Global sensation idol boy group EXO was ranked first on Forbe Korea‘s “2015 Korea Power Celebrity 40” list.
For this year’s list, Forbes Korea selected 100 candidates who participated in various fields of the entertainment industry, including film, drama, variety, music and sports, based on the search rankings from portal sites Daum and Kakao. They also used last year’s sales, media exposure, broadcasting activites, and level of professionalism as the criteria in selecting the TOP40. Out of those four categories, EXO was ranked within TOP10 and just last year, the group made it to TOP5.
The list first started back in 2009, and is Forbes Korea’s 7th year to release this list.
Despite debuting only four years ago, EXO has taken home many awards, including “Best Album” and “Best Male Group” Award from 2014 SBS Gayo Daejun, “Album of the Year” for their second mini-album Overdose from the 2014 MAMA for the second time in a row. More recent awards include the “Disk Daesang” and “Disk Bonsang” Award from the 2015 29th Golden Disk Award.
Due to having two sub-groups with one based in China, they have also won many Chinese awards including at the 14th Huading for “Best International Group Award” and the 2014 Youku Night for “Asia Influential Group Award” and “Hottest Male Group Award.”
It’s only natural for this monster group to be overtaking the entertainment industry as many of its members have been promoting in various fields, such as D.O in the film Cart, Chen singing the OST song “Best of Luck” for the drama It’s Okay, That’s Love (which D.O also took part in), Baekhyun and Suho as SBS Ingikayo hosts and Chanyeol participating in variety show Roommate.
Furthermore, they also took part in variety shows in China, such as Happy Camp. With their large and international fanbase, it is no surprise that the group has received such high status and worldwide recognition in the entertainment industry.
There have been some rumors that Chinese member Tao will be leaving EXO. Nevertheless, the group has hinted a comeback with a demo. Furthermore, it was reported that the group has finished filming their comeback music video.
EXO will be holding a concert EXO PLANET #2 The EXO’luXion at Seoul Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium over the course of five days (March 7th-8th, 13th-15th).
