Kpop New Updates

-44- SNSD FACTS IV

2009: Gee, Genie, first Asian tour, and rising popularity

A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single "Gee" released soon after. "Gee" topped Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day.[33] The song also went number one on all major digital music charts within two days.[34] The group began its album promotion in January 2009 on MBC Show! Music Core where they sang their new lead single "Gee" and the track "Himnae (Way To Go)", another song from their mini-album. A week after its release, "Gee" went #1 on KBS Music Bank.[35] "Gee" also went to #1 on SBS Inkigayo a week after their return. "Gee" went on to become a phenomenal hit, breaking the record for consecutive number one wins on KBS Music Bank with nine consecutive wins, as well as receiving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo. The song then broke the record by staying on top a seventh week,[36] and remained in the position for an eighth week. It also tied[37] then broke the record for longest-running #1 on Music Bank, beating the 7-week record previously set by Jewelry in 2008 with "One More Time".[37] "Gee" achieved its ninth #1 on the show on March 13, 2009. SM Entertainment stated that over 100,000 copies of the mini-album were shipped to stores, while sales analyst company Hanteo reported sales in excess of 30,000 copies within the first 10 days of its release. The track also showed strength on other charts, topping the Mujikon, Melon and Mnet charts for eight consecutive weeks, the Dosirak chart for seven weeks, the Muse chart for six weeks, and the Baksu chart for four weeks.[38][39]

After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the group would be back with a new mini-album sporting a "Marine Girl" concept. The new single was to be titled "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", with the full mini-album being released digitally on June 22, 2009.[40][41] The group started their promotional activities on June 26, 2009, appearing on KBS Music Bank.[42] The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC Show! Music Core and SBS Inkigayo on June 27 and 28, 2009. The physical release of Genie was delayed by SM Entertainment in order to redo the album art, and was released four days later on June 29, 2009.[40] Their first win for their single "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" was obtained at the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS Music Bank. Their second award was claimed on the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS Inkigayo. Within a few days, the song topped on 10 different digital music charts.[43] The track proved to be a success as it conquered various music sites, including Melon, Dosirak, Mnet, and Bugs, and it was number one on the weekly charts and the SKT ringtone weekly charts of the first week of July.[44] The mini-album sold an estimated 50,000+ copies in its first week after released (almost double the numbers from the first-week sales of Gee), an unusual feat for any Korean girl group.[45] The albums went to sell over 200,000 as of 2010.[46] On November 2009, SM Entertainment announced the group's Into The New World Tour. The tickets for the tour went on sale on November 19,[47] and sold out in 3 minutes.[48] The tour initially consisted of two Korean shows on December 19 and 20, 2009.[49] The tour began at Seoul's Olympic Park Fencing Stadium on December 19 and 20 and continued onto other Asian cities including Shanghai.[50]

2010: Oh!/Run Devil Run, Japanese debut and Hoot

Later in January, SM Entertainment confirmed the release of Oh!, the group's second full-length album, to be on January 28.[51] The lead single "Oh!" was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later.[52] On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC Show! Music Core.[53] The broadcast of the performance experienced a blackout near the end, to which MBC made the whole performance available online in response.[54] With "Oh!", the group went on to win five consecutive K-charts on KBS Music Bank, as well as achieving a triple crown on SBS Inkigayo.[55] "Oh!" also went on to win the Music Bank half-year K-chart, coming in at second on Hanteo's first half album sales chart,[56] and also winning the end-of-year K-chart.[citation needed] The music video ranked as the number one most viewed YouTube video in Korea by the end of 2010. It was also number one in Hong Kong and made the top ten in both the Taiwan and Japan rankings.[57]

