SM Entertainment (SM) has consistently written its unprecedented history as a ‘pioneer and leader’ throughout three changes of river and mountain. This year is the 30th anniversary of its founding.

As the Korean Wave became a ‘global genre’, K-pop, SM has been the designer and practitioner who made it possible, and furthermore, as a representative success story that not only the industry but also the Republic of Korea can boast of, it has been running tirelessly for the past 30 years.

On the 11th and 12th, about a month before its founding anniversary on February 14th, SM will also hold a 30th anniversary concert, ‘SM Town Live 2025’, at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. This is a meaningful event that ‘performance’ of SM‘s internal history, which is practically no different from the history of K-pop, will gather H.O.T. Kangta, BoA’s TVXQ, Super Junior, SHINee‘s Key and Minho, NCT, Rise, and even Espa.


▲SM’s first ‘K-pop table setter’

As K-pop has established itself as the most competitive ‘national industry’, surpassing Japan and now on par with North America, SM has contributed to driving the growth of the entire industry as the boldest and most accurate compass. In the process, SM also produced many ‘first records’.


Group HOT held a large-scale concert in Beijing, China in 2000, opening the floodgates for the ‘Korean Wave’.
SM was also responsible for making the ‘Korean Wave’ a huge trend. ‘Asia‘s star’ BoA is a representative example. In the early 2000s, BoA directly entered the Japanese market, now the Mecca of K-pop, and achieved great success. No one can deny that BoA was the first to have ‘data’ appear in K-pop articles, just like baseball stars who advanced to the major leagues at the time.

‘NCT’, which is now the top tier representing K-pop, can also be said to have been the first attempt at a group platform unique to SM. By presenting an unfamiliar system where idol groups can be infinitely expanded, SM has demonstrated its magic by putting NCT Nation at the top, along with NCT 127, NCT Dream, WayV, and NCT Wish.

SM is also the one who introduced and established the concept of a ‘unit’ within a group to K-pop. Above all, the ‘worldview’ that seemed possible only in Marvel is now being portrayed in idol groups, and SM has placed aespa, known for its ‘spicy worldview’, at the top.

▲SM’s Best ‘K-pop Leading Heater’

Over the past 30 years, SM has presented a total of 166 artists, and a whopping 33 groups. The number of albums released through this huge system has now exceeded 1,150, and the number of songs released through popular music platforms has reached over 6,700. SM is practically capable of building a mid-sized platform on its own, and the industry is showing its respect by calling it the ‘SM Archive’.

SM artists are also ‘record makers’. In 2002, BoA became the first K-pop group to top the Oricon Weekly Chart, Japan‘s representative ranking chart, and TVXQ held its first Japanese 5-dome tour in 2013.

There’s also SHINee. In 2013, SHINee became the first K-pop group to enter the Billboard World Album Artist Yearly Chart Top 10. ‘Artist of the Year’ aespa is also dazzling. Last year, aespa set a record for the longest-running #1 on Melon, Korea‘s representative platform, with ‘Supernova’.


Reporter Heo Min-nyeong mignon@donga.com