I wasted an afternoon using Google Trends to find the most searched-for fourth-gen idols worldwide in the last year. I also broke down the data by country and time to find out which idols were more searched-for in certain regions and time periods. Note: In this post, I use "most popular" in place of "most searched-for." However, most searched-for doesn’t necessarily = most liked. Also, Google is not the dominant search engine everywhere, including in South Korea, though it still accounts for a significant portion of search traffic there. Note 2: This is not a scientific study. While I tried to be as accurate as possible, I may have made a small error here or there, and I couldn’t include the results from every country for every idol. 4th Gen It Boys Felix Hyunjin Bangchan Ni-ki Lee Know Yeonjun Note: Some have argued that Felix’s numbers may be inflated due to users searching for Felixes other than Felix of Stray Kids. However, Google Trends segregates results for Felix the kpop idol vs. the general search term Felix. Felix Currently the no.1 fourth-gen idol in the highest number of countries. Started far behind Bangchan and Hyunjin in 2019, then caught up to Bangchan in 2020, and then to Hyunjin in 2022. He started consistently trending above Hyunjin in April 2024 and has only continued to rise. Far ahead of all other it boys in the US, UK, Canada, and most of Europe. Also ahead in Australia, but not by as much as I expected. Either just a little ahead of or behind Hyunjin for #1 in most South American and East Asian countries (other than South Korea, where Yeonjun dominates, or in Indonesia, Japan, and the Philippines, where Ni-ki dominates). The only country where he falls all the way down to no. 5 is Indonesia. Hyunjin King of the it boys in 2019-2021. Remains very in demand since peaking in 2023. Wildly popular in Indonesia and West Asia. Also popular in Latin American countries like Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Venezuela, and in several European countries where he’s just a little behind Felix. Still popular in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia, even though Felix is clearly ahead. Popular throughout SEA, even when he’s getting crushed by Ni-ki. Way more popular than Bangchan in South Korea and Japan, though still getting crushed by Yeonjun and Ni-ki respectively. There is no country where he is unpopular. Bangchan Not the most popular anywhere, but incredibly stable in third place almost everywhere. The only places where he is tragically unpopular (in last place by a vast margin) are South Korea and Japan. Ni-ki Crushes everyone in Japan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. Also popular in some other SEA countries, including Malaysia and Singapore, and South Asian countries, including India and Pakistan. More popular than Yeonjun in Europe, Australia, and the US, but not in Latin America. Lee Know Started well behind the others in 2019, but steadily rose through 2023 and has since remained stable. Popular in Latin America (Chile, Peru, Argentina) and Europe (Finland, Ireland, Portugal, Belarus, Italy). Less popular in SEA - Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia. Despite claims of Japan's special love for him, he trends far behind everyone there except Bangchan. Yeonjun Third-place it boy behind Hyunjin and Felix in 2021-2022, but has been on a moderate decline since the end of 2022. Currently the no.1 boy only in South Korea. Popular in SE/East Asian countries like Taiwan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, and Japan. The least popular boy in Europe and Latin America, as well as in Australia and the US. 4th Gen It Girls Karina Wonyoung Winter Hanni Chaewon Ningning Note: While I originally intended to only research 5 it girls, Hanni’s trajectory over the past year has been unusual, so I added the sixth most searched-for girl (Ningning) as a wildcard. Karina Karina was far behind Wonyoung in 2022-2023, but following her dating “scandal” in early 2024, interest in her has skyrocketed, and she has remained ahead of Wonyoung ever since. Crushing everyone in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand, and Malaysia. In places where neither she nor Wonyoung is crushing everyone, the two of them are usually pretty close to equal. Wonyoung Queen of the it girls from 2022-2023, but has slightly declined while Karina skyrocketed. Crushing everyone in Latin American countries like Peru, Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Mexico. Also in Central, South, and West Asian countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, India, Iran, and UAE. Shockingly behind Karina in East Asia (South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong) excl. Japan. Exactly 50/50 with Karina in the US and Australia. Winter Solid third place in South Korea and other East/SE Asian countries. Trails