July Boy & Girl Group Brand Reputation Rankings Revealed; BTS & BLACKPINK In The Lead

BTS and BLACKPINK topped the brand reputation rankings this month for male and female bands. The Korean Business Research Institute revealed the July rankings for K-pop groups, and BTS and BLACKPINK took the top spots for several reasons.

For the second consecutive month, the Bangtan Boys remains at the top of South Korea's boy group brand value ranking. The "Fake Love" hitmakers garnered a total of 12,315,816 points. Keyword analysis revealed that the highest-ranking phrases for BTS are "concert," "Billboard," and "Jimin."  

The group recently won their second Top Social Media award from the Billboard Music Award and also slated to embark on a world tour next month. BTS member Jimin is currently grabbing the headlines after new death threats on him emerged.

Meanwhile, Wanna One was able to maintain their position at second spot with a reputation index of 10,576,045. SHINee, on the other hand, rose one spot in the list to claim the No. 3 position with 4,557,237 points.

EXO is at the fourth spot with a total of 4,397,284 points. BTOB's reputation index rose by 65.56 percent and garnered a total 4,143,198 points to secure the fifth place. Rounding up the top 10 are NU'EST W, WINNER, INFINITE, SEVENTEEN, and NCT.

As for the girl band rankings, BLACKPINK nabbed the first place with a brand reputation index of 16,516,419. It increased by over 150 percent compared to the girls' ranking in June. It was revealed that the highest-ranking phrases for BLACKPINK include "DU-DU DDU-DU," "Lisa," and "Billboard."

Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa released their debut EP titled Square Up and its title track "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" on June 15. The single debuted as the highest-charting Hot 100 hit ever by a female K-pop act. It also garnered over 36 million views within 24 hours after its release, making it the most viewed online video of a Korean act. It was also the second most watched music video of all time, behind Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do."

BLACKPINK was followed by TWICE while Apink occupied the third spot. TWICE came in second with a brand reputation index of 10,711,089 which is an increase of 39.13 percent from their last month's ranking.

Apink followed in close third with 9,378,412 points. The group had an astonishing increase of 271.29 percent since last month. MOMOLAND is in fourth place and Red Velvet at No. 5. 

Both brand value rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer involvement, media coverage, and community indexes of various K-pop groups. The data for the male band ranking were collected from June 13 through July 14 while the girl band ranking was collated from June 12 to July 13.