six to seven tracks. The girls are flying back and forth from South Korea and New York to record the songs. Well known producer Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins and Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Claude Kelly were revealed to be heavily participating in the album. Also, the album will be released by one of the three major labels of America. With the information released of the new album, the girls tweeted photos of recording with Claude Kelly in the studio.

In February, Chinese distributor ‘Starsing Records’ unveiled the best-selling albums for 2010, which included American artists like Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, but also for the Wonder Girls “Special Edition" album.

During the 2011 Chloe Fashion Show in Shanghai, China, the girls held several interviews. Leader Sunye said it is unclear if they will add their Mandarin songs to the new album and it's possible for Mandarin album for their Chinese fans. Yeeun said she's interested in composing songs for this album. Yubin stated that they will be going for a bolder approach, in addition to that, they said that shall indeed raise the stakes in their dance music, but still have elements of retro.

On April 6, on SBS Power FM’s ‘Kim Hee Chul’s Young Street‘, Sunye hinted at a Wonder Girls comeback in Korea. When asked about the Wonder Girls’ activities by a listener, she stated, “Although we are not promoting in Korea right now, I’m very proud that K-Pop is being spread [around the world]. So I have a greater desire to promote our group in Korea as well as to see our fans who’ve waited for a long time. I think there will be some good news later this year.” She added, “For our fans who have waited for us, we’ll be sure to see you all soon with good music before the year ends. Please cheer us on.”

On June 30, it was announced on their official website that the girls were invited to perform at the 2011 Special Olympics closing ceremonies in Athens, Greece. They performed the traditional Korean folk song "Arirang" along with their hit singles "Nobody" sung in English and "Tell Me" sung in Korean. The performance was held on July 4.

Sohee was in the August issue of Nylon Korea for a pictorial and interview, which was released on July 17. JYP Nation once again returned with concerts "JYP Nation in Japan 2011" at Saitama Super Arena on August 17 and 18, this time with fellow labelmates 2AM who were unable to attend last year due to a clash with their own concert tour.

In the beginning of Summer 2011, it was falsely reported on several fan websites that the Wonder Girls would be performing the US national anthem as well as a new song from their upcoming album at the New York Mets game. As stated on the official Wonder Girls website, CEO Park Jin Young explained the false events to fans in a news announcement: "Unfortunately, Wonder Girls are not scheduled to be at the Mets game. In addition, the Wonder Girls’ new song release will officially be announced by JYP Entertainment through all official Wonder Girls websites when the official date is determined."

On August 5th, The Wonder Girls were featured on Billboard.com's "Mashup Monday" program, performing a self-arranged cover of B.O.B. and Bruno Mars' "Nothin' On You". Sun said that, "We just want to express our love to our fans...It's a perfect song." Meanwhile, Yenny continued to explain in the subsequent interview that, "The first thing was arranging the instruments. I started practicing piano and then we added two more guitarists. And later a percussionist joined. And also we were traveling a lot, so we couldn't stay at one place. We had to practice on the street on the way." Yeeun played piano and sang the chorus with Sunye and Sohee, while Hyerim and Yubin rapped the verses. On October 9, 2011 a representative revealed , “The album will be produced in a movie OST format. We’ll be planning our concept to fit around the feel of the song, so as opposed to retro, we feel that it will be more pop. The Wonder Girls will definitely be coming out with a new image, so please look forward to it.”.

On October 23, JYPE and the members revealed a new poster "R U Ready?" hanging over their company's building with a new version of the Wonder Girls logo now in a chic new design in black. JYPE confirmed the digital music distributors who revealed, “The Wonder Girls’ second official album will be available starting November 7.” The Wonder Girls will only be promoting for a month, however, before they prepare for their Asian promotion tour in December. The Wonder Girls have enlisted the help of some big figures for their comeback. In addition to having Beyonce‘s “choreographer, Jonte on their team, the girls also have designer Johnny Wujek, the fashion stylist for Katy Perry, for this album.

In addition to dates revealed through the Wonder Girls’ official site earlier today, more teaser release dates have been revealed via Naver Music. It kicked off with the 1st teaser photos starting on October 28 uploaded onto their official website.[73] The girls are seen in chic black and white all holding antique guns with the exception of Lim, opting for a stylish hat. In the 2nd batch of teaser photos released on October 31, the Wonder Girls show off their charismatic charm under the theme called, “Red Wonder Girls.” Following the photo teasers, 1st teaser video was uploaded on their official Youtube channel on November 1. This is the first of two "R U READY?" video teasers to be revealed. The first teaser shows the five with their new, edgy looks, and a set with a tough, rock-style concept, as well as individual shots of each of the members. The Wonder Girls teaser video was released on their official YouTube channel on November 1. In just one day, the video received over 560,000 hits and on the morning of November 2, the video reached #1 on the "Most Discussed Video" list. The final teaser was the 2nd teaser video released on November 3. Finally, the track listing release on November 4, up to now, the album's name was finally revealed to be "Wonder World" composing of 12 new songs with an exception of one being a remix. The song G.N.O in this album was composed and written by member Yeeun. The full album and music video was released on November 7. The members will start promotions for "Wonder World" with a comeback stage on Music Bank on November 11. It has been revealed that the Wonder Girls will star in their own American made-for-TV Movie called "The Wonder Girls" which also stars American Girl Group School Gyrls.

P-pop

Eurasia Girls

XLR8

2NE1

2NE1 is a South Korean hip-hop/pop girl group formed by YG Entertainment in 2009. 2NE1 consists of four members: CL, Dara, Bom and Minzy. The group's name 2NE1 stands for "New Evolution of the 21st Century".

They first appeared in "Lollipop", a commercial campaign with Big Bang for LG Electronics, and their debut single "Fire" was released on May 6, 2009. Since then, the group has released two extended plays, 2NE1 and 2NE1 2nd Mini Album, and one studio album, To Anyone.

Fans of 2NE1 call themselves "Blackjacks", a reference to the card game Blackjack (which is also known as Twenty-one).

