According to Gaon charts, Girls’ Generation’s “The Boys” album is the best selling single album of 2011 with 385,348 sold. Fellow label-mates Super Junior with “Mr. Simple” and TVXQ with “Keep Your Head Down” joined Girls’ Generation at the top of the chart in second and third place with 343,348 and 266,727 sales respectively, showing how popular SM artists are.
Solidifying their comeback with this success, despite a late comeback in October of last year, Girls’ Generation continues to prove their dominance in the K-Pop community. Their popularity has undoubtedly grown in 2011 with “The Boys” album selling more than their previous albums “Oh” and “Hoot” combined, which came in second and third in total sales in 2010.
Super Junior‘s Leeteuk announced that even as a trainee, he had a good feeling that Girls’ Generation member Yoona would be a star.
On the January 10th episode of SBS ‘Strong Heart‘, Lee Teuk reminisced of his days as a SM Entertainment trainee and remarked, “Out of all the 200 SM trainees, I told two people that they would be successful. One of them was Go Ara, and the other was Yoona.”
MC Lee Seung Gi then asked if this was after Super Junior had debuted, and Leeteuk laughed and remarked that it was before. Fellow Super Junior member Shindong added, “Hearing that, you would think that Leeteuk has a keen eye for spotting potential, but he also told me that I would never make it,” causing the entire set to explode in laughter.
Eunhyuk also remarked, “He told me that I would probably leave the group after a little while. But look at us now, the three of us are all together,” and the guests on set continued to roar in laughter.
According to a Japanese media source Wow! Korea Japan, Girls’ Generation beat KARA to the finish line on January 11th, officially surpassing the million shipment mark of their first Japanese album ‘GIRLS GENERATION‘ that was released back on the 1st of June in 2011.
This is the first time a Korean artist has shipped over a million album copies in Japan after BoAaccomplished this by selling 1,290,000 copies of ‘Listen To My Heart‘ back in 2002 and 1,400,000 copies of ‘VALENTI‘ back in 2003. The talented singer also sold 1,200,000 copies of ‘BEST OF SOUL‘ which was released in 2005.
But BoA was a solo singer, and Girls’ Generation made their mark in history as the first Korean group to distribute a million album copies to Japan.
The album ‘GIRLS’ GENERATION’ climbed to #1 on the Oricon chart immediately upon release on June 1st, 2010, and the girls performed in front of over 140,000 fans during their Japan tour last summer.
Girls’ Generation was also invited to attend Japan’s biggest music festival ‘NHK Red & White Music Festival‘ at the end of 2011, earning 39.9% of the viewer ratings (According to Sponichi Annex), creating quite the buzz in Japan.
Girls’ Generation member Sooyoung recently visited coach Park Seung Il to wish him a Happy New Year.
Those close to Park Seung Il shared a few photos on Park’s fan site and wrote, “Girls’ Generation member Sooyoung’s wonderful visit.”
In the shared photos, Sooyoung is captured visiting Park Seung Il in the hospital. This is the second time she has come to visit the former coach for New Year’s, and the singer was snapped giving the camera a bright smile with his hand in hers.
Below the photos was written, “Girls’ Generation Sooyoung is the first person this year to help us carry out our plans for the year. Sooyoung felt bashful and said that she wasn’t wearing any of her makeup, but if it meant spreading more awareness about ALS / Lou Gehrig’s disease, she said she would absolutely love to help and boldly stood before my camera. She has such a kind heart.”
Park Seung Il and Sooyoung are known to have a close relationship. Sooyoung often visits the coach who admitted to being a fan of hers.
Park Seung Il debuted as a basketball player for KIA Motors Basketball Team in 1994, and transitioned into a pro-basketball coach in 2002. He was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease the following year, and has been struggling with the illness ever since.
On January 11th, Girls’ Generation was presented with a special award for the “Best Jewellery Dresser” at the International Jewels and Accessories Show in Odaiba, Japan. Hiroshi Mizohata, the Japan Tourism Agency Commissioner, presented the award to Girls’ Generation.
Seohyun represented the group by accepting the award and used a reference that is sure to be recognized by SONEs as she said, “We will continue singing songs that are as bright as the jewels”.
The girls are well-known for wearing fashionable clothing and accessories at whether they are at red carpet events or at the airport.
During the January 8th broadcast of JTBC ‘Girls‘ Generation and the Dangerous Boys‘, Girls‘Generation‘s Seohyun was humiliated by ‘dangerous boy’ Hwae Hoon.
On this day, the dangerous boys were given the task of creating a Christmas tree and writing a card to their Girls’ Generation mentor.
The members of Girls’ Generation looked surprised as soon as they saw the tree. When the boys revealed that they had also written the girls Christmas cards, the members showed aegyo and asked the boys to read the letters to them.
Eventually, one by one, the boys read the letters they had written for their mentors. In particular, Hwae Hoon kept glancing over at Seohyun as he read his letter to her. However, after he had read Seohyun’s letter and it was his turn to read his letter to Taeyeon, Hwae Hoon turned bright red and didn’t know what to do. He started off by reading Taeyeon’s card, beginning, “To Taeyeon noona, a natural goddess noona” – surprising Seohyun by his favoritism towards Taeyeon.
Seohyun compared, “From the first line, I’m just Seohyun noona, but Taeyeon unnie is a natural goddess?”
Hwae Hoon continued, “I like Seohyun noona, too, but I think I like Taeyeon noona more.” Seohyun tried to play it cool, stating, “That can happen. Since he’s only human.”
Hwae Hoon finished off, reading, “When I look at you, noona, I feel like I’m looking at the sun.” – causing the members to cringe at the cheesiness of his letter.
But then, Sooyoung revealed, “He didn’t read the last line” – putting out her hand, asking for the card. Hwae Hoon defended himself, “It’s the same” – hiding the card. Sooyoung stated, “No. I have to see it”– demanding Hwae Hoon to show her the card.
Eventually, Hwae Hoon read the ending, stating, “Being too pretty is cheating. Red card” – causing Taeyeon to burst out in laughter. YoonA joked with Hwae Hoon, saying, “You get a red card”. Seohyun showed her disappointment, saying, “I’m hurt. I’m not going to call you.”
Check out the hilarious english-subbed clip below.
