How are idol singers recognized in Korea today?

In this present era where idols are hugely popular, how exactly and what are they being recognized for?

Mnet Media music research center did a one month research this past June, with a target group of 1000 adult male and females taking part.

And in their research, they marked out 57 currently active solo singers/groups in terms of vocal ability, appearance, friendliness, trend, stage presence and variety categories for the poll receipients to rate.

The results showed that apart from vocal ability, the idol groups all ranked highly in the other categories. Especially when it came to stage presence, 16 out of 20 names belonged to idol groups. Appearance wise, female idol groups ruled with 7 groups (SNSD, KARA, f(x), After School, 2NE1, T-ara, 4minute) in the top 10.

Guy idol groups ranked favourably in the variety field, with 2AM, Super Junior, 2PM placed in the top 10.

One particular thing to note was SNSD. They were ranked no.1 in appearance, trend, stage presence, variety. Having created the GEE phenomemon last year, the SNSD girls continued to show the “Power of 9″ with Oh! this year.

No idols were in the top 10 of the vocal ability category though.

Big Mama, Gummy, Lee Seung Chul, Shin Seung Hoon, etc were ranked in the top spots. This shows that the general public don’t quite recognize the idols for their vocals, and that’s one area that idols should try to rectify in future.

Vocal ability
1. Big Mama
2. Gummy
3. Lee Seung Chul
4. Kim Tae Woo
5. Park Hyo Shin
6. Yoon Mirae
7. SG Wannabe
8. K.Will
9. Kim Bum Soo
10. Shin Seung Hoon

Appearance
1. SNSD
2. KARA
3. Lee Hyori
4. f(x)
5. After School
6. Lee Seung Gi
7. 2NE1
8. T-ara
9. 4minute
10. Davichi

Friendliness
1. Lee Seung Gi
2. Lee Hyori
3. SNSD
4. MC Mong
5. 2AM
6. KARA
7. Brown Eyed Girls
8. Super Junior
9. Kim Tae Woo
10. DJ.DOC

Trend
1. SNSD
2. f(x)
3. 2NE1
4. KARA
5. 4minute
6. Lee Hyori
7. Brown Eyed GIrls
8. After School
9. 2AM
10. T-ara

Stage presence
1. SNSD
2. Lee Hyori
3. 2NE1
4. Rain
5. 2PM
6. Brown Eyed Girls
7. Big Bang
8. TVXQ
9. Super Junior
10. KARA

Variety
1. SNSD
2. Lee Hyori
3. MC Mong
4. Lee Seung Gi
5. 2AM
6. Super Junior
7. KARA
8. Brown Eyed Girls
9. 2PM
10. Kim Tae Woo