History

Pre-debut

The group was first mentioned by the press in late 2008, YG Entertainment announced that the group would consist of four members and debut sometime in May 2009. The company stated that the group had trained for 4 years, and that their debut album would contain songs produced by 1TYM Leader Teddy Park. The group's name was initially announced as "21"; however, due to the discovery of a singer with the same name, the group was quickly renamed "2NE1".

2009: Debut

In collaboration with Big Bang, 2NE1's first CF song was "Lollipop", digitally released on March 27, 2009. The song was created for LG to promote their Cyon phone. The music video debuted on March 28, 2009. Although it was not a promoted single because it was an advertisement (there were problems with network chart eligibility, "Lollipop" went to number one on various online charts and topped the online chart of music television network Mnet for four weeks in a row.

On April 30, YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk revealed that 2NE1's debut song would be a hip-hop and reggae song, and that it would be digitally released on May 6, 2009. Titled "Fire", the song was written and produced by 1TYM's Teddy Park. Teasers of the song were released on their official website at the beginning of May, with a 20-second clip released on May 1.

"Fire" was released as planned on May 6, with two versions of the music video — a "space" version and a "street" version — released the same day. During the first 24 hours, the videos received over one million views. The group's first performance of the song was on May 17, 2009, on SBS's Inkigayo, beginning the group's activities.

"I Don't Care" became 2NE1's most popular single off of their debut extended play, 2NE1 and displayed a softer, more feminine style.

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Both the song and the group became popular online: Fire topped Mnet's online chart and 2NE1 became a popular search term. The group was awarded three Cyworld Digital Music Awards; "Lollipop" and "Fire" both won "Song of the Month" and the group won "Rookie of the Month" for May 2009. 2NE1 received their first Mutizen award after their fourth stage performance in SBS Inkigayo (Popular Song) on June 14, 2009. They received their second Mutizen award on SBS Inkigayo on June 21, 2009. Two days afterwards, 2NE1 signed a deal with Fila to become the models for the new commercial campaign.

"I Don't Care" was released as the second single on July 1, 2009, with promotions starting in early July. Yang Hyun Suk stated that the song would demonstrate a softer, more feminine image. A reggae version of "I Don't Care" was performed on SBS's Inkigayo, signaling the end of promotions for the song. However, due to the remix's popularity, it was released to digital outlets on September 3, 2009, and became their next digital single.

Along with three other groups representing Korea, 2NE1 performed in the 6th Asia Song Festival in September 2009, where they received the 2009's "Asian Newcomer's Award."

2NE1 received many year-end awards, including Best Rookie Award and Song of the Year Award. Their hit single I Don't Care was named 2009's Best Selling Song on music sites Bugs, Monkey3, and Cyworld.

2010: Return to group activities, and To Anyone

On February 9, 2010, without previous notice, "Follow Me" (Korean: "날 따라해봐요", "Nal ddara haebwayo") was released to digital outlets and used as a theme song for Samsung Corby Folder.[24] Over the summer, 2NE1 traveled to Los Angeles and London in order to record English songs for a possible American debut with The Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am. So far, group has recorded 10 songs.[25] YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun Suk stated that the girls are planned to debut sometime in 2011, after The Black Eyed Peas' global tour and 2NE1's own activities in Korea and Japan.[26]

"Go Away" (2010)

"Go Away" hit number one in Korea, being the only lead single to do so of the three.

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The first studio and full length album, To Anyone, was released on September 9, 2010 and was a huge success. The album contains 12 tracks including three title songs, namely "Clap Your Hands", "Go Away" and "Can't Nobody", which were promoted simultaneously. 2NE1 won first place on Mnet M! Countdown for "Clap Your Hands" on the day of their comeback, followed by a K-Chart win the next day on KBS Music Bank for "Go Away", and a Mutizen a week after their SBS Inkigayo comeback for "Can't Nobody." Overall, 2NE1 won first place eleven times on various music shows.

To promote the album, the group made its first entertainment show appearance as a group on KBS variety-talk show Win Win. 2NE1 also aired the second season of 2NE1 TV.

On October 21, Yang Hyun Suk announced that 2NE1 would be releasing a follow up song on October 31, later revealed to be "It Hurts (Slow). It was first performed on SBS Inkigayo. The music video is directed by Kim Hye Jung, the same director for G-Dragon's "Butterfly." The music video was released on November 1 and was themed for Halloween.

In addition, on October 28, it was revealed that 2NE1's official record label in Japan will be Avex, and that To Anyone would be re-released in Japan on December 8, 2010. However, the release was delayed to an indefinite time. The group also promoted in Thailand, where To Anyone released on October 28, 2010. On November 26, 2NE1 released the single "Don't Stop the Music" as a "special gift for Thai fans".

2011: International expansion, and Korean Comeback with Ugly

Originally, 2NE1's Japanese debut was planned for December 2010, but this was delayed to September 2011, with singles releasing throughout the summer. 2NE1's American promotions with will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas has no set time for release yet, because of the Black Eyed Peas' album release of The Beginning and subsequent touring.

On January 19, "Can't Nobody (English Version)" was released on Recochoku as ringtones and ringback tones. On February 2, the "Can't Nobody (English Version)" music video was made available for download through iTunes Japan. On February 22, Avex announced that 2NE1 will release their Japanese debut single "Go Away", previously used as a Korean promotional single, as a ringtone on March 9, 2011. On March 16, the group released 2NE1, their first extended play, in Japan, with no promotions because of the earthquake. It debuted at number twenty four on the Oricon charts, selling 3,860 copies. It was later announced to be the theme song of Japanese television program Mezamashi TV. 2NE1 planned to make their official Japanese live debut on Music Station, but have since postponed their debut because of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. 2NE1 participated in the Naver "Pray for Japan" campaign alongside many other Korean celebrities, helping to raise funds for earthquake victims.

