From left, ILLIT, TWS and NCT Wish debuted this year. Courtesy of Belift Lab, Pledis Entertainment and SM Entertainment

Every year, the K-pop scene welcomes new rookies from powerhouses to small labels debuting their trainees. But this year, the K-pop scene has been more special with standout rookie groups, such as ILLIT, TWS and NCT WISH, climbing their way up to instant stardom.

ILLIT

Two of HYBE's labels, Belift Lab and Pledis Entertainment, scored huge successes with their new acts this year.

Belift Lab introduced its first girl group ILLIT in March, comprising the finalists from the music survival show “R U Next?” The group made a powerful debut with the mini-album “Super Real Me” and its lead single "Magnetic,” instantly attracting enormous popularity from K-pop fans.

The upbeat, infectious debut track swept local and global music charts, making into Billboard Hot 100 and the U.K.'s Official Singles Top 100 a month after its release. It also notched the highest ranking among K-pop artists on Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. U.S., landing on No. 61 and 29 respectively.

The group also became the only debuting act to make it into the Billboard Global 200 Artist this year, claiming No. 68 on the chart.

The group won multiple nominations in music awards, including Top Global K-Pop Song at the 2024 Billboard Music Awards and Best Asia Act at MTV Europe Music Awards. It won new artist awards at the Japan Record Awards, MAMA Awards and Melon Music Awards (MMA).

Pop culture critic Kim Do-heon noted that this year's rookies have been successful in showcasing their own musical identity, which helped to bring their success.

The members of ILLIT pose after winning Best New Female Artist at this year's MAMA Awards in November. Courtesy of Belift Lab

“Each rookie has such unique individual characteristics. So we can't pinpoint on a single trend, but rather it can be roughly summarized as that this has been a year where the individuality and vision of each entertainment company and their producers stood out,” he said.

“ILLIT took the theme of relatability and really used it to create its identity (as a K-pop group), with constantly utilizing the keywords of an internet world and Y2K (style).”

TWS

Pledis Entertainment's latest boy group TWS has also been garnering global success, since debuting with its mini-album “Sparkling Blue” and the single “Plot Twist” this January. The debut song has made it into the Billboard Global 200 chart where it stayed for about two months.

The group had a busy debut year, releasing two more albums — the second mini-album “Summer Beat!” in June and single album “Last Bell” last month.

The last two albums topped Japan's Oricon Daily Single Ranking soon after release, proving the group's global popularity. It also has been notching accolades in the local music awards, winning New Artist of the Year at MMA 2024 and Best New Male Artist at the MAMA Awards.

“TWS successfully created a three-part narrative around the theme of school youth growth, showing its (artistic) growth through the seasons,” Kim said regarding the group's success.

A concept photo of TWS' first single “Last Bell” / Courtesy of Pledis Entertainment

NCT Wish

SM Entertainment's expansive boy group project NCT rolled out its latest unit group NCT Wish in February with the single “WISH.” The group topped the local Hanteo Weekly Chart soon after its release, selling 280,000 copies.

The group showed dynamic growth in popularity since its debut, almost tripling its album sales with the first mini-album “Steady,” which sold about 790,000 preorders in October. The latest album took the local charts by storm, topping Hanteo and Circle's album charts.

YG Entertainment's first girl group since BLACKPINK, Babymonster made its official debut with the mini-album “BABYMONS7ER” this April after much anticipation with pre-debut act since late last year.

The seven-piece group recently released its first full-length album “DRIP” last month, making its debut on Billboard's main albums chart. It landed on no. 149 on the Billboard 200 soon after its release on Nov. 1.

A concept photo for NCT Wish's first mini-album "Steady" / Courtesy of SM Entertainment

Global projects

HYBE introduced its first global girl group, KATSEYE, in June, garnering much spotlight from K-pop fans, and JYP Entertainment debuted its Japanese boy band NEXZ through a music survival show Nizi Project in May.

JYP Entertainment also rolled out the multinational girl group VCHA in January, comprising of American and Canadian members, with the single "Girls of the Year." The group held high hopes for the label, which produced the group to target global market, even before making the official debut. Its pre-debut singe song "Y.O.Universe," released September 2023, topped Billboard's Hot Trending Chart and YouTube worldwide trending chart with its music video.

However, the group came to an indefinate future when one of its members, KG, filed a lawsuit against the agency earlier this month, alleging mistreatment, harsh working conditions and systematic issues within the K-pop industry. The agency debunked the allegations, emphasizing it will not let the lawsuit affect the group's future act, which included plans for a new release earlier next year.

K-pop girl group Izna debuted in November with the album “N/a.” Courtesy of WakeOne

Another group from the music survival show, Izna made its debut last year, from the finalists from Mnet's “I-Land 2: N/a.” The group quickly garnered global popularity, making a pre-debut performance at this year's MAMA three days before releasing its debut album “N/a.” The album topped the iTunes Album Chart in Thailand and Slovenia and made it into the top 10 in 12 different countries, including Malaysia, Portugal and Chile.

Critic Kim said the success of the rookies will always come down to the artists' unique colors while managing to speak to the broader public.

“It's not necessarily about individual producers or large entertainment companies. In the past, large labels dominated the music market, often making diverse attempts, changing music genres and switching concepts. However, recently, we're seeing groups solidifying their unique identity and maintaining it consistently to the end,” he said.

“However, being niche doesn't mean you can't persuade the general public. It requires various efforts to capture the universal taste, like how Rose's 'APT.' did … In a long-term perspective, the producers' challenge is to create a grammar that allows each group to maintain its unique identity while being accessible and shareable with a broader audience.”