Starting on March 11, 2010, photos of the members were released online showcasing a dark concept, dubbed "Black SoShi".[58] A teaser video was released on March 16, with the new single Run Devil Run being released as a digital single on March 17. Mid-June, it was announced that the group had signed contracts in May, and would begin working under Universal Music Japan's record label Nayutawave Records for their Japanese promotions, with their first Japanese single expected to be released in September 2010.[59][60][61] Girls' Generation began promotion in Japan in August. "少女時代到来～初来日記念盤～" (Girls' Generation's Arrival ～ First Time in Japan Commemoration Disc ～), a DVD featuring seven of the group's music videos as well as special bonus footage, was released on August 11, with the special edition of the DVD containing a pink glowstick as well as a pass to the Girls' Generation debut at the Tokyo Ariake Colliseum on August 25.[62] In the first week after release, the DVD sold 23,000 copies, ranking fourth on the weekly DVD Oricon ranking and third on the weekly music DVD ranking,[63] and made Girls' Generation the first female K-pop group to make the Oricon DVD Top-5 ranking.[64] Amidst their Japanese activities, the group also participated in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their label-mates on August 21 at Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium.[65] They participated in the subsequent Shanghai, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo stops as well.[66]

On August 25, the group held their first showcase in Tokyo Ariake Colliseum.[67] With an initial 10,000 fans invited, it was reported to be the most large-scale plan for a Korean artist debuting in Japan.[62] However, due to high number of expected attendees, the group's management announced that the showcase would take place three times in the same day rather than once to accommodate the large amount of fans.[68] The group sang five of their Korean tracks at each of the showcases, and the total number of attendees over all three shows were estimated to be at least 22,000.[69] At this showcase, the "Genie" Japanese music video was also revealed publicly for the first time and the teaser having been released a few days prior on August 20.[70] Their Japanese debut single "Genie" debuted at the fifth spot on the same day of its release on the Daily Oricon Charts and later rose to the second position on the Daily Charts some time later, earning the group a fourth position on the Oricon weekly ranking.[71][72][73] The group also hit the number one spots on Japan iTunes' music video chart and both the Rekochoku daily video clip chart and incoming movie daily ranking chart a day later.[74] With pre-orders amounting to 80,000, the single sold an estimated 45,000 copies in the first week after release.[75][76] On October 20, 2010, the group released their second Japanese single, "Gee".[77][78] A week after the release of their Japanese single, the group released their third Korean mini-album, Hoot on October 27, 2010, consisting of five tracks.[79] The video for lead single, "Hoot", a song originally written in English as "Bulletproof", was released on October 28.[80][81] Girls' Generation commenced their promotional activities with a comeback stage on KBS Music Bank on October 29.[82] "Hoot" quickly rose to the top of the charts and received the number one spot numerous times on music shows, proving to be another successful release for the group.[83][84][85][86] The group simultaneously promoted "Hoot" and "Gee" in Korea and Japan respectively, and participated in Japanese music broadcasts such as the FNS Music Festival, where they performed their two Japanese singles, "Gee" and "Genie" on December 4. On December 22, 2010, "Hoot" was repackaged with additional tracks from previous albums and released in Japan. The release rose to the second position on the Oricon charts and sold 21,000 copies on the first day, faring surprisingly well considering that all the included tracks were entirely in Korean.[87] On December 9, 2010, the group attended the Golden Disk Awards and was awarded three awards including the Disk Daesang (Album of the Year) for their 2nd album Oh!. The group also became the first girl group to have both a Disk Daesang (2010) and Digital Daesang (2009). On December 15, 2010, the group attended the Melon Music Awards winning the Best Dressed Singer award and Hot Trend Song award for, "Hoot", as well as the Artist of the Year award. This would be the second consecutive 'Artist of the Year' award for the group. They topped the Hanteo annual Singer Award chart for 2010.[88] The group was named on Asia Today's list of 50 Korean power leaders for 2011 at the number forty-fourth spot, being the only idol group from the list.[9] Girls' Generation was designated "Artist of the Year" by Dosirak, Soribada, Korea Gallup, Hanteo and Sport Korea and also won Best Song of The Year with "Oh!" at Monkey 3.