On April 18, 2NE1 announced their Korean comeback plans, pushing their mini-album Ugly's promotions forward, from July to April.[40] Member Park Bom's solo project was unveiled on April 21; after Park Bom sang an acoustic version of Don't Cry on YG on Air, leader CL said a new Korean single called "Lonely" would be released May 12, 2011. A behind-the scenes-of Lonely was shown on the second episode of YG on Air, and the music video of Lonely premiered May 11, 2011. On June 24, 2NE1 released a single produced by Teddy Park at midnight, titled I Am The Best. Within 24 hours of release, "I Am The Best" topped all the major Korean charts, except for Monkey3 where the song was ranked second. As the day progressed, the song ultimately became first and certified as a "perfect all-kill". On July 21, 2NE1 released their animated music video, "Hate You", directed by Mari Kim, which also topped all major Korean charts. On July 28, along with the release of the full mini-album, the single "UGLY" and its music video were released, and again Ugly topped all major Korean charts. 2NE1 made a perfect all-kill with their new album as all singles released topped all major Korean charts.

Promotions for 2NE1's Korean comeback were scheduled to end around late August. Following the end of promotions, 2NE1 had their first sold-out solo concert at the Olympic Hall in the Chamsil Olympic Park on August 26, 27 and 28 in Seoul, South Korea.

After concluding Korean promotions for Ugly, 2NE1 will make their official debut in Japan in September. Prior to this, 2NE1 has released Japanese versions of "I Am The Best", "Hate You", and "Ugly.

Girls' Generation (SNSD)

Girls' Generation is a nine-member South Korean girl group formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2007. The nine members are: Taeyeon (Leader), Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun. They are often referred to as SoShi, or SNSD; the first is an abbreviation and the second, mainly used outside Korea, is an acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyuh Shi Dae.

The SNSD group has released two Korean full albums, three Korean mini-albums, one Japanese full album and various singles. Their 2009 hit single "Gee" holds the record for being the longest running No.1 song on KBS's Music Bank, having held the No.1 chart ranking for 9 consecutive weeks. Gee was named song of the decade by the Korean music site, Melon. The group also won various awards in 2009 and 2010, including consecutive Artist of the Year (Daesang) awards at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Melon Music Awards, and the Korean Cultural Entertainment Awards.
The group began a foray into the Japanese music scene in late 2010 under Nayutawave Records, a part of Universal Music, with the Japanese remakes of their 2009 Korean hits "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)" and "Gee"and has since released MR.TAXI album.

Career

2007–2008: Debut and self-titled album
In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on M.Net's School of Rock where the group performed their first single, titled "Into the New World" (Dasi Mannan Segye). A documentary recording the story of the group's debut titled M.Net's Girls Go To School was filmed during this time, showing the members as they moved into an apartment together and prepared for their performances. The group's first single was physically released soon after, including an instrumental of the group's debut song and two other tracks; "Beginning" and "Perfect for You". The latter's Korean title is "Wish" (SoWon), which later became the name of Girls' Generation's official fan-club, S♡NE. The group's debut officially began on August 5, 2007, first performing on SBS's Inkigayo and then later on MBC's Show! Music Core and KBS's Music Bank. Into the New World achieved No.1 spot on M.net M.Countdown!.
The group released their first self-titled full album in late autumn 2007 with the lead single "Girls' Generation", a remake of Lee Seung-cheol's 1989 song. Promotion for the single started in early November. The album also included the group's first single "Into the New World", "Perfect For You" retitled as "Honey", and 8 other tracks by the group. In early 2008, Girls' Generation began promoting their second single from the album, "Kissing You", which won the group their first k-chart win after getting the number one position on the KBS Music Bank February chart.
In March 2008, the album was re-packaged, re-released and re-titled "Baby Baby". A third single, "Baby Baby", was used to promote the album. During the group's promotions, members Jessica, Tiffany and Seohyun were also featured on a mini-album released by Roommate, a one-man band from Purple Communication. The mini-album was titled Roommate: Emotional Band Aid, and was released on December 1, 2008. The 3rd track from the mini-album was performed by the 3 Girls' Generation members and is titled "Oppa Nappa" (literally Bad Brother. The track was digitally released before the album was, coming out in April 2008. The song was performed live on SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank and M.net's M.countdown some time later. Later in the year the three members released "Mabinogi" (It's Fantastic!) together as the theme song for the Nexon game Mabinogi, with Tiffany participating in the music video.
M.net's reality show Factory Girl chronicled the members working as interns at fashion magazine Elle Girl.[6] The articles the group worked on were featured in the Korean Elle Girl magazine. The program began airing in early October. In late 2008, the group also participated in the SM Town Live '08 concert along with other SM Town artists.

2009: Gee, Genie and rising popularity
On December 26, 2008, posters of the Girls' Generation members wearing roller-skates were posted up in various locations around Seoul. SM Entertainment's phone-lines were blocked up by callers asking whether the posters were for sale and the company asked fans to stop taking the posters down for personal use. Three days later on December 29, the group's management stated that the posters were indeed teaser posters and that the group would soon release their first EP, The First Mini Album – Gee the following month in January 2009.
A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single "Gee" released soon after. "Gee" topped Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day.[10] The song also went No.1 on all major digital music charts within two days. The music video set a record on release, garnering 1 million views on GomTV in under a day.
The group began its album promotion in January 2009 on MBC Show! Music Core where they sang their new lead single "Gee" and the track "Himnae (Way To Go)", another song from their mini-album. "Gee" went on to become a phenomenal hit, breaking the record for consecutive no.1 wins on Music Bank with 9 consecutive wins, as well as receiving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo. The track also showed strength on other charts, topping the Mujikon, Melon and M.Net charts for 8 consecutive weeks, the Dosirak chart for 7 weeks, the Muse chart for 6 weeks and the Baksu chart for 4 weeks.
After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the group would be back with a new mini-album sporting a "Marine Girl" concept. The new single was to be titled "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)" (Genie), literally "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie); with the full mini album being released digitally on June 22, 2009. The group started their promotional activities on June 26, 2009, recording KBS's Music Bank. The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC's Music Core and SBS's Inkigayo on June 27 and 28, 2009. The physical release of Genie was delayed by SM Entertainment in order to redo the album art, and was released 4 days later on June 29, 2009.
The track proved to be a success as it conquered various music sites like Melon, Dosirak, MNet, Bugs and it was No.1 on the weekly charts and SKT ringtone weekly charts of the first week of July. The mini-album sold an estimated 50,000+ copies in its first week after released (almost double the numbers from the first-week sales of Gee), an unusual feat for any Korean girl group.

