aespa Joins ITZY, SHINee, TXT, iKON, & WannaOne, As They Achieve ‘Rookie Grand Slam’ Milestone!
The highly coveted "Rookie of the Year" award in K-pop is won in five major music award shows in South Korea; the Melon Music Awards (MMA), the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), the Golden Disk Awards (GDA), the Gaon Chart Music Awards, and the Seoul Music Awards (SMA).
READ: IU, aespa, NCT, & More, Artists Who Took Home Awards At The 2022 Golden Disc Awards!
If a K-pop rookie wins all the "Rookie of the Year" awards from the aforementioned five major music awards show, the title of "Rookie Grand Slam" is dubbed. Prior to writing this article, only 5 K-pop groups have gotten this moniker. SM Entertainment's aespa is now the 6th.
SM Entertainment's aespa is the newest K-pop artist to reach this milestone after the K-pop girl group took home the "Artist of the Year" award at the Golden Disk Awards on the 8th of January.
The title "Rookie Grand Slam" was first used back in 2008, when SM Entertainment's SHINee became the first K-pop artist to reach this milestone. Following them, it took seven years for another K-pop artist to be dubbed the "Rookie Grand Slam."
This was none other than YG Entertainment's K-pop boy group iKON in 2015. Two years after iKON, Wanna One became the K-pop rookie group to be dubbed the title of "Rookie Grand Slam" after debuting in 2017.
Another two years after iKON, JYP Entertainment's ITZY and HYBE's TXT earned the "Rookie Grand Slam" title in 2019. Notably, ITZY also became the first K-pop girl group to reach this milestone.
Girl power truly shines as SM Entertainment's aespa is now the sixth K-pop group and the second K-pop girl group to take home the "Rookie Grand Slam" title. This is an amazing feat as this makes SM Entertainment the only label to have multiple K-pop groups have the "Rookie Grand Slam" moniker!
Congratulations to aespa for reaching the "Rookie Grand Slam" milestone!