further behind in Western countries (US/Canada, Australia/New Zealand, Europe) as well as in Singapore and the Philippines. Usually far behind Karina, but comes closest to catching up to her in Latin America. Hanni As you may have guessed, Hanni has the most interesting trajectory of any of the girls. In 2023, she trended third or fourth worldwide among it girls. She had multiple spikes in interest throughout 2024, but since April of this year, she has trended well below the others in the top 5. She places second or third behind Karina and/or Wonyoung in Australia, most of Latin America, the Philippines, and Japan. She was second in Vietnam prior to 2024, but now places fourth. Contrary to my expectations, she hasn't placed higher than fourth in South Korea, either before or after 2024. Chaewon While Sakura got all the attention at Le Sserafim’s debut in 2022, Sakura has since declined out of the top 6 while interest in Chaewon has remained slightly more stable. Chaewon was in second place from Nov 22 - Apr 23 and in third place from May 23 - Mar 24, but all 5 members of Le Sserafim experienced a precipitous decline immediately following their April 2024 Coachella performance that none of them have since recovered from. Chaewon is ahead of Winter and/or Hanni in: US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Western Europe. Peru, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, and Colombia. Japan, Singapore, and the Philippines. She’s less popular in other SE/East Asian countries - South Korea, China, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Ningning In most places, she is very close to 50/50 with Winter. What’s really killing her ranking is the severe lack of interest for her in South Korea, and to a lesser extent in Taiwan and Japan. Winter is twice as popular as Ningning in Taiwan and Japan and almost 4x more popular than her in South Korea. Boys vs. Girls Stray Kids Round - Felix / Hyunjin vs. Karina / Wonyoung The girls are crushing the boys to an almost comical degree (92% v. 8%) in South Korea and to a less extreme but still embarrassing extent in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Outside of East and SEA countries, the reverse is true, with Felix & Hyunjin occupying a combined 70-90% of searches in most places. The only places that are somewhat more equal are Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and India, though F & H still win out. Non-Skz Round - Ni-ki / Yeonjun vs. Karina / Wonyoung The girls again dominate in East/SE Asia. Elsewhere, the girls and the boys are pretty close to equal, though Australia, Canada, and New Zealand still lean toward the girls. Combined Fourth Gen Top 15 Felix Karina Hyunjin Wonyoung Bangchan Ni-ki Winter Lee Know Hanni Yeonjun Han Sunghoon Chaewon Seungmin Ningning Yes, Karina had a spike in interest at the end of May, but she still normally trends just above or below Hyunjin, so second place wouldn't be unexpected anyway. There are significant gaps between Felix < > Karina/Hyunjin < > Wonyoung < > Bangchan < > the rest, but from Ni-ki down, the gaps are very small. Most Interesting Findings In summary, here are the trends I personally found most interesting: Karina’s dating “scandal” did nothing but boost her career. While she trended well below Wonyoung in 2023, she started consistently trending ahead of Wonyoung after early 2024 and is now indisputably the fourth-gen it girl. Chaewon was in second or third among it girls from late 2022-early 2024 but permanently fell off along with the other Le Sserafim members immediately following Coachella in 2024. Felix has risen in popularity consistently since Stray Kids’ debut, and he is the only member continuing to rise while the others have remained static or seen a slight decline since 2023. Yeonjun has significantly declined since his peak in 2021-2022, and even his first solo release in 2024 didn’t provide a sustained bump. It's also interesting that he's more popular in East/SE Asian countries than in Western countries, given the perception that HYBE is best at promoting in the West. South Korea is commonly said to only care about girls, and that held true. With the incredible disparity in popularity between Karina/Winter and Ningning/Giselle, the conventional wisdom that South Korea only cares about Koreans also held true. Europe's and Latin America's preferences were almost always in tandem. Maybe because they are the two biggest markets to be consistently shafted by certain companies (SM and HYBE)? Outside East/SE Asia, it’s less of a boy group domination and more of a Stray Kids domination. Skz members are crushing everyone, everywhere, all around the world, whether male or female. Other male idols are on about the same level of popularity as the biggest female idols in non-East Asian countries. submitted by /u/eveningsnewestetoile [link] [comments]