2010: Oh!/Run Devil Run, Japanese debut and Hoot
Later in January, SM Entertainment confirmed the release of Oh!, the group's second full-length album to be released on January 28. The lead single "Oh!", was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later. On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC's Show! Music Core. The broadcast of the performance experienced a blackout near the end, to which MBC made the whole performance available online in response. With 'Oh!', the group went on to win 5 consecutive K-charts on KBS Music Bank, as well as achieving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo 'Oh!' also went on to win Music Bank's half-year K-chart, coming in at 2nd on Hanteo's first half album sales chart, and also winning the end-of-year K-chart.[citation needed] The music video became ranked as the number one most viewed YouTube video in Korea by the end of 2010. It was also No.1 in Hong Kong,China and made the top 10 in both the Taiwan and Japan rankings.
Starting from March 11, 2010, photos of the members were released online showcasing a dark concept, dubbed "Black SoShi". A teaser video was released on March 16, with the new single Run Devil Run being released as a digital single on March 17.
Mid-June, it was announced that the group had signed contracts in May, and would begin working under Universal Music Japan's record label Nayutawave Records for their Japanese promotions, with their first Japanese single expected to be released in September 2010. Girls' Generation began promotion in Japan in August. (Girls' Generation's Arrival ～ First Time in Japan Commemoration Disc), a DVD featuring seven of the group's music videos as well as special bonus footage was released on August 11, with the special edition of the DVD containing a pink glowstick as well as a pass to the Girls' Generation debut at the Tokyo Ariake Colliseum on August 25. In the first week after release, the DVD sold 23,000 copies, making no.4 on the weekly DVD Oricon ranking and no.3 on the weekly music DVD ranking, making Girls' Generation the first female k-pop group to make the Oricon DVD Top-5 ranking. The sales for the group's first photobook, (So Nyuh) were estimated to at 1.6 billion won even before release.
Amidst their Japanese activities, the group also participated in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their label-mates on August 21 at Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium. They participated in the subsequent Shanghai, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo stops as well.
On August 25, the group held their first showcase in Tokyo Ariake Colliseum. With an initial 10,000 fans invited, it was reported to be the most large-scale plan for a Korean artist debuting in Japan. However, due to high number of expected attendees, the group's management announced that the showcase would take place three times in the same day rather than once to accommodate the estimated 20,000 fans. The group sang 5 of their Korean tracks at each of the showcases, and the total number of attendees over all three shows were estimated to be at least 22,000. At this showcase, the Genie Japanese music video was also revealed publicly for the first time, the teaser having been released a few days prior on August 20.
Their Japanese debut single "Genie" debuted at the No.5 spot on the same day of its release on the Daily Oricon Charts and later rose to the No.2 position on the Daily Charts some time later, earning the group a No.4 position on the Oricon weekly ranking. The group also hit the number No.1 spots on Japan iTunes' music video chart and both the Rekochoku daily video clip chart and incoming movie daily ranking chart a day later. With pre-orders amounting to 80,000, the single sold an estimated 45,000 copies in the first week after release. On October 20, 2010, the group released their second Japanese single, "Gee".
A week after the release of their Japanese single, the group released their third Korean mini-album, Hoot on October 27, 2010, consisting of five tracks. The music video for the lead single, "Hoot", was released on October 28. Girls' Generation commenced their promotional activities with a comeback stage on KBS's Music Bank on October 29. "Hoot" quickly rose to the top of the charts and received the No.1 spot numerous times on music shows, proving to be another successful release for the group. The group simultaneously promoted "Hoot" and "Gee" in Korea and Japan respectively, participating in Japanese music broadcasts such as the FNS Music Festival, where they performed their two Japanese singles, "Gee" and "Genie" on December 4.
On December 22, 2010, "Hoot" was repackaged with additional tracks from previous albums and released in Japan. The release rose to the No.2 position on the Oricon charts and selling 21,000 copies on the first day, faring surprisingly well considering that all the included tracks were entirely in Korean.
On December 9, 2010, the group attended the Golden Disk Awards, being awarded three awards including the Disk Daesang (Album of the Year) for their 2nd album Oh!. The group also became the first ever girl group to have both a Disk Daesang(2010)and Digital Daesang(2009). On December 15, 2010, the group attended the Melon Music Awards winning the Best Dressed Singer award, Hot Trend Song award for their latest song, "Hoot", as well as the Artist of the Year award. This would be the 2nd consecutive 'Artist of the Year' award for the group. They topped the Hanteo annual Singer Award chart for 2010.
They were named on Asia Today's list of 50 Korean power leaders for 2011 at the No.44 spot, being the only idol group from the list. Girls' Generation was designated "Artist of the Year" by Dosirak, Soribada, Korea Gallup, Hanteo and Sport Korea and also won Best Song of The Year with "Oh!" at Monkey 3.

