These Were The 15 Most Underrated K-Pop Groups Of 2020, Determined By Fans

Recently, K-Pop fans voted by the tens of thousands on Ranker to show which groups they felt were the most underrated of 2020.

Whether the groups weren’t received as well as fans feel like they should have in MV views, album sales, or some other factor, it’s clear that these artists still have a lot of people that care about them and want to see them flourish!

Some groups on this list are definitely already more successful than others, but they’re all incredibly talented and deserve love and popularity. Here are who fans think were the 15 most underrated K-Pop groups of 2020.

15. Cosmic Girls

Cosmic Girls is a 13-member girl group that debuted in February 2016 under Starship Entertainment and Yuehua Entertainment with both Korean and Chinese members. They accomplished several things in 2020, including their third concert tour in February and March, the release of their eighth mini-album Neverland with the title track “Butterfly”, and the formation of sub-unit WJSN Chocome featuring members Soobin, Luda, Yeoreum, and Dayoung.

Neverland did end up selling over 105k copies and the MV for “Butterfly” has over 21 million views, so this girl group didn’t flop by any means, but they definitely have the skills and talent to go even further!

14. Cherry Bullet

Cherry Bullet is a seven-member girl group (originally ten-member) that debuted in January 2019 under FNC Entertainment with the single album Let’s Play Cherry Bullet. Three members — Mirae, Kokoro and Linlin — left the group in December 2019, but fortunately the group was able to continue on with two comebacks in 2020.

They released two digital singles in the year, “Hands Up” and “Aloha Oe”, which have about 18 and 7 million views respectively. This isn’t a small number by any means, but it would be nice to see this now 2-year-old girl group getting some more recognition!

13. DAY6

DAY6 is a five-member rock band that debuted under JYP Entertainment in September 2015 with the album The Day, which actually reached the #2 spot on the Billboard World Albums chart the week after its release! In 2020 they released the album The Book of Us: The Demon, which had the title song “Zombie”. They also created their first sub-unit, Even of Day, consisting of Young K, Wonpil, and Dowoon.

The album performed well on music charts and sold over 81k copies, and “Zombie” peaked at #4 on Melon, but some fans think they deserve a lot more praise. Since they are a band, DAY6 focuses more on singing and playing instruments than dancing, but they are all incredibly talented in their respective skills! They announced a temporary hiatus for health purposes with the release of The Book of Us: The Demon, but there’s little doubt they’ll return with more great music in the future.

12. LUNARSOLAR

LUNARSOLAR is a four-member girl group under J Planet Entertainment that debuted in September 2020. Their debut single album is called SOLAR: flare, which has the title song “Oh Ya Ya Ya”.

It sold a little over 4k units, which isn’t uncommon for a new girl group from a small company, but they definitely already show promise and will hopefully be better recognized soon!

11. DIA

DIA is a seven-member girl group that debuted in September 2015 under MBK Entertainment with the album Do It Amazing and title song “Somehow”. The group has been through a couple member changes over the years, with three members that left at different times — Seunghee in April 2016, Eunjin in May 2018, and Jenny in July 2019 — and were gradually replaced with Eunchae, Jueun, and Somyi.

Despite the member changes, the group has done fairly well, and even won their first music show award with “Woo Woo” in August 2018. In 2020, the group (with Chaeyeon and Somyi on a hiatus) released the mini-album Flower 4 Seasons, though it only made about 6.3k sales. They do have another album set to release in 2021, however, so hopefully these talented ladies will see an increase in their popularity then!

10. Weki Meki

Weki Meki is an eight-member girl group that was formed by Fantagio in August 2017. Four of their members — Elly, Yoojung, Doyeon, and Sei — competed in the first season of Produce 101 in 2016 before the group debuted, with Yoojung and Doyeon placing in the top 11 and making it into I.O.I.

Their debut album, Weme, did pretty well at nearly 50k sales, but unfortunately since then, their album sales have been decreasing, with the two albums they released in 2020 — Hide and Seek and New Rules — selling just 17k and 12k units each. It’s possible that their initial success was due to the popularity of the members from I.O.I, but why that hasn’t continued to increase over time is a mystery, because they’ve released some real bops!

9. APRIL

APRIL is a six-member girl group that debuted in August 2015 and was formed by DSP Media. Their debut album was called Dreaming with the title song “Dream Candy”. They have also been through some line-up changes over the years, most notably with the departure of their previous leader, Somin, later in 2015, who went on to debut in KARD.

They’ve released a lot of music since their debut — seven mini-albums, four single albums, and eleven singles — with the single album Hello Summer and the mini-album Da Capo both released in 2020. They were by far their best-selling albums, selling 14k and 12k units respectively and their first to make over 10k sales, but it would be nice to see this five-year-old group gain even more traction after all the time and energy they’ve spent on their careers!

