Girl groups leveraging their 'mass appeal' have overtaken boy bands who primarily rely on their 'fandoms'. Amid economic downturns, the public has overwhelmingly chosen 'dance' music as a form of comfort and motivation. This trend is evident from the analysis of the music chart for the first half of 2023.

◇ Girl Groups Reign Supreme, Securing Eight out of the Top 10

As per the big data analytics result obtained by Munhwa Ilbo in partnership with AI music platform company Genie Music, the dominance of 'female winds' (여풍) is conspicuous in the first half of 2023's music chart. Not a single song sung by a domestic male artist made it into the top 10.

Rookie girl groups, less than two years since debut, have spearheaded this trend, claiming eight songs in the top 10. NewJeans entered the top 10 with four songs, including 'Ditto' (1st), 'Hype Boy' (2nd), 'OMG' (4th), and 'Attention' (9th). Notably, 'Ditto' dominated Genie Music's real-time chart for 1435 hours and topped the daily chart for 80 days.

IVE also secured three spots, 5th to 7th, with 'I AM,' 'After Like,' and 'Kitch,' achieving this feat for the second consecutive year. Additionally, Le Seraphim's 'ANTIFRAGILE' ranked 10th, leading to girl groups entirely dominating the top 10 chart. In third place was 'Event Horizon' sung by Yoonha.

In 8th place was the pop song 'I Don't Think That I Like Her' sung by Charlie Puth. On the other hand, not a single domestic male artist managed to break into the top 10. Despite numerous boy bands achieving million-seller status based on their strong fandoms, their cryptic concepts often celebrated only within their fandoms have shown their limits in winning over the wider public.

Compared to the same period last year, the sense of deprivation is more pronounced. In the first half of 2022, six out of the top 10 songs were sung by male artists. Although artists like MeloMance (1st, 7th), Lim Young Woong (3rd), Sokodomo (5th), Big Bang (6th), and Lee Mu Jin (8th) made the list last year, none of their names were found this year. In the first half of 2023's chart, only Seventeen's unit group BSS's 'We Have to Fight' made it to the 15th spot when the scope was expanded to the top 20.

◇ Dance and Old Songs Rise... Only 17 New Songs in the Top 100 for 2023

In terms of genres, 'Dance' enjoyed overwhelming popularity. As many as 30 songs made it into the top 100. All eight songs by the girl groups that made the top 10 were classified as dance, and even when expanding the range to the top 20, 13 songs were dance genre. This is because most of the popular girl group songs on the music chart were dance songs.

However, the trend of drama OSTs and competition program songs gaining popularity after being featured on TV showed signs of decline. For instance, only three drama OSTs made it into the top 50: 'Must be Love' (13th), 'Love Always Runs Away' (22nd), and 'Your Every Moment' (33rd). Similarly, only two rap and hip-hop songs from the TV show 'Street Man Fighter' and 'Show Me The Money 11' managed to enter the top 50. Furthermore, none of these songs came from dramas or entertainment shows aired this year, suggesting a decline in TV influence leading to reduced music power.

Aligned with these trends, the strength of older popular songs has increased. Among the top 100 songs in the first half of the year, only 17 songs were released in 2023, including the first-place 'Ditto'. Songs released in 2022 took up half of the top 100. The oldest song in the top 100 was the OST 'Hee Jae' from the 2003 movie 'Scent of Chrysanthemums,' which ranked 69th.

Lee Hae-il, the head of Genie Music's Content Business Division, analyzed, "Easy-listening dance songs from girl groups, which are pleasant to listen to and easy to sing along, have received high public support. This aligns with the trend where demand for dance music that can shift the mood accumulates during economic crises." He also added, "Rather than learning new songs, the tendency to listen to past favorite songs, or more familiar ones, also resonates with this trend."

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