2011: MR. TAXI, Girls' Generation and The Boys
The Hoot was certified Gold by Record Industry Association of Japan. At the start of 2011, the group prepared a new song titled "Visual Dreams", as part of their endorsement efforts for Intel's Core Processors throughout Asia. The music video for "Visual Dreams" was released on January 17, and various promotional campaigns included new music, 2D and 3D music videos, internet sites, photos, and PC store displays.
In latter half of January, it was announced that the group would be returning to the Japanese market through the release of their Japanese version of "Run Devil Run" as a digital single, scheduled for release on January 25, 2011.
On January 20, at the 20th Seoul Music Awards, the group received an Artist of the Year award, a Bonsang prize, a Popularity award and a Hallyu award. In doing this, Girls' Generation became one of four artists in Korean music history (the others being Seo Taiji, Jo Sungmo and H.O.T.) to win two consecutive Artist of the Year awards at the Seoul Music Awards. The group also became the only girl group in history to receive Artist of the Year awards for Seoul Music Awards, and Melon Music Awards for two consecutive years. They also received two Daesang Awards at the Golden Disk Ceremony, one Digital Daesang (2009), and one Physical Album Sales Daesang (2010).
On March 8, SM Japan updated their official website with information about the release of Girls' Generation third Japanese single and their first Japanese tour. It was stated that on April 27, Girls' Generation would be releasing their third Japanese single "Mr. Taxi / Run Devil Run", which would include their first original Japanese song "MR. TAXI". and the Japanese remake of their song "Run Devil Run". A portion of the revenue from their Japanese single "MR. TAXI / Run Devil Run" would be donated to Japan's Red Cross in order to provide assistance to the victims of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. On April 9, the Japanese music video of "Run Devil Run" was released.
It was also announced that the group would embark on a Japan-wide tour titled The 1st Japan Arena Tour which would start at Osaka on May 31. A total of 14 concerts in 6 cities would be held over a period of one and a half months.
At the 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan (VMAJ), Girls' Generation were nominated for three awards under the "Best Group Video", "Best Video Of The Year" and "Best Karaokee! Song" categories. Originally titled MTV Video Music Awards Japan (VMAJ), the title of the event was changed to change the focus of the show to aid Japan, with donations tied to the amount of votes for artistes. Girls' Generation performed two songs at the event, joining the star-studded line up alongside world-famous artistes such as Tokio Hotel, Lady Gaga and AKB48. On July 2, it was announced that they had come out top in two out of the three nominated categories, winning "Best Group Video" and "Best Karaokee! Song" for the Japanese version of "GENIE".
On June 1, 2011, they released their first full-length original Japanese studio album Girls' Generation. This album contains 12 songs including the singles "Genie", “Gee”, "Run Devil Run", "MR. TAXI" and a Japanese version of "Hoot".
Girls' Generation was certified Platinum (250,000) by Recording Industry Association of Japan on June 14, 2011, making it the fifth Korean artist's album to do so after S.E.S, BoA, TVXQ and KARA. Girls' Generation then was certified Double Platinum (500,000) on July 8, 2011, a first for any Korean girl group. The group also set a record for "recording the highest sales of the FIRST album as a foreign artist in Japan. Girls' Generation is the fourth artist to obtained number 1 spot on weekly album chart after BoA, TVXQ and Big Bang," and became the third Korean artist to surpass the 500,000 mark after BoA and TVXQ. As a result of their rising popularity, Girls' Generation became the highest earning foreign artist in Japan for the first half of 2011. On September 6, 2011, Oricon sales records showed that Girls' Generation has sold over 581,662 copies, making it the highest selling album by a Korean group in Oricon history, surpassing a record previously held by labelmate TVXQ, and now holds the 5th spot for best selling albums of 2011 in Japan according to Oricon.
Recently, the group has been in the midst of their second Asia Tour. They held their first two concerts in Seoul on July 23 and 24, followed by concerts in Taipei, Taiwan on September 9, 10 and 11, and then continue onto Singapore in early 2012.
On August 21, 2011 The 1st Asia Tour: Into The New World DVD reached no. 1 spot in Japan's "Tower Records" being the highest selling DVD between August 15-21st.
Girls' Generation was designated by SISA Press as "The Most Influential Entertainers in Korea" for the year 2011, after having placed 6th in the 2010 ranking.
On September 26, 2011 the first teaser featuring Taeyeon was released for the impending comeback with the group's 3rd Korean album "The Boys", followed by Sunny & Hyoyeon on September 27; Jessica, Sooyoung and Tiffany on September 28 and Yoona, Yuri, and Seohyun on September 29. The first image teaser for "The Boys" was released on the midnight of October 1, 2011 through SM Entertainment's YouTube channel.
Girls’ Generation were originally scheduled to release the third album "The Boys" through iTunes worldwide and through various music websites in Asia including Korea on October 5, 2011. As of September 30, the album's release has been postponed so as to bring about a worldwide album release, with details to be released as soon as they are confirmed. On October 10, it's been confirmed that the album will be released on October 19, 2011 and comeback on Music Bank on October 21, 2011.
The title track, "The Boys", will be released in both Korean and English. It was written, composed and arranged by Teddy Riley, who was Michael Jackson’s producer.

Super Junior

Super Junior is a South Korean boy band formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2005. The group debuted with 12 members: Leeteuk (leader), Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kangin, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum and later added a 13th member named Kyuhyun. As of September 2011, eight members are currently active, due to Han Geng's lawsuit with S.M. Entertainment which led to him leaving the group (now pursuing his own singing career in the Mandarin pop entertainment industry), Heechul and Kangin's temporary leave of absence for mandatory military service, Siwon's filming for his upcoming drama Poseidon (in which shooting of the drama are located at the farthest areas of South Korea, making him to temporary halt his activities with the group) and Kibum's pursuit of an acting career. However, the other members have insisted that all four (Heechul, Kangin, Kibum and Han Geng) are still part of the group, despite mentioning that they are saddened by Han Geng's departure from the group.

Super Junior has released and contributed 20 records with varying degrees of success. Over the years, they have been divided into smaller subgroups, simultaneously targeting different music industries and audiences. Largely due to Super Junior's success as entertainers, other Korean entertainment managements began to train their music groups in other areas of entertainment, such as acting and hosting. In addition to their commercial success, Super Junior has earned twelve music awards from the Mnet Asian Music Awards, eleven from the Golden Disk Awards, and is the second singing group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the 2008 MTV Asia Awards after jtL in 2003.

History

Pre-debut

In 2000, the company held their first overseas casting auditions and discovered Han Geng in Beijing, China, who was chosen from among three thousand applicants. That same year, Yesung was discovered under Seoul's casting system. Sungmin and Donghae became trainees after jointly winning the first place in Best Outward Appearance in an S.M.-sponsored contest. In 2002, Heechul and Kangin were recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles, California. Siwon was encountered in 2003 after being scouted at age 16 in front of his high school, and Ryeowook in 2004, in which the latter was discovered through the Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition. In 2005, Shindong was selected. The last member, Cho Kyuhyun, was then discovered after winning third place at the Chin Chin Singing Competition in 2005.

