Five-member boy band SHINee has completed its first arena tour of Japan. The group performed 20 concerts, stopping off at Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Nagoya, Osaka, Kobe, Tokyo and Hiroshima, and attracting 200,000 people.SHINee, which debuted in Japan in June 2011 with “Replay (Kimi-wa Boku-no Everything),” has a large fanbase in the country. The tour began on April 25, and additional dates were scheduled in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka after tickets sold out for the initial concerts. In Nagoya, three additi

HONG KONG (AFP) ― Thousands of fans flocked to a major K-pop concert in Hong Kong on Saturday, cheering an array of South Korean stars in the latest sign of the pop music phenomenon’s rising popularity.Music Bank featured eight popular South Korean artists and was the largest K-pop concert to be held in the southern Chinese city. Boy band TVXQ and singing starlet IU were among the groups that danced and sang to a sea of exuberant fans.“I am very happy that Hong Kong is able to organize such a la

Boy band 2PM and girl groups 2NE1 and Girls’ Generation received major awards at the MTV Japan music video awards on Saturday, beating other internationally famous artists. 2PM won the Best Group Video with “I am Your Man” and 2NE1 received the Best New Artist Video with “I am the Best.” Girls’ Generation won Best Album with “Girls Generation,” their first regular album in Japan, released in June last year. The album has sold 206,979 copies, making it the 11th best-selling album in the first hal

 Five members talk about their futures, unfinished musical journey in the U.S.Wonder Girls, one of the few K-pop groups that bravely entered the gigantic music market in the United States, are turning their eyes to the rest of Asia. The five-member group released its EP “Wonder Party” in Korea this month and will make its debut in Japan in July. The girls will also give their first solo concert in three years in Seoul on July 7 ― to “have some fun” with their long-waiting Asian fans, not retreat

Ulala Session, the winner of the country’s hit TV talent show “Superstar K3,” decided to establish its own company to pursue its music, according to CJ E&M.According to the cable channel which produced the show and the group’s first mini album, the quartet will launch its own Ulala Company, despite love calls from major entertainment agencies.The quartet, which consists of leader Yim Yoon-taek, Kim Myung-hoon, Park Seung-il and Park Kwang-sun, rose to fame after winning on the reality talent sho

Popular girl group 2NE1 is kicking off the first world tour for a Korean girl group, according to their agency YG Entertainment.The four-member group is starting the tour with Seoul concerts on July 28 and 29 at the Gymnastics Stadium, Olympic Park. They are slated to tour a total of 10 cities in seven different countries in Asia, Americas and Europe.  Since their debut in 2009, 2NE1 has enjoyed popularity at home and abroad, and are best known for their hip-hop sound, powerful choreography and

Jang Geun-suk set a new record of becoming the first foreign male solo singer to top Japan’s weekly Oricon Chart. His first album, “Just Crazy,” released in Japan on May 30, sold 88,000 copies in its first week to reach the top of the chart. The actor-singer is the second solo singer in eight years to debut at the top of the album chart ― Japanese singer Mori Yayama Naotaro’s first album went to No. 1 in May 2004. In May 2003 Korean singer BoA achieved a similar milestone with her first album in

Wonder Girls and Big Bang go head-to-head with new albumsTop K-pop groups to dominate summer soundtracksWonder Girls and Big Bang dominated the music charts after the release of their new albums on Sunday, proving their firm hold on the K-pop music scene. Wonder Girls returned with “Wonder Party,” filled with playful and cheerful songs including “Like This” and five other new songs. Big Bang unvei

Top K-pop groups to dominate summer soundtracksWonder Girls and Big Bang dominated the music charts after the release of their new albums on Sunday, proving their firm hold on the K-pop music scene. Wonder Girls returned with “Wonder Party,” filled with playful and cheerful songs including “Like This” and five other new songs. Big Bang unveiled a special edition album with five new songs, including powerful title track “Monster” and four other songs released previously and made into different ve

Park Jin-young Music mogul Park Jin-young celebrated the launch of his new Monster Diamond Tears headphones at a star-studded party at Hotel Ellui on Friday. Park, who sheads JYP Entertainment, suited up for the occasion, explaining why the high performance headset was special. "Nomally headphones are designed

Winners of Colombia’s first K-pop reality show take first step toward stardomThe winners of the first K-pop audition show overseas had their wishes come true when they performed in the homeland of Korean pop music on Wednesday.Since April, Arirang TV, Korea’s English-language broadcaster, and Caracol TV, a Colombian broadcaster, have jointly produced “K-pop Reality,” a K-pop audition show in Colombia.It was the first such show created jointly by a Korean and foreign broadcaster in a foreign coun

K-pop singers held a concert near Google’s headquarters in Mountain View in California earlier this week to celebrate a content-sharing deal between MBC and YouTube. The concert marked the partnership between the Korean broadcaster and the world’s biggest video-sharing site, which was signed in October last year. The concert was broadcast live on YouTube Presents, an Internet-live music and performance broadcasting platform, as well as on the MBC K-pop channel on YouTube, according to MBC. Major

K-pop group Wonder Girls will release their Japanese debut album “Nobody for Everybody” on July 25, Japan’s Oricon said Thursday.The Japanese version of their hit song “Nobody” is expected to be a highlight of the record.“In Korea, the Wonder Girls have reached their peak, and now we are ready for a bigger challenge,” said Park Jin-young, their record producer.“We are very excited to meet our Japanese fans,” said So-hee, a member of the group. “We are working very hard to show Japan our best.”Th