[INFO] Big Bang Beats Out Dong Bang Shin Ki ????

My thoughts first.. this hurt since I am such a dedicated Dbsk fan -_-

*** all credit to allkpop***

The main feature for this month's Forbes Korea was a list of Power Celebrities. From actors, singers, CF models, and sports athletes, they created their Korea Power Celebrity 40 based on a combination of level of expertise and fame, income, and influence. At the top of the list was figure skater Kim Yu Na ranking 2nd in influence, 1st in expertise, 3rd in fame, and 12th in income.

Here's the top 10 celebrities on the list (in order): 1. Kim Yuna, 2. Big Bang, 3. Wonder Girls, 4. Lee Hyori, 5. Girls' Generation, 6. Park Ji Sung, 7. Lee Seung Yub, 8. Rain / Bi, 9. Yoo Jae Suk, 10. Kim Tae Hee. In the top 10, 7 were entertainers (the other 3 were athletes). And out of the entire 40, 30 were entertainers.

Notice somebody missing from the top 10? Big Bang coming in at 2nd due to ranking 5th in influence, 5th in expertise, 7th in fame, and 2nd in income, while DBSK / TVXQ was ranked only 11th overall. 14th in influence, 6th in expertise, 32nd in fame, & 3rd in income.

No doubt from fear of the Cassiopeia, Forbes Korea goes on to explain their ranking system as well as justify their rankings. Forbes Korea's influence category was determined by the amount of news reports released online by major media organizations as well as sports newspapers and magazines. For expertise, the number of albums sold was strongly considered while fame was based on naver search rankings as well as the number of appearance on variety and broadcast programs.

The biggest reason for their ranking difference was due to their ranking in influence and fame. Big Bang was energetically appearing in both the music scene and entertainment scene. DBSK on the other hand released their 4th album in November, (late 2008) after more than 2 years and had focused more on the Japanese market. Another reason why Big Bang was second was because their album sales and search rankings were first and within the year had an income of 3,500,000,000 Won (roughly ~$2.5M). While Dong Bang Shin Ki's singles were 1st on the Oricon charts and appeared on many Japanese shows, in Korea they didn't make many TV appearances.

In terms of female idol groups, both Wonder Girls and Girls' Generation received low marks in the expertise category due to low album sales, but made up for it in other categories. Because this was before the "Gee" craze which started in 2009, there was a strong possibility that the ranking could have been different. As a female solo artist, Lee Hyori made a successful comeback with her 3rd album's U-Go-Girl and is still filming numerous CFs.

The trustworthiness of this list is a subject of discussion amongst netizens since there seems to be problems with its ranking system. How can you compare Kim Yu Na's influence to Girls Generations? And why doesn't it take into account overseas activities? Since there's no way to make everyone happy, people who actually care can write angry letters to the editors for next years list. Until then, Kim Yu Na is Korea's biggest Power Celebrity and Big Bang can rejoice over beating Dong Bang Shin Ki in something.

Some real thoughts: I guess it is somewhat understandable considering Dbsk mostly plays in a bigger field called Japan! They don't have time to particpate in lots of cfs. I heard Big Bang will be promoting Alcohol soon. Alcohol?? When most of their fans are underaged? Sorry to VIPs but dbsk oppas are much better role models!