IVE, Kep1er, NMIXX, LE SSERAFIM compete for the Rookie of the Year award in 2022, who will prevail?

2022 will be a fierce year when a series of rookie girl groups debut and win the hearts of the audience.

Kpop in 2022 is becoming more promising and expected when marking the debut of a series of "dinosaur" rookies. Although the first half of the year has just passed, the rookie girl group award at the year-end awards ceremony has been discussed more actively than ever. Newly debuted girl groups that are currently gaining both popularity and media attention include IVE, Kep1er, NMIXX, and LE SSERAFIM.

They are all groups with many outstanding faces, highly appreciated visuals and soon have a large fan base, so the competition for the rookie of the year award will be even more competitive. Topics discussing this issue are currently attracting a lot of attention from Korean netizens.

IVE

IVE was released by Starship Entertainment in December 2021 with 6 members Ahn Yujin, Gaeul, Rei, Jang Wonyoung, Liz, Leeseo and achieved consecutive success with the debut song ELEVEN. A few months after the debut song, IVE released "Love Dive" which also successfully swept many wins on weekly music shows.

Additionally, Love Dive sold more than 330,000 copies in its first week, more than double that of debut single ELEVEN. The song also entered the charts like Melon, Bugs, Genie,... at the highest rank. The Love Dive MV also achieved 50 million views on YouTube within a week of its release, setting the record for the fastest views of IVE.

With these two outstanding products, IVE becomes the strongest candidate for the title of Rookie of the Year.

Kep1er

Kep1er, consisting of the top 9 members selected through Mnet's "Girls Planet 999" show, also had a debut not to be underestimated. Kep1er is one of the new faces that stand out at the beginning of the year when becoming the owner of a series of "terrible" achievements.

Kep1er's debut album First Impact, released on January 3, sold 200,000 copies in the first week and topped all iTunes charts in 11 countries globally.

With the title song WA DA DA, the group won first place on Music Bank within 12 days of their debut. Show off their potential by setting a record for a girl group taking first place on a music show in the shortest amount of time.

NMIXX

NMIXX was launched by JYP's top girl group in February 2022 with 7 members: Jinni, Jiwoo, Kyujin, Sullyoon, Bae, Haewon and Lily. NMIXX is noticed by many Kpop fans because it is the next generation of Wonder Girls, Miss A, TWICE and ITZY.

The MV for the debut song OO surpassed 20 million YouTube views just one day after its release. The group's debut single AD MARE achieved first-week sales of 227,399 copies on Hanteo. This number brought NMIXX to set a new record on Hanteo for the highest first-week sales for a debut single by a K-pop girl group.

At the same time, NMIXX also ranked 2nd in the list of girl groups whose debut album (excluding sub-units) achieved the highest first-week sales in history, just behind aespa (Savage - 276,877 copies). In addition, NMIXX also ranked 11th in the list of highest first week album sales among all K-pop girl groups.

In addition, member Sullyoon of NMIXX often causes a fever on social media with her surreal visual, looking like a fairy. Even, Sullyoon is also known as "the first visual gen 4".

LE SSERAFIM

LE SSERAFIM became a hot topic when it was the first girl group HYBE (BTS's management company) to debut. LESSERAFIM consists of 6 girls, including two former IZ*ONE members, Miyawaki Sakura and Kim Chaewon. Besides, the group also has the participation of former "Produce 48" contestant Huh Yunjin and new faces Kim Garam, Hong Eunchae and Kazuha.

Just officially debuted on May 2 with the first EP Fearless, LE SSERAFIM quickly dominated the charts. Two days after its release, Fearless recorded sales of 242,270 copies, surpassing the first-week sales record for a girl group debut album on Hanteo. In addition, the group also entered Spotify's Global Top 200 at No. 171 on May 3, setting a record as the fastest girl group debut song to enter the Global Top 200 chart.

Most recently, according to Hanteo Chart's statistics on May 9, LE SSERAFIM's first mini-album "Fearless" recorded sales of 307,450 copies in the first week of release. With this achievement, LE SSERAFIM has set a new record, becoming the debut album of a girl group with the highest first-week sales in Hanteo history, and at the same time ranked #9 in the girl group album sales chart. LE SSERAFIM is also the 6th girl group to sell over 300,000 copies in the first week.

However, LE SSERAFIM also received many controversies because of member Kim Garam. The most cared for in the LE SSERAFIM lineup, but right before debut, Kim Garam was accused of school violence, causing his image to drop and collecting a huge amount of antifans.

Although HYBE has denied and said that through the company's investigation, all the allegations against Kim Garam are untrue and HYBE will take legal action with the accusations. However, the majority of the audience still turned their backs on the group.

HYBE favors LE SSERAFIM too much, drowning both GFriend and 10-year seniors to raise "BTS's sister" Hoàng Phúc11:40:19 05/05/2022Calling LE SSERAFIM the first girl group, HYBE received a lot of "brick and stone". On May 2, the girl group "BTS sister" LE SSERAFIM officially debuted with the MV Fearless. Right before debut, LE SSERAFIM met with many mixed opinions because member Kim Garam was accused of a...