10 Kpop Girl Groups to Look Out for in 2022

I had a blast doing this last year because it’s an article that looks forward and is predictive instead of just looking backwards at what already was. That said, before we get to the main part, let’s see how I did last year, rating my picks on a scale of 1-10, 1 being a huge regression, 10 being an unexpected success, and 5 meaning the group ended the year at essentially the same spot:

——ANALYZING LAST YEAR——

WJSN- They actually lost momentum despite having a group comeback and subunit hype, they actually went down in sales. This is disappointing for me as a Ujung. I think they need a 2 comeback year, but with all the members finding so much individual success I think it’s hard to make schedules work. 5/10- busy and successful, but not all as a music group.

Starship New Girl Group (now IVE)- Well, that debut was insane, nailed this prediction. 10/10- rookie of the year.

Rocket Punch- They were pretty level throughout the year in sales and only had one comeback way back in May, I worry they’ve lost momentum and Woollim has people grumpy after Lovelyz’s disbandment. 4/10- Gained sales to start the year, but no recent comeback feels like lost momentum

Everglow- Two successful comebacks with First and Pirate showing they have what it takes to keep up, album sales still need work, but they are doing well. 7/10- still growing.

Red Velvet- I expected more from them in 2021, with exactly one comeback that did decently well and some solo work it was underwhelming, a two comeback year would have done better at capitalizing on Wendy’s return. 5/10- higher sales but could have had much more.

Aespa- Without a doubt one of the biggest groups of 2021, recording great sales and digital performances alike, they are 4th gen leaders. 10/10- monster rookies.

Weeekly- I would really love to just give myself a huge pat on the back here. Weeekly started 2021 with a bang, getting crazy hype with After School. They did cool off from there, but I didn't even realize how high they could fly. 11/10- called it.

Nature- They didn’t have a comeback, as right as I was with Weeekly, I was wrong with Nature. 0/10- functionally did not exist.

Fromis_9- Well, I got lucky on this one, their company got eaten up by HYBE and Pledis was set as their management, which is scary. That said so far they’ve had a ton of resources and hype and have grown, including them getting a music show win. 8/10- upward trajectory with good resources.

Woo!ah!- They stayed pretty level, that’s the risk with picking smaller groups instead of the sure things, but this list wouldn’t be worth much if I just listed the obvious, their album Wish was one of my favorites all year though. 6/10- Great music but little growth.


So, I did okay last year, but this year I want to do better, I’ll still have some safe picks, but I’m going to be a little more bold to keep it interesting, and for your sake I won’t even pick WJSN, because they are always my number 1, and you should always look out for them. Additionally I will limit duplicate picks to just 2. Onto the new picks for 2022.

——THIS YEAR’S PICKS——

Fromis_9

So I’m getting this repeat pick out of the way, but I still think they have so much room to grow that they aren’t close to the peak I believe they have. They have the musical talent, the personalities, and the HYBE resources for a full calendar year this time around, expect them to make waves. And, to clarify, I would have picked them before this most recent comeback had good sales, I just do this article later in the month every year.


IVE

So, this looks like a safe pick, but I think this one of my riskier picks, they debuted with such insane momentum that we could easily see a slight decline, but I just don’t think that’s in the cards. Starship has always had successful girl groups, Sistar was always one of the most popular from the second gen, and WJSN are top sellers, almost breaking the 100k sales barrier years ago and just falling short (only 15 or so girl groups have ever done that) and I think IVE will be generation defining. To me, the big 3 of 4th gen girl groups will be looked to as Itzy, Aespa and IVE, so to all those companies looking to debut a girl group, consider a name that starts with a vowel.


Stayc

Another safe pick, since I want to get those out of the way, Stayc had a great 2021, which I should have seen coming but hadn’t really paid attention to their debut, which is my fault. I think they are some of the most improved rookies in my opinion. They debuted and you could tell that they were pretty rough around the edges, but they have grown rapidly into solid artists and performers, and with the team behind them, that comes as no surprise. They could experience smaller amounts of growth, but I’d be shocked to see them go down.

