[Courtesy of SM Entertainment]
"I am proud of SuperM members who have accompanied me to a new challenge," Lee said Monday after the prominent American music magazine announced SuperM's success. "I send my gratitude toward South Korean fans and fans from all over the world."
Lee's American dream of hitting the top spot in Billboard's main charts came true on Monday when the seven-member band rose to the top of Billboard 200, ranking the 200 most popular albums in the United States, with "SuperM: The 1st Mini Album", the band's debut album. No SM artists have achieved it before.
SuperM including Baekhyun and Kai of EXO, SHINEE's Taemin, NCT's Taeyong and Mark, and WayV members Lucas and Ten said in a statement: "We are so happy and it is like a dream to take the top spot on Billboard 200. We are happy to come up with a proud result by tackling new challenges."
The "all-star" band demonstrated its potential in the American music scene with its Billboard success. The band's handsome start was encouraged by K-pop fans who are passionate about buying collectible physical packages of an album, according to Billboard.
A K-pop expert said that the global fans of SM artists, which the agency has accumulated over the past decade, were a driving force. "The global fans of SM are very passionate about its artists. I think their Korean-like supporting culture worked," Kim Kyo-seok, a pop-culture critic, told Aju News. "This is a good occasion for SM to check the actual size of its global fandom."
However, Kim is curious whether SuperM will be able to appeal to non-K-pop fans as BTS has done. "SM artists' music is a little different to that of BTS. While BTS appeals to the majority, SM focuses on attracting a loyal group of fans who favor SM's style of music."
"SM is like the root of Hallyu (Korean culture wave) and we will have to see how SuperM does in the future. I don't think it will be easy for them to continue to set perfect scores in the American music scene," Kim said. However, the critic points to the power of SM, the music empire that has led the pop culture in South Korea, to make SuperM more successful in the global music scene.
Lee's ambition of spreading K-pop abroad began decades ago. He was praised for transforming the landscape of South Korea's music scene, which had been focused on folk songs and ballads played by real bands, into a stage full of dance performances based on group choreography, strong and rhythmic hip-hop beats and electronic sounds.
After founding SM Entertainment in 1995, Lee has turned his agency into South Korea's entertainment powerhouse, producing legendary artists such as "Seo Taiji and Boys" and "Hyun Jin-young" in the mid-1990s.
He later produced H.O.T, a five-member boy band, and SES, a female trio, which showed off elaborate dance performances. After conquering the domestic market, Lee turned his head to overseas markets and produced BoA, who was 13 years old when she debuted in 2000. She became super-successful in Japan.
In 2008, BoA tapped the U.S. market, but she had to return home with disappointing results. SM's other artists such as Girls' Generation, EXO and NCT have also knocked on the gates of the U.S. music scene to go beyond Asia, but they received less attention than BTS and BLACKPINK.
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
![[SUMMARY] Daily News Selection by Aju Business Daily on February 17, 2023](https://image.ajunews.com/content/image/2023/02/17/20230217150647292763.jpg)