8. Weeekly

Weeekly is a seven-member girl group that debuted in June 2020 under Play M Entertainment as the first girl group the company has formed since Apink debuted in 2011. A couple of the members took part in the survival reality show Mix Nine before debut, and the group was teased with different temporary names before it was announced that they would be called Weeekly.

Since their debut, they’ve released two mini-albums, We Are (their debut album) and We Can. For a rookie group, the albums did quite well with over 21k and over 26k sales respectively, so while they may not seem to be getting a ton of attention yet, they are still very new and have had a promising start to their career!

7. Lovelyz

Lovelyz is an eight-member girl group formed by Woollim Entertainment that debuted in November 2014. Since their debut, they have seen a steady increase in their popularity in terms of album sales over the years, having released two full-length albums, two live albums, six mini-albums, and twelve singles in their career.

Their best-selling album, Once Upon a Time, was released in May 2019 and made over 54k sales, but it actually wasn’t until they came out with “Obliviate” off the album Unforgettable in September 2020 that the girls earned their first music show win! Hopefully this is a sign that they will get more attention with their next release now that they have an award after a six-year long career.

6. NATURE

NATURE is a nine-member girl group that debuted under n.CH Entertainment in August 2018 with the single album Girls and Flowers with the title song “Allegro Cantabile”. They, too, have been through several line-up changes, and also have a couple members currently on hiatus as well.

Despite these many member changes, however, the group continued to be active in 2020, signing on with Japanese company Pony Canyon and having their debut in Japan in February with the Japanese version of their single “I’m So Pretty”. They also released the single album Nature World: Code M in June with the title song “Girls”, which sold around 7k units. They have a unique style in the K-Pop genre, so hopefully more fans will discover them before too long!

5. DreamNote

DreamNote is a six-member girl group that debuted in November 2018, formed by iME KOREA, with the single album Dreamlike. They’ve released one single album each year since then, with sales slightly increasing with each comeback — Dreamlike with 3.53k sales, Dream:us in March 2019 with 4.25k sales, and Dream Wish in January 2020 with 4.98k sales.

They have been nominated for awards from Genie Music Awards on four separate occasions, though they haven’t yet won. Their latest single, “Wish”, also has just under 1 million views, so it’s time to give these talented girls the attention they deserve!

4. KARD

KARD is a four-member co-ed group formed by DSP Media that debuted in July 2017 with the mini-album Hola Hola, though they had several fairly popular pre-release singles before then, including “Oh NaNa”, “Don’t Recall”, and “Rumor”. Though the group has actually found a lot of success with international fans, especially in South America, they haven’t found a lot of traction in the Korean market yet.

In fact, their album sales in South Korea have gone down steadily since their debut, with Hola Hola selling over 18k units and their 2020 mini-album, Red Moon, selling just 6.5k (though their later 2020 single album, Way with Words, did sell over 11k copies after the success of “Gunshot”). However, they are quite popular with their international fanbase, so while it is hopeful that their Korean fanbase grows over time, they are definitely going strong.

3. Oh My Girl

Oh My Girl is a seven-member girl group that debuted in April 2015 under WM Entertainment with the mini-album Oh My Girl and lead single “Cupid”. They were able to earn a bit more attention than they might have otherwise at their debut by being marketed as B1A4‘s sister group, and fortunately, they have continued to see a steady increase in album sales since then.

They gained considerable more attention in 2020 with the release of Nonstop and the lead single of the same name, and it became their first album to make over 40k sales! “Dolphin”, a B-side on the album, also ranked high on various music charts during the year, so hopefully Oh My Girl will continue to ride this wave of success!

2. Dreamcatcher

Dreamcatcher is a seven-member girl group that debuted in January 2017 under Happy Face Entertainment after rebranding themselves and adding in new members from the group they had formerly started as, MINX, in 2014. The group is known for its unique heavy rock sound, dark concepts, and intense choreography, and though their debut album, Nightmare, only sold 3.6k units, they actually built up a moderately sized but very loyal fanbase.

Their 2020 album releases, Dystopia: The Tree of Language and Dystopia: Lose Myself, sold 60k and 102k units respectively, so while they definitely aren’t underrated, some fans think that their incredible skill and unique style deserves even greater attention, especially since they somehow have yet to win their first music show award!

1. SECRET NUMBER

SECRET NUMBER is a five-member girl group that debuted under Vine Entertainment in May 2020. Out of the five members, only one, Soodam, is born in South Korea. Jinny and Denise are Korean-American, Dita is from Indonesia, and Léa is from Japan!

In 2020 they released two single albums, Who Dis? (their debut album) and Got That Boom. Both albums each only sold a little over 6k units each, and while this isn’t terribly unusual for a new rookie girl group, it would definitely be nice to see their numbers go up, especially since their debut MV, “Who Dis?”, has over 33 million views!