It was the greatest K-pop competition of all-time. So famed that even those new to the world of K-pop know about it.
The three biggest girl groups of their generation. One each coming from one of the "Big 3" entertainment companies.
Girls' Generation VS Wonder Girls VS 2NE1.
SM VS JYP VS YG.
The battle between the top second generation girl groups begins now.
Following on from our two previous "Comparison" articles (including how much TWICE has released since BLACKPINK's last comeback, and TXT VS ITZY), we bring you the greatest girl group battle of all time - those of the second generation.
So, we've decided to take a look at their entire careers, comparing the three groups against one another on five different categories - albums (including repackages, single albums, and other releases), tracks (including double-up songs), sales, music show wins, and YouTube subscribers.
This comparison is just for fun, and it doesn't mean that one group or fanbase is ranked higher than the other.
Albums
Between these three girl groups, there has been a simply massive number of releases over the last three years - one-hundred and seven to be exact.
From mini-albums to digital singles, from OST's to Japanese releases, here is how Girls' Generation, Wonder Girls and 2NE1 compare when it comes to their albums.
Girls' Generation
Throughout their career before their current hiatus, Girls' Generation have had fifty-five releases under their belt. This has included:
- 6 full-length albums - "Girls' Generation", "Oh!", "The Boys", "I Got a Boy", "Lion Heart", and "Holiday Night"
- 3 repackaged albums - "Baby Baby", "Run Devil Run", and "Mr. Taxi"
- 4 mini-albums - "Gee", "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", "Hoot", and "Mr. Mr."
- 2 live albums - "The 1st Asia Tour Concert - Into the New World", and "2011 Girls' Generation Tour"
- 2 special albums - "Sweet Memories with Girls' Generation", and "Heart 2 Heart with Girls' Generation"
- 2 single albums - "Into the New World", and "Party"
- 5 digital singles - "Into the New World Remix", "Kissing You Rhythmer Remix Vol. 1", "Dancing Queen", "Catch Me If You Can", and "Sailing (0805)
- 5 promotional singles - "Haptic Motion (with TVXQ)", "Chocolate Love (Retro Pop Version)", "Seoul (with Super Junior)", "Cabi Song (with 2PM)", and "Visual Dreams (Pop! Pop!)"
- 7 OSTs - "Touch the Sky" (from Thirty Thousand Miles in Search of My Son), "Little Boat" (from Hong Gil Dong), "Day By Day" (from Beethoven Virus), "Motion" (from Heading to the Ground), "I Want to Dream With You Forever" (from Pasta), "My Friend Haechi", and "Cheap Creeper" (from Make Your Move)
- 3 Japanese full-length albums - "Girls' Generation", "Girls' Generation II - Girls and Peace", and "Love & Peace"
- 1 Japanese repackage album - "The Boys"
- 2 Japanese compilation albums - "Best Selection Non Stop Mix", and "The Best"
- 1 Japanese repackage compilation album - "The Best (New/Standard Edition)"
- 9 Japanese singles - "Genie", "Gee", "Mr. Taxi", "Paparazzi", "Oh!", "Flower Power", "Love & Girls", "Galaxy Supernova", and "Catch Me If You Can"
- 3 Japanese digital singles - "Run Devil Run", "All My Love is for You", and "My Oh My"
Wonder Girls
JYP Entertainment's Wonder Girls, on the other hand, had a total of twenty-six releases over the course of their career. Their releases included:
- 3 full-length albums - "The Wonder Years", "Wonder World", and "Reboot"
- 2 mini-albums - "The Wonder Years - Trilogy", and "Wonder Party"
- 4 singles - "The Wonder Begins", "So Hot", "2 Different Tears", and "Why So Lonely"
- 5 digital singles - "It's Not Love (Tears)", "Joyo Joyo", "Army Song", "Anybody", and "Draw Me"
- 1 other release - "Beautiful Boy"
- 1 Japanese compilation album - "Wonder Best Korea/USA/Japan 2007-2012"
- 1 Japanese mini-album - "Nobody for Everybody"
- 1 English EP - "2 Different Tears"
- 7 English digital singles - "Nobody (English ver.)", "Nobody (Sing-Along ver.)", "Nobody (The Remix Edition)", "Nobody Rainstone Remix", "K-Food Party", "The DJ is Mine", and "Like Money"
- 1 Chinese mini-album - "Wonder Girls China Special Edition"
2NE1
2NE1, like Wonder Girls, also had a total of twenty-six releases over the course of their career. Their releases included:
- 2 full-length albums - "To Anyone", and "Crush"
- 2 mini-albums - "2NE1 1st Mini Album", and "2NE1 2nd Mini Album"
- 2 live albums - "2NE1 First Live Concert [NOLZA!]", and "2NE1 Global Tour Live CD [NEW EVOLUTION IN SEOUL]"
- 12 digital singles - "Fire", "I Don't care (Reggae Remix)", "I Don't Care (Baek Kyoung Remix)", "Try to Follow Me", "Lonely", "I Am The Best", "Hate You", "I Love You", "Falling In Love", "Do You Love Me", "Missing You", and "Goodbye"
- 1 collaboration - "Lollipop" (with BIGBANG)
- 2 Japanese full-length album - "Collection", and "Crush"
- 1 Japanese mini-album - "Nolza"
- 2 Japanese singles - "Go Away", and "Scream"
- 2 Japanese digital singles - "I Am The Best", and "I Love You"
Tracks
If it's listed on the tracklist of a release, then we've counted it in here as a track. So that means that instrumentals, English and Japanese translations, and even duplicates can find their way into this part of the comparison.