Dreamcatcher

I did not pick Dreamcatcher last year despite being a fan, I just don’t think it was time for them, and sadly, though they’ve grown, it feels like the growth could be more. I think a slight concept adjustment will come this year, it’s about the right time in the group’s life-span for a shift, and I think we will finally see the first win that we all know they’ve deserved for years.

GWSN

Easily my favorite discography in kpop, GWSN has never quite been able to hit it big and have had a lot of experimentation musically, but the group is good, and the music is great. The only year they had 2 comebacks was 2019, and I think it’s about time they have a second go at it, as one last push to the big time. They have yet to break 10,000 sales on any single album, but I think they’re more than capable of it with some proper support, despite the fact that they’ve spent 4 years with rather stagnant sales.

Purple Kiss

I think this group only has the ability to go up, they are very talented as a group, and RBW has a pretty great track record of organically growing a group looking at how well they did with Mamamoo. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them along with Everglow and Weeekly trailing my earlier mentioned big 3 of 4th gen girl groups, they definitely belong in that top tier.

Pixy

I’ll be honest here, I’m not a fan of Pixy personally, and I’m not fully on board with all the hype they seem to be getting, but I also see how much output they’ve had as a group. Their company definitely seems like they want them to succeed, putting out a single album for debut and 2 eps throughout the rest of the year. I think this high volume approach is effective in growing a group, you just need one song to really blow up and then to have more content to continue the momentum, and more songs means more opportunities to have one go huge. So while I’m not on board with the Pixy hype yet, we should keep an eye on them, because I wouldn’t be shocked to see them hit mainstream, which would be amazing coming from a small company.

Twice

So this probably looks like a weirdly easy pick. But I have them here not just as a growth thing, but because this is a very significant year for them, as it is year 7, contract renewals. This could be a disbandment, but it could also be a majority renewal which could end up with the same or smaller lineup. Either way, expect news of these members getting more solo-work, and a potential concept broadening, as these things are often parts of concept renewals. So we’re looking out for them just to see what happens, and if you’re like me, and have mostly stopped following Twice, this year could get very interesting for them.

Lightsum

Fun fact, year 2 is usually very good for Cube girl groups, so I expect that to carry forward for Lightsum, especially with all that has happened with G-idle in 2021. I expect Lightsum to carry forward with the Iz*one concept for at least the first comeback of this year and to do well with it before Cube randomly pivots them out of it to something that could be equal, worse, or better, because Cube. Actually, as much as I expect them to get more of the Iz*one concept, I could see Cub just randomly flipping them again for literally no reason leaving Lightsum with no identity to speak of due to random concept changes, followed by a sudden lineup change and more concept changes… but there’s no way they do another CLC… right?

Cignature

So here’s my truly ricky pick for this year. Cignature has had extremely limited success and lineup changes, I could see them disbanding just as easily as growing. But their discography is pretty varied and interesting, I could at least see them getting some very interesting music at the very least, and the brand of pop they brought with Boyfriend is ahead of the curve with it’s soft deconstructed style. I think with how cool every group in the industry is trying to be, eventually people will get bored and we’ll see a reversion to softer and cuter concepts, which has already started happening a little, and I think Cignature is in the perfect place to take advantage of that.


I think these 10 groups are a good mix of rising stars, potential disbands, potential stars, and potential concept shifts, or maybe a combination of those. All different reasons to watch them, but keep your eyes peeled, because 4th gen girl groups are really settling in as the 3rd gen is starting to wrap up and disbandments are imminent for their top groups, or have already happened in the case of Gfriend and Lovelyz. Kpop does feel exciting to me these days though, new generations always bring a fresh feeling, and despite there being no real definable generational marker, you can just feel the new energy, and now that we’re in the middle of this one, I do feel it, it’s like 2015/2016 energy all over again, and is the most fun time to be a kpop fan.