Not long after boy band TVXQ's debut in 2003, news about Lee's unprecedented plans of forming another boy band quickly spread on the Internet. In early 2005, Lee confirmed the news and announced that an all-boy project group of twelve members would debut near the end of the year, promoting this singing group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia." Lee announced that that most members in this group were chosen because of their performing experiences as actors, MCs, models, and radio hosts prior debut. Heechul and Kibum were already established entertainers, and most of the other members had already made various kinds of appearances on television and media. Highly inspired by the rotational concept of Japan's girl group Morning Musume, this group would also experience line-up changes, with new members replacing some selected members every year to keep the group constantly young and all-rounded. This concept was then newly introduced to the K-pop market.

For a while the group was rumored to be called O.V.E.R, the acronym for "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm. However, before the group settled with their current name, S.M. simply referred to them as Junior, a representation of the members' young ages when they first became S.M. trainees. After the members' showcased their different talents to the company at a picnic, the company finalized their concept name to Super Junior. The group thereafter became officially Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior. Leeteuk said on Star Golden Bell that "at first, Super Junior's name was S.M. Junior, but after Lee Soo Man saw our performance, he said we have super talent and quickly change our name to Super Junior". Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005. At the showcase, they performed various styles of hip-hop dancing, where they danced to B2K's "Take It to the Floor". Han Geng, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance away from the group, dancing to Usher's "Caught Up." However, the performance did not air on television until May 16, 2006, as a segment in the Super Junior Show, the group's first television documentary.

2005–06: The Super Junior project

Super Junior 05 debuted on SBS's music program Popular Song on November 6, 2005, performing their first single, "Twins (Knock Out)". A digital single with "Twins (Knock Out)", "You Are the One", and three additional tracks were released online on November 8. A physical CD single was scheduled to be released the following week but a more complete album, SuperJunior05 (Twins), was released on December 6, 2005, instead. Their debut album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at number three in the monthly chart of December 2005. In that same month, they released "Show Me Your Love", a collaboration single with TVXQ. "Show Me Your Love" became the best-selling record of December 2005, selling 49,945 copies that month.

In February 2006, Super Junior 05 began performances for "Miracle", the second promotional single from their debut album. "Miracle" was the group's first single to top the online music charts of South Korea as well as the music charts of Thailand, drawing interest from international markets. As promotions for "Miracle" came to an end, S.M. Entertainment began selecting new members for Super Junior's second line-up project, Super Junior 06. The company even prepared a list of chosen members that were to graduate from the group. However, no members were taken out and a thirteenth member was added instead in May 2006. The line-up project has been abandoned since then, and the group became known as just Super Junior, without the suffix "05".

2006–07: U, Don't Don't and breakthrough success

On May 23, 2006, S.M. Entertainment revealed the thirteenth member Kyuhyun, who was discovered through a singing competition in 2005. They released their single "U" online for free download on May 25, 2006, on their official website. "U" had over 400,000 downloads within five hours of release and it ultimately exceeded 1.7 million downloads, crashing the server. The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6, 2006, eventually selling over 81,000 units. The single became one of Korea's most popular songs of the year, yielding number one spots for five consecutive weeks on two of Korea's top music programs. By the end of the year, Super Junior collected over seven awards in five of South Korea's top music award ceremonies, winning the title as Best New Group of 2006.

Super Junior's first sub-unit, the ballad-singing trio Super Junior-K.R.Y., debuted on November 5, 2006, with a performance of Hyena theme song "The One I Love" on KBS music program Music Bank. A second sub-unit arrived in February 2007 called Super Junior-T. The trot-singing group released their first single "Rokuko" on February 23, 2007, and made a debut performance on Popular Songs two days later.

Super Junior's second official album was intended for a late 2006 release, but due to several accidental setbacks, Don't Don was not released until September 20, 2007. Within the first three days of release, offline album sales for Don't Don passed the 11,000 unit mark, debuting as number one in all available offline charts. It finished the September monthly album sales as number one. 60,000 units were shipped by the first week of release and additional copies were printed. Although Don't Don received rather bland reviews from critics, the album sold more than 160,000 copies by the end of the year, becoming the second best-selling record of 2007. The album also found success in Taiwan; it broke the record for being the highest ranked Korean album on the G-music Combo Billboard Chart, surpassing the albums of TVXQ and Shinhwa. Super Junior's album also ranked above Taiwanese boy band K One, whose album debuted at number six.

Supported by the release of Don't Don, Super Junior was nominated in seven separate categories at the 2007 Mnet/KM Music Festival that was held on November 17, 2007. Super Junior won three of those categories including "Netizen Choice Award" and "Mobile Popularity", being the biggest winner of the night. The group also won "Best Artist of the Year" (Daesang), termed by many as the highest recognition of the ceremony. Super Junior collected two more awards on December 14 at the 2007 Golden Disk Awards. Although defeated by SG Wannabe in winning the "Daesang", Super Junior won a "Bonsang" and the "TPL Anycall Popularity Award", which were reported as expected wins for the group by the media after the success of Don't Don.

2008–09: Beyond Korea and Sorry, Sorry

On October 2, 2007, S.M. Entertainment announced a third Super Junior sub-unit Super Junior-M, a subgroup designated for the Chinese market. While the creation of the subgroup created a brief controversy between the fans and the management,[e] Super Junior-M became a success in China, having the opportunity to have two sold-out concerts in Hong Kong, top weekly ratings with their appearance on variety programs, and becoming the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China. With the absence of almost half of the members in Korea, a fourth Super Junior sub-unit was created that same year to prevent Super Junior from disappearing in the Korean music industry. With five members from Super Junior-T and Yesung, they formed the subgroup, Super Junior-Happy. Super Junior-Happy released the extended play (EP) Cooking? Cooking! on June 5, 2008, and promotions ended on September 7, lasting for four months. In November 2008, Super Junior-T returned, this time as a singing group in Japan, called SuperJunior-TxMoeyan; this group added Moeyan, a two-woman comedy group in Japan. "ROCK&GO", a Japanese-language version of "Rokuko", debuted at number 19 on the Oricon Daily Charts and ascended to number 2 three days later.

