Code

GitHub - operationkep1er/girl_group_popularity_analysis: Code for analyzing the relative popularity of K-pop girl groups.

Full data

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gCG0dyULCV8vxIWxRDUPsBXVnQjcnEtlDDjABo9C0Ds/edit?usp=sharing

Who made this?

hello!

Purpose

The purpose of this analysis is to determine the distribution of girl group popularity using Spotify data. A total of 89 active girl groups were classified into 4 tiers, based on an average of their popularity and follower count ranking. From these tiers, we can better understand the relative standing of each girl group in today's market.

<aside> 💡 Interpreting Data Don’t worry too much if you feel that a specific group isn’t in the tier they should be — it's important to remember that these findings are applicable only within a certain context. A different methodology, dataset, or timeframe could give completely different results.

Because of this, I recommend focusing on relative positions or just tier categorizations, not absolute ranks.

</aside>

Tier ranking

Here's how I've categorized the 4 tiers:

T1: Today's Top Groups Some of the most popular girl groups in today's K-pop market. Girl groups 101.

T2: The Queendom Puzzle Tier Groups from mid-tier companies, "bubbling under", literally all the groups from Queendom Puzzle.

T3: Girl Group Deep Cuts I like to call these groups "nugus with budget". Super, super underrated.

T4: nugupromoter If you know all of these groups, you should work for nugupromoter.

Data sources

The list of eligible girl groups for this analysis was pulled from the KProfiles active girl groups page.

Spotify data was pulled using the Spotify Web API as of August 15, 2023.

Girl groups included/excluded from this analysis

To be included this analysis, the following criteria had to be met:

  1. Must be from a music company.
  2. Must have released at least 1 original pop song. Rock bands, trot groups, and other non-pop music groups are not included.
  3. Cannot be a sub-unit, project group, or one-off group created for promotional or special stage purposes (i.e. no year end collab stages or CF song collabs).
  4. Must have officially debuted. Pre-debut promotions are not considered an official debut.
  5. Must be a currently active group. Groups that are not technically not disbanded, but have not had any official full group activities or social media postings within the past 2 years are not considered active. One-off reunion comebacks are not included.