Lets go from smallest to largest.
2NE1
Across their twenty-six releases, YG Entertainment's girl group 2NE1 have released a total of 128 tracks, averaging a total of 4.92 tracks per release.
Wonder Girls
Across their twenty-six releases, JYP Entertainment's girl group Wonder Girls have released a total of 145 tracks, averaging a total of 5.58 tracks per release.
Girls' Generation
If both of the previous two were similar, you'd expect roughly the same from SNSD, right?
You'd be wrong.
Across their fifty-five releases, SM Entertainment's girl group Girls' Generation have released a total of 406 tracks.
That's right. 406!
This leads to an average of 7.38 tracks per release.
Sales
As we all know, the K-pop industry sees devoted fans buy the multiple versions of their favourite artists albums in a way that simply isn't seen any more in the Western music industry following the rise of music streaming services.
As such, the sales of K-pop albums are often some of the highest every year. And the purchasing power of a group's fandom is seen to show the popularity of a group as well.
If you thought that the TXT and ITZY album sales were impressive (reminder: they were both in the millions), then you're in for the shock of a lifetime.
All three of these second generation girl groups have total sales in the tens of millions, and combined successfully have more than one hundred million sales.
So, who was more album sales out of these girl groups?
Wonder Girls was not quite as successful as it's counterparts, but 26.54 million+ album sales is nothing to scoff at, and makes it one of the most successful artists in South Korean musical history.
Girls' Generation, arguably one of the most famous artists of all time to come out of South Korea, has a total of 38.25 million+ album sales.
But it's 2NE1 that dwarfs all of the competition, with an astounding and almost unmatchable 51.38 million+ sales. This makes them not only one of the most successful artists in South Korea, but in the world.
Music show wins
Girls' Generation is famous for once being the K-pop group with the most music show wins. And for being so close to one hundred wins that it's almost agonising.
But what songs are those wins for? And how well do Wonder Girls and 2NE1 feature on this list?
Girls' Generation
SNSD fans were avid about voting back in the day. The group once topped the list of groups with the most music show wins. And now, Girls' Generation have received a total of 98 music show wins throughout their career.
These music show wins have come from:
- Into the New World - 1 win
- Girl's Generation - 4 wins
- Kissing You - 5 wins
- Baby Baby - 1 win
- Tell Me Your Wish - 3 wins
- Gee - 14 wins
- Run Devil Run - 4 wins
- Hoot - 8 wins
- Oh! - 10 wins
- The Boys - 12 wins
- I Got a Boy - 6 wins
- Mr. Mr. - 9 wins
- Party - 7 wins
- Lion Heart - 14 wins
Wonder Girls
Meanwhile, while not necessarily as successful as Girls' Generation, Wonder Girls managed a respectable 40 music show wins across their career.
These music show wins have come from:
- Tell Me - 9 wins
- So Hot - 12 wins
- Nobody - 4 wins
- 2 Different Tears - 1 win
- Be My Baby - 5 wins
- Like This - 5 wins
- Why So Lonely - 4 wins
2NE1
Not as successful as SNSD, and ranking slightly higher than Wonder Girls, 2NE1 finds themselves with 44 music show wins from across their career.
These music show wins have come from:
- Fire - 2 wins
- I Don't Care - 13 wins
- Clap Your Hands - 1 win
- Can't Nobody - 7 wins
- Go Away - 3 wins
- Lonely - 1 win
- I Am The Best - 2 wins
- Ugly - 3 wins
- Falling in Love - 3 wins
- Do You Love Me - 1 win
- Missing You - 5 wins
- Come Back Home - 3 wins
Fanbase
When it comes to measure the fanbase of the three groups, it's difficult to take a look at multiple social media sources, as the groups are all either on hiatus or disbanded.
As such, we will be using just their official YouTube channels for this measure.
So, how do SONE, Wonderfuls, and Blackjacks come out when it comes to the number of YouTube subscribers?
Girls' Generation
Girls' Generation have more than 2.54 million subscribers to their official YouTube channel, and their ninety-nine videos have been seen more than 193.18 million times.
Wonder Girls
Wonder Girls have more than 805,000 subscribers to their official YouTube channel, and their two-hundred and twenty-two videos have been seen more than 432.5 million times.
2NE1
2NE1 have more than 5.44 million subscribers to their official YouTube channel, and their three-hundred and nineteen videos have been seen more than 2.046 billion times.
Are you a SONE, a Wonderful, or a Blackjack? Are you a second generation multi-stan who loves all three of them? No matter what side of the trifecta you fall on, all three groups were influential with their contributions to the Hallyu wave in the second generation of K-pop. Let us know what you think by commenting on our socials @KpopWise.