Girls' Generation (Korean: 소녀시대, Hanja/Kanji: 少女時代; Sonyeo Sidae, Shōjo Jidai) is a nