K-CON All things Hallyu
K-CON
KCON is an annual Korean wave convention held in different locations across the world, organized by Powerhouse Live, Mnet Media, CJ E&M and Koreaboo. It started in 2012 and is based in Southern California but expanded to the East Coast and Japan in 2015. Koreaboo broke news that in 2016, KCON would be expanding into Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and in Paris, France in 2016 for first time ever. In 2017, KCON announced that they will be hosting their first KCON Mexico at the Mexico City Arena.
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EXO
EXO
Exo (Korean: 엑소; stylized as EXO) is a South Korean-Chinese boy group based in Seoul. Formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2011, the group debuted in 2012 with twelve members separated into two subgroups, Exo-K and Exo-M, performing music in Korean and Mandarin respectively. Exo's first album XOXO (2013), which contained the breakthrough hit "Growl", was a critical and commercial success, winning both Disk Daesang at the 28th Golden Disk Awards and Album of the Year at the 15th Mnet Asian Music Awards. It sold over one million copies, making Exo the best-selling Korean artist in twelve years. Subsequent albums and EPs continued with strong sales, and Exo were ranked the most influential celebrity by Forbes Korea for the year 2014 and 2015. They have been named "the biggest boyband in the world" by media outlets, saying that "EXO are at the forefront of pop domination, with knife-point choreography seamlessly gelled to songs crafted by some of the world’s most gifted writers and producers, honed by their myriad of personalities and talents."Exo has gone on to win over 88 music program awards.
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BIG BANG
BIG BANG
Labeled as the "Kings of K-pop" and the "Nation's Boy Band," the members’ involvement in composing and producing their own music, most notably G-Dragon, has earned the group respect and praise from the music industry. Including the members' solo releases and sub-units, Big Bang have sold over 140 million records, with over 128 million singles and 13 million albums in Korea, Japan and China, making them the best-selling digital group of all-time in Asia and one of the best-selling boy bands in the world. They have won numerous awards and set several records, including being the act who spent the most months at number one on the Gaon Chart and the most weeks at number one on Melon, besides being the all-time best-selling artist in Cyworld. Big Bang was the first Korean artist to enter Forbes Magazine's Celebrity 100 and the 30 under 30 most influential musicians in the world lists. Citing their global popularity and contribution to K-pop, The Washington Post have described them as "the biggest band in Asia"and the Hollywood Reporter as "the biggest boy band in the world."
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BTS
BTS
BTS widespread prominence with their The Most Beautiful Moment in Life trilogy, debuting inside the Billboard 200. The Most Beautiful Moment In Life, Part 2 charted at number one on the Billboard World Albums Chart.The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever went on to win the coveted "Album of the Year" award at the 2016 Melon Music Awards. This win marked BTS's first daesang, or 'grand prize', since their debut. Their second full album, Wings, which charted at #1 on iTunes in over 26 countries. The album also debuted at 26 on the Billboard 200. Known for their large social media presence, BTS were listed by Forbes as the most retweeted artist on Twitter in March 2016. Following that, Twitter launched its first ever K-pop Twitter emoji. In October 2016, Billboard placed BTS as #1 on their Social 50 chart, making them the first Korean group to top the chart. Also known for their large international fanbase, having performed and sold out tours in Asia, Europe, Australia, North America and South America, BTS's won the Best World Performer award in the 2015 MAMA. Just a year later, BTS went on to win the 2016 MAMA for Artist of the Year.