The Korean pop music scene soon had several genres: Westernized boy-or-girl bands whose appeal lay mainly in their appearance; the technically difficult, older genre had its roots in the colonial period and was popular with older Koreans and often with amateur guitarist-songwriters, who became popular in the 1960s and were born with a simple singing voice. In the 1970s, rock music was introduced to Korea, mainly promoted by Cho Yong-pil. Trot also became the main style of pop music.
Currently, in the 2000s, pop groups are still popular although there has been an emergence of Korean R & B and hip-hop. Artists such as mcwangkok, 1TYM, Rain, Big Bang and Epik Senior have proven to be successful. Underground artists such as Drunken Tiger, Tasha (Yoon Mi-rae), and Dynamic Multi, have also helped hip-hop become mainstream. More recently, rock music has come to the public's attention, with acts such as Yoon Do Hyun Band and Seo Tae Chi gaining national recognition. In addition, there are also popular techno/dance artists such as Lee Jeong-hyun and Kim Hyun-jung, who have both had long careers, while the rest are firmly rooted in their own style of music. As well, ballads and R & B are still popular, such as singers Baek Ji Young and KCM, in addition to France's Société Générale, who have continued their success for many years.
There are also many artists who have had international success. Baoer has become the highest-selling international artist from South Korea, due to her strength of the J-pop market, which is partly due to Lee Soo Man's adaptation of the Blue Ocean Strategy. Since then, artists such as Acid Rain and Se7en have also released albums outside of Korea, becoming well known throughout East Asia. Rain also had his international tour in 2005 and was the first Korean star to do so during a tour date at Madison Square Garden. Recently he has been in a selection of Hollywood movies.
Kim Beom Soo is a Korean artist who first entered the Billboard charts and charted at #51 on the Hot 100 singles chart in 2001. Following this, the solo female artist, Mink and the Korean-American group, Blush also reached the Billboard Hot Dance Clubs Airplay chart, where they peaked at #1 in 2006 and #2 in 2007, respectively. Skull, a Korean reggae artist from Yong Gui Entertainment was also listed as #3 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales this week and #14 on Hot Singles Sales in 2007. Se7en who is also from YG Entertainment, Baoer from SM Entertainment and Min from JYP Entertainment are all currently centered on U.S. listings. However, there have not been significant, successful Asian or Asian artists in the U.S. recording industry.
Current styles
K-Pop is a style similar to British pop music, where R&B, dance, and hip-hop were very popular in the 2000s. However, unlike Britpop, in which most of the boy and girl band groups either break up or unofficially disband, bubblegum pop is still very popular in Korea. Groups such as Mythbusters, TVXQ, Big Bang, Wonder Girls and Super Junior continue to be the best-selling K-Pop and artists such as LPG Ahyoomee and Release Novelty Songs continue to work with varying degrees of success. However, the 2000s have seen a rise in groups of R & B singers such as Societe Generale Quasi, Big Mama and SeeYa having successful albums. Ballads are also very popular, and 2006 has seen the release of folk singles by non-folk artists, including Myth, Bai Zhiyang. In addition, Quickstep Music made a comeback and popped up in the mainstream K-pop as well, largely due to the success of Jang Yoon Jung and Park Hyun Bin. 2007 was characterized with the release of many girl and boy bands, but only a few managed to top the charts, most notably The Big Bang's song "Lies" and the Girls' "Tell Me". Despite the debut of new bands, physical CD sales have been getting lower and lower due to the stagnation of the K-pop industry. The highest selling album of 2007 did not even reach two hundred and ten thousand marks only 190,998 copies.