Girls' Generation, KARA, Wonder Girls -- Most Popular Groups Awarded Hangul URLs

Hangul Smart Domain Organization, which is the group that provides URL addresses in the Korean language of hangul, held an online survey from May 3-11th. The subject: who the most popular girl idol group is.

The site listed ten of the top girl groups as possible answers: Girls' Generation, Kara, Wonder Girls, 4minute, Secret, T-ara, Sistar, miss A, 2NE1, and After School.

The results from the 23,274 people who participated were very clear.
Girls' Generation garnered 48.22% of the votes as number one, followed by Kara with 30.17%. Wonder Girls was significantly behind at third place with 11.09%. Trailing behind even further were the rest of the groups with insignificant counts: 4minute had 3.82%, Secret with 2.01%, T-ara with 1.92%, Sistar having won 0.84%, miss A with 0.69%, 2NE1 with 0.66%, and After School last with 0.53%.

Being the top three winners, Girls' Generation, Kara, and the Wonder Girls -- along with their respective fan clubs -- will receive their very own Korean, or hangul, smart domain address. This would make them the first in the world to have hangul URLs (i.e. '소녀시대.홈', '카라.홈' '원더걸스.홈', '소녀시대.팬', '카라.팬', '원더걸스.팬').

A similar poll will be held for boy idol groups next!

Source : english.kbs.co.kr/Ent... ( English Korean )

Girls' Generation Blaze New Trail with Asian Tour

Girls' Generation successfully concluded their 10-monthlong Asian tour by setting a new record after attracting the greatest number of spectators for a Korean girl group to date.

Chicago to Hold 2nd Flashmob for "SM Town" Live Concert

In 2011, United States was showered with top acts like Girls' Generation, 2NE1 and the Wonder Girls making their mainstream debuts. One of Korea's most popular tours, the SMTOWN Live World Tour, has touched down in Los Angeles and New York.

Girls' Generation Japanese albums to be repackaged and sold in Korea

Girls' Generation will release repackaged versions of its Japanese albums in Korea on Feb. 9, hoping to replicate their record-breaking success in the group's home country.

The album "Girls' Generation" was released in Japan last June and was itself repackaged as "Girls Generation – The Boys" to include two new songs and rereleased in Japan in December. These two albums will Now be available in Korean stores starting this month, and some will be sold with a bonus DVD showing clips of the ever-popular K-pop group.

Both "Girls' Generation" and "Girls' Generation – The Boys" did exceptionally well in Japan, with "Girls' Generation" breaking the record for the most debut albums sold by an overseas artist there. The K-pop sensation also became the first Korean female group to top Oricon's weekly album chart. Within one month of the album's release, sales exceeded 500,000, and the girls received the double platinum award from the Recording Industry Association of Japan.

"Girls Generation – The Boys" has sold more than a million copies since December, and it remained in the Oricon top-10 list for more than 17 weeks, the longest time period ever achieved by a Korean artist's album in Japan .

By Carla Sunwoo [carlasunwoo@joongang.co.kr]

Source : koreajoongangdaily.jo... ( English Korean )

Girls' Generation to invade France

Following its notable TV appearances in the United States, K-pop girl group Girls' Generation is set to release an album in France. SM Entertainment announced on Feb. 7 that the band will launch their album "The Boys" through French record label Polydor, an affiliate of Universal Music