[SPAZZ] HOW POPULAR IS T-ARA IN CHINA?

[arcadey]

I've read conflicting reports about how popular T-ara is in China/Taiwan (and neighbouring areas). Some places say T-ara is the most popular Korean girl group in Chinese region, some say that are third most popular after miss A and f(x) (who have Chinese members), and some rankings say they aren't even in the top five most popular.

Does anybody have any idea of their popularity there? If T-ara is big in China then it basically means they are one of Asia's top girl groups (besides SNSD) since we know they are third most popular Korean girl group in Japan, and already know they have many QUEEN's in Vietnam and places like that.

[craZy]

Don't have any significant numbers with me, however I've most commonly observed T-ara stated to being amongst the top 3 most popular groups (followed by other statements of top 5 and then various others, some of which they aren't even mentioned haha.)

These are some numbers I came across before from a study conducted by HunanTV this year back in June/July-ish I think (listing only top 3):

T-ara: 36,236,452 votes

f(x): 21,742,292 votes

2NE1: 1,280,847 votes

Full list: http://www.hunantv.com/v/2013/crqoxtt/#1

According to Wiki at least (unless a Chinese member here can clarify this), HunanTV is the second most watched channel in China. Now those votes could all just be fandom power but if so that alone is some pretty good fandom power.

[SimonH]

This is the current real-time chart on YinYueTai, China's largest online Music/MV chart:

Theirs MVs are currently ranked #1, 4, 5, 7 and 9, despite some of these MVs having been released 2 months ago. Based on my observation of the fan cafes in BaiDu, I would say the ranking of girl groups in terms of popularity in China would be something like this:

1)SNSD

2)F(x)

3)T-ara

My judgment is based on the number of 'fan signatures' the groups receive on a daily basis. However, it must be noted that the Chinese K-pop market is still highly dominated by fan girls of male groups. It would be interesting to see if T-ara's popularity will rise meteorically in China when they focus on the Chinese market as 'declared' by CCM. T-ara managed to gain their currently popularity in China before they had any promotion in China (they were this popular before their recent concerts in China and their attendance at the Anhui Chinese New Year Festival).

[tararules]

Great to see T-ara's name all over the charts! Half of the top 10 spots are taken up by our girls !

I suspect it is not only in China that the Kpop market is dominated by boy bands. I think, by an large, in the world of kpop, boy bands have got a larger following than girl groups. Their legion of fans which are largely dominated by female fans are noted to be more passionate in their support for their favourite boy band groups. Meaning that they are willing to spend more money in purchasing albums, songs, merchandise and participating in any activities to promote their favourite groups thereby improving their standings in the charts.

However, I am not downplaying T-ara's popularity and judging from the chart above no one can. In comparing apples with apples, in terms of ranking of kpop girl groups, I'm proud to see T-ara's name up there with the best of them.

[arcadey]

Thanks so much for your replies everyone! This helped a lot. I hope T-ara promotes more in China soon so they can become one of China's top stars