Super Junior's first major tour, Super Show, commenced on February 22, 2008, in Seoul. The tour covered three countries and had shows on six different cities, including Bangkok, Shanghai, and Beijing. From July 8 to July 9, 2008, Super Junior held their first fan meeting in Japan, at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, as a celebration for the grand opening of their official Japanese homepage, which was launched on April 1, 2008. 12,000 tickets to the fan meeting were all sold out in several days. The group released a compiled Japan single the following day, entitled "U/Twins", which includes the Japanese version of "U" in the limited release, to complement the event. The single peaked at number four on Japan's Oricon Daily Chart in its first day of release, and dropped down four places in its second. The single broke a new record for being the first Korean single to have made within top 10 on Japan's Oricon Weekly Chart. On August 2, 2008, Super Junior expanded their routes to Genting Highlands, Malaysia, being one of the top guest performers at the MTV Asia Awards 2008 along with other international performing artists such as OneRepublic and the Jabbawockeez. They are the third SM artist to win Favorite Artist Korea at the MTV Asia Awards after Kangta of H.O.T and BoA, and the second musical group to win the award after JTL in 2008.

Super Junior's third album, Sorry, Sorry, was released on March 12, 2009, which was met with acclaimed reviews. The title single of the album, "Sorry, Sorry" was digitally released on March 9, 2009. In less than a week after pre-orders were announced, over 150,000 copies were pre-ordered. Sorry, Sorry was their first album to debut at number one on the Hanteo Charts, and it sold over 29,000 copies the first day, defeating Seo Taiji's record of 25,000.[3] Promotions for the album started March 13 with the performance of "Sorry, Sorry" and "Why I Like You" on Music Bank. Two weeks later, "Sorry, Sorry" became the number one song of the week on the same program. During the group's performance on music program Popular Songs on March 15, ratings went up to as high as 14%, the highest in recent years. From March to May, "Sorry, Sorry" collected a total of ten number-one awards with consecutive wins in Korea, having the single becoming a national and international success. After only a month of release, the album became South Korea's best-selling album of 2009. Sorry, Sorry was also a critically and commercially successful hit in other Asian countries, opting the group to become the only overseas representative for the second time at Taiwan's annual Golden Melody Awards. "Sorry, Sorry" was also number one for a record-breaking 37 weeks in Taiwan. Sorry, Sorry was a best-selling Korean-language album in Taiwan, Thailand, China, and the Philippines, in which the latter listed the album to be the first K-pop album to reach number one in music charts from the country. Super Junior won three awards in the 1st Mnet Asian Music Awards - Overseas Viewers Award, Mobile Popularity Award and CGV Popularity Award despite not attending. On December 11, 2009, Super Junior's Sorry, Sorry won Daesang at the 2009 Golden Disk Awards, their first in the group's career. They held their second Asia Tour Super Show 2 start in Seoul on July 17, 2009, and ended in Manila, Philippines on April 10, 2010.

2010: Bonamana, Asian popularity and Hallyu leaders

On May 6, 2010, the teaser for their fourth studio album, Bonamana, was released through S.M. Entertainment's YouTube page. The full music video of the lead single of the same name was released on May 12 and full album was released the following day in South Korea. The album was released by the group with only 10 members, without Han Geng who has terminated his contract with S.M. Entertainment, Kibum who is involved in acting career and Kangin who had enlisted himself in to the Korean army. Their fourth album had also broken a personal record for the group by having over 200,000 pre-orders. On May 14, Super Junior had their comeback stage on KBS Music Bank, performing title track "미인아 (Bonamana)" and "나쁜 여자 (Boom Boom)".

On May 17, 2010, the music video for the song "Victory Korea", which was used for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, was released through S.M. Entertainment's YouTube page. Super Junior’s World Cup song ‘Victory Korea’ set to cheer the South Korean team in the top 16 garners interests overseas. A poll was done on American site ESPN for the Best World Cup Song. There were 11 songs shortlisted for the poll including Shakira's "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", K'naan's "Wavin' Flag", Akon's "Oh Africa" etc., to which the song "Victory Korea" by Super Junior was voted number one with over 90% of the poll. "Victory Korea" features a sample mix from "Sorry, Sorry", with a similar dance done by the members of Super Junior-Happy in the music video.

On June 28, 2010, Super Junior released their repackaged album with three new tracks—"No Other", "All My Heart", "A Short Journey"—and the remixed version of "Shake It Up!". "A Short Journey" was composed by Donghae and the lyrics were written by Eunhyuk. "All My Heart" was composed by Leeteuk and Super Junior-M member Henry. On July 2, 2010, Super Junior had their first live performance of "No Other" on Music Bank. The music video for "No Other" was released on July 7, 2010. According to Hanteo, the album has sold over 200,000 copies to date.

The group embarked on their third Asian tour, Super Show 3 on August 14 and 15, 2010 at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul. The tour also made a stop in Qingdao on August 28, 2010, Beijing on October 23, 2010, and Nanjing on November 13, 2010.

On September 4, 2010, Super Junior took part in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour along with fellow SM label mates at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. This marked the first time SM Town has performed outside of Asia.[66] On September 23, 2010, Super Junior released their original soundtrack "Angel" for Haru: An Unforgettable Day in Korea, an omnibus drama that promotes Korea's tourism.[citation needed]. On November 22, Super Junior was honored as National Pop Culture Icon and received Minister of Culture Awards by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at Pop Culture Art Awards for their role in spreading the Korean Wave. On November 24, Avex Entertainment, as well as S.M. Entertainment Japan, released a statement about the renewal of contracts of SM artists signed to Avex. On August 16, 2011, It was announced that Bonamana remained at the top of Taiwan's Music Charts for 62 weeks, breaking their own previous record of the said chart.[citation needed]

2011–present: Japanese forays and Mr. Simple

Super Junior had not taken part in any official promotions in Japan, but from February 18 to February 20, 2011, Super Junior held their third Asia tour concert Super Show 3 at the Yokohama Arena in Japan. The ticket applicants for Super Show 3 Japan exceeded 110,000, while 36,000 people came to watch their performance. The Super Junior Japan 'Super Show 3' Opening Commemorative Album was released on February 16 ranked in at number two on Japan's Tower Records online sales charts. Super Junior Japan Limited Special Edition - Super Show 3 that contained a DVD ranked in second place and the CD was in 10th place. The album also remained at number three spot on the Oricon Daily Chart for two consecutive days and number six on Oricon Weekly Chart. On a press meeting regarding the concert leg, Leeteuk expressed that he and his group members are happy to come in Japan to directly meet their Japanese fans and that they expressed on their future plans to release a proper Japanese-language album this year.

On February 24, Super Junior released a 3D movie from their third Asia tour, Super Show 3 3D in all CGV and Primus movie theaters. Super Show 3 3D was ranked sixth in box office weekly chart and became the most watched 3D movie in Korea.

The group's first official Japanese single, "Bijin (Bonamana)" was released on June 8, 2011 and debuted at number two on the Oricon Daily Singles Chart, selling 27,168 copies on its release date. In addition, the music video for the song, which is a compilation of videos from Super Show 3 held at Yokohama Arena in February, received over 300,000 views on the Japanese UCC website, Nikoniko in a day. On June 14, Super Junior's "Bijin (Bonamana)" ranked at number two on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart, selling 59,262 copies. They broke the record for having the highest single album sales for a Korean idol group when their single albums that were released in Japan sold combined total of over 100,000 copies (including those sold at Circle K Sunkus and Mu-Mo), until it was surpassed by fellow label mate Shinee with their debut Japanese single "Replay (Kimi wa Boku no Everything)" at the same month. To date, Super Junior holds the highest record for singles released set upon by a Korean group without any promotion in Japan. Beginning May 16, the song was shown on major Japanese television channels as the commercial song for Japanese convenience store chain Circle K Sunkus. However, despite these success and tie-ups, SM did not see it as their official Japanese debut and has stated that the group will officially debut and promote in Japan at a later time.

In June 2011, they took part in the SMTown World Tour Live in Paris with fellow label mates, which was held in Zénith de Paris, Paris, France. On July 11, 2011, American dancer Kenny Wormald posted via his official Twitter account that he had started the choreography rehearsal for the group's upcoming new single.Shim Jae Won, choreographer and former member of the disbanded S.M. Entertainment group Black Beat, posted on his twitter a picture showing ten cups with the members' names on it, citing possible formation for the song's choreography, as well as two pictures of the choreography practice of the group the next day showing only the lower half of their bodies.

A teaser photo was revealed on July 20, 2011, with the first photo featuring Eunhyuk. By 1:21PM GST on the 26th of July, all ten teaser photos had been released, in the following order: Eunhyuk, Donghae, Leeteuk, Shindong, Kyuhyun, Sungmin, Ryeowook, Yesung, Siwon and finally, Heechul. On the same day, it was announced that the upcoming album would hit South Korean record shelves on August 3, 2011. On July 22, 2011, the group began filming the music video for their new lead single, with occasional photo tweets of the music video sets from Shim Jaewon and member Heechul. The filming for the music video wrapped up July 24, 2011, with Shim Jaewon consistently updating the group's filming activity. On July 25, Jeon Hoon of Sonic Korea Studio announced that he is mastering the new album. The group will have an upcoming press conference at the Seoul Imperial Palace Hotel regarding the new album, revealed as "Mr. Simple", on August 4, 2011.

The music video teaser for the new single "Mr. Simple" has been released on August 1, 2011, to be followed by the digital single on the 2nd (through various Korean online music sites like Melon, Dosirak and Bugs), the album on the 3rd and the music video itself on the 4th.

The group had their comeback performance of "Mr. Simple" and "Superman" (in which the track was later included on the second release of "Mr. Simple") at Music Bank on August 5, 2011, followed by Music Core on the 6th, Inkigayo on the 7th and M! Countdown on the 11th., with their comeback performance of the song in M!Countdown garnered them their first win. However, despite being in the middle of promotions for the song, member Siwon does not appear on some performances due to his filming with an upcoming drama Poseidon.

On August 21, 2011, S.M. Entertainment announced that member Heechul will be enlisting to the army on September 1, 2011. On August 26, 2011, a music video for the album's supporting single, "Superman", was revealed via S.M. Entertainment's SMTOWN YouTube page, in which the music video shows various clips from their Super Show 3 tours as well as the photoshoots and music video making for "Mr. Simple". Super Junior also attended the SMTOWN Live in Tokyo Special Edition along with their SM labelmates at the Tokyo Dome on September 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Leeteuk said that the Tokyo Dome has been his long-time dream concert place and that he is very thankful he and Super Junior performed on the said venue before his army enlistment in which he indicated it to be sometime next year.

SM Entertainment announced on September 5, 2011 that Super Show 4 will commence on November 19th and 20th in Seoul and December 10th and 11th at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Osaka, Japan. On September 19, 2011, Super Junior released a repackaged version of Mr. Simple entitled A-Cha, which comprises all thirteen tracks from Mr. Simple's B-version plus four new material — "A-Cha", "Oops!!" which features labelmate f(x), "A Day" and "Andante". On September 20th, it was announced via the group's official Japanese website that they will release their second Japanese single which is a Japanese version of their new album title track "Mr. Simple", and is slated for a December 7th release in Japan. In addition, a "Super Show 3 in Japan" DVD will be released on November 16th in Japan.

On September 23, 2011, SM released the teaser for the music video of A-Cha on the official SMTOWN YouTube page. That same day, Super Junior also made a comeback to Music Bank with the said song. The music video was released on the 26th.