Ma. Kimberly Anne V. PoquizProfessor MotoikeEnglish 1 – Section 1808May 20, 2014Globalization of Korean Pop MusicIn October 2009, Wonder Girls, a South Korean girl group, became the first Korean singer to enter the Billboard Top 100 with their hit song “Nobody” and ranked 76th. This is a big deal for them since the Billboard Hot 100 is one of the two major music charts in the United States of America. And recently, Psy's "Gangnam Style" became the most liked and viewed YouTube video of all time, currently garnering nearly 2 billion views. He also became the first East Asian artist to top the UK charts. This video became so viral that one could search over a million covers of dances and songs from different countries around the world. These Korean songs have become global hits thanks to social media. Korean music industries are focusing on using social media as a means to achieve the global fame they enjoy today. Korean pop music, also known as K-Pop, has struggled to break into the global music scene, but managed to do so because of social media. Dal Yong Jin explains that K-Pop underwent a huge change in late 2007 due to the advancement of social media. Korea also brought innovations in social networking sites (SNS) and smartphones that played a role in the globalization of K-Pop (6). Over the past few decades, Asian music, including K-Pop, has struggled to establish itself on the global stage because it is completely dominated by Western culture. Artists have always considered the United States of America and Europe as the ideal place to promote their music. However, accessing the global market is difficult for artists who do not have enough money to promote themselves abroad. Being...... middle of paper ......sharing engine that will distribute its content globally, it would not have achieved the popularity it achieves today. Social media has given people the ability to more easily choose what they want to hear or watch online. At no time will they see updates appear on their news feed about a movie they are not interested in. There will also be no more playing on the radio of songs they don't like. People are now becoming more responsible for themselves. If they want to become famous and if they have the talent, they could upload videos and promote themselves on social media. Much like the strategies that K-Pop has developed using social media as its main promotional tool and making sure that it stands out from other music genres that people are used to listening to, success will only be not so far to reach..