Kim Hyun-ah (born June 6, 1992), better known by the mononym Hyuna, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, rapper and model. She debuted as a member of the girl group Wonder Girls in February 2007. After leaving the ensemble shortly after, Hyuna subsequently left JYP Entertainment and joined the girl group 4Minute, under Cube Entertainment. 4Minute debuted in June 2009 and went on to become one of the most popular girl groups in the country.

In 2010, Hyuna began a solo career with a style she described as "performance-oriented music" Her debut single "Change" charted at number two on South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart. In 2011, Hyuna earned wider public recognition with the release of her first extended play Bubble Pop!. The title track sold more than three million digital copies and she became the first female K-pop solo artist to reach 100 million views on a single music video on YouTube. In 2012, she appeared in a successful duet rendition of Psy's worldwide hit "Gangnam Style" and later released her second extended play Melting, which spawned her first number one single "Ice Cream". Following 4Minute's disbandment in mid 2016, she released her fifth extended play A'wesome, which was supported by her first concert tour The Queen's Back.

Hyuna has released six extended plays since her professional solo debut and has collaborated with several artists under Cube Entertainment. In 2011, she formed the duo Trouble Maker with former Beast member Hyunseung, which spawned two number one singles, including "Trouble Maker". In 2017, she was involved in the trio Triple H with Pentagon members Hui and E'Dawn.

In 2018, Hyuna ended her contract with Cube Entertainment after several internal conflicts, and signed with Psy's P-Nation the following year.

iKon (Korean: 아이콘), stylized as iKON, is a South Korean boy band formed in 2015 by YG Entertainment. The group was first introduced in the reality survival program WIN: Who is Next as "Team B". After that, Team B went on to appear in the 2014 reality survival program Mix & Match, which determined the final seven-member lineup of iKon: B.I, Bobby, Jinhwan, Ju-ne, Yunhyeong, Donghyuk and Chanwoo.

The group released their debut studio album Welcome Back (2015), which debuted atop the South Korean Gaon Album Chart and produced the number-one singles "My Type", "Apology" and "Dumb & Dumber" and three top-ten singles: "Rhythm Ta", "Airplane" and "Anthem". The album was commercially a success, selling 260,000 copies in Asia, and the songs sold 4.8 million copies, which lead the group to win several best new artist awards on major Asia award shows, including Mnet Asian Music Awards, Japan Record Awards and QQ Music Awards. The following two years, the group released the singles "#WYD" and "New Kids: Begin", and they focused on their first Asia tour and several Japanese tours. The group's second studio album, Return, was released on January 25, 2018.

Wanna One (Korean: 워너원) was a South Korean boy band formed by CJ E&M through the second season of Produce 101.^[1] The group was composed of eleven members: Kang Daniel, Park Ji-hoon, Lee Dae-hwi, Kim Jae-hwan, Ong Seong-wu, Park Woo-jin, Lai Kuan-lin, Yoon Ji-sung, Hwang Min-hyun, Bae Jin-young and Ha Sung-woon. The group debuted on August 7, 2017, under Swing Entertainment and CJ E&M. Their contract ended on December 31, 2018, but their final activity as a group was their last concert on January 24–27, 2019.

CLC (Korean: 씨엘씨, an acronym for "Crystal Clear"^[1]) is a South Korean girl group formed by Cube Entertainment in 2015. The group consists of seven members: Seunghee, Yujin, Seungyeon, Sorn, Yeeun, Elkie, and Eunbin. Their debut EP First Love was released on March 19, 2015 with five group members: Seunghee, Yujin, Seungyeon, Sorn and Yeeun. In February 2016, Elkie and Eunbin were added to the group.

Blackpink (Hangul: 블랙핑크; commonly stylized as BLACKPINK or BLΛƆKPIИK) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. The group debuted on August 8, 2016, with their single album Square One, which spawned "Whistle", their first number-one song in South Korea, as well as "Boombayah", their first number-one hit on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. With the group's early commercial success, they were hailed as the New Artist of the Year at the 31st Golden Disc Awards and the 26th Seoul Music Awards.

DAY6 (Korean: 데이식스) is a South Korean boy band formed by JYP Entertainment in 2014. The band is composed of five members: Jae, Sungjin, Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon. Originally a six-piece band, Junhyeok later departed from the band in February 2016. The band debuted with their first mini-album, The Day on September 7, 2015.

NCT (Hangul: 엔시티) is a K-pop boy group formed by SM Entertainment. Their name stands for the Hallyu localization project Neo Culture Technology, a term coined by their producer and SM founder Lee Soo-man to describe the group's concept of having an unlimited number of members divided into multiple sub-units based in various cities worldwide.The group consists of 21 members as of January 2019, aged from their late teens to mid-twenties.The group's first unit NCT U made their debut on April 9, 2016 with the digital singles "The 7th Sense" and "Without You." The second unit NCT 127, based in Seoul, debuted on July 7, 2016, with the EP NCT #127The third unit NCT Dream made their debut on August 24, 2016 with the digital single "Chewing Gum."The fourth unit WayV, based in China, debuted on January 17, 2019 with the single album The Vision.

Exo (Korean: 엑소; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean–Chinese boy band based in Seoul, with nine members: Xiumin, Suho, Lay, Baekhyun, Chen, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai and Sehun. The band was formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and debuted in 2012. Their music incorporates genres like pop, hip-hop, and R&B, alongside electronic dance music genres like house, trap, and synth-pop. Exo releases and performs music in Korean, Mandarin, and Japanese. The band ranked as one of the top five most influential celebrities on the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list each year from 2014 to 2018, and have been named "the biggest boy band in the world" and the "kings of K-pop" by media outlets.