GENIUS Korea, a community project designed to promote Korean music, recently named its Top 10 Female Soloists of 2022, based on the website’s data.
The website contains lyrics of released Korean and other international songs. Genius Korea provides songs with original, romanized, and English translated lyrics.
According to the Genius Korea team, they were able to generate the list by collecting the data based on the total and concurrent page views via lyric searches globally.
The South Korean community also set other criteria in coming up with the year-end chart for female artists who dominated the music scene in 2022.
Genius Korea said that to qualify for the 2022 charts, the song should have been released within the given timeframe, which is from November 30, 2021 to November 27, 2022.
The contenders for the chart included artists’ releases where they were credited as the main or featured artists.
The songs could also be a major release single, an album, a collaboration, a SoundCloud release, or an official soundtrack from a TV show, drama, or film.
Aside from the Top Female Soloists chart, Genius Korea also dropped other charts under the following categories: Rookie Soloists, Rookie Female Groups, Rookie Male Groups, Female Groups, Male Groups, Male Soloists, and Bands.
Here are Genius Korea’s Top 10 Female Soloists of the Year:
NAYEON
Im Nayeon, known mononymously as NAYEON, is a member of the internationally-acclaimed girl group TWICE which debuted in 2015. She released the hit song POP! in June as part of her self-titled solo debut album.
The song’s official music video has reached 159 million views on Youtube as of writing. Meanwhile, NAYEON’s album sold 252,903 copies during its first week, as per Hanteo Chart.
NAYEON also won the “Best Female Artist” in the 2022 MAMA Awards.
TAEYEON
Kim Taeyeon, commonly known as TAEYEON, is a member of one of the most successful girl groups in South Korean history, Girls’ Generation or SNSD.
The second generation singer released her third studio album called INVU in February. The music video for INVU has gained 48 million views on Youtube as of this writing and received the Best Vocal Performance Solo Award during the 2022 MAMA Awards.
BIBI
Singer-songwriter BIBI, whose real name is Kim Hyung-seo, placed third in Genius Korea’s Year-End chart. BIBI is known for her recent singles Vengeance and Animal Farm.
The R&B singer is under the management of 88rising. BIBI was nominated for two categories — Best Dance Performance Solo and Song of the Year — in the recent 2022 MAMA Awards for her collaboration with Yena in the song SMILEY.
DeVita
DeVita, or Jo Yoon-kyung, is a South Korean Hip Hop soloist who debuted under AOMG in April 2020.
Her album American Gothic was released in February and carried the hit single Bonnie & Clyde. It currently has one million views on Youtube, ten months after AOMG dropped the song.
Jessi
Two years after the release of her extended play NUNA, Jessica Ho, better known by her stage name Jessi, dropped her global hit ZOOM in April.
Due to its energizing beat and powerful rap parts, Jessi’s song achieved prominence all over social media, including TikTok.
The song has 148 million views on Youtube as of this writing.
IU
IU, or Lee Ji-eun, is a South Korean singer-songwriter and actress internationally known for her songs eight, LILAC, Can’t Love You Anymore, BIBIBI, and Blueming.
Although IU failed to release an album this year, she participated in Jay Park’s GANADARA in March. The song has 21 million Youtube views.
SEULGI
Kang Seulgi is part of the five-member girl group Red Velvet under SM Entertainment. The group’s lead vocalist and main dancer recently released her most-anticipated solo EP 28 Reasons.
A total of 184,413 copies of SEULGI’s debut album were sold during its first week in October, making her the first SM Entertainment artist to reach this number of sales.
28 Reason’s official music video gained over 21 million views in a span of two months.
Moon Byul
Moon Byulyi, commonly known as Moon Byul or Moonstar, is a member of the vocal powerhouse girl group MAMAMOO which debuted in 2014 under RBW Entertainment.
In 2022, Moon Byul released two extended plays called 6equence and C.I.T.T. (Cheese in the Trap). Aside from these, the charismatic rapper and vocalist also dropped covers due to her participation in JTBC’s vocal competition The Second World, where she was hailed as champion.
According to Hanteo, Moon Byul was able to sell 70,000 copies of 6equence during its first week. She also gained 107 KOMCA credits for her songwriting gigs, making her the highest female artist to receive songwriting credits.
CHUNG HA
Korean pop singer, dancer, and choreographer Kim Chung-ha, or CHUNG HA, released her newest single When I Get Old in October.
The singer is also famous for her songs Gotta Go, Roller Coaster, and Dream of You.
YENA
Former IZ*ONE member Choi Ye Na made her solo debut in January after the group’s disbandment in 2021. YENA received massive support from WIZ*ONE, the official fandom name of the group.
She released her first solo album SMILEY in January. The carrier single with the same title was a collaboration with BIBI. The official music video of the song reached 26 million streams on Youtube 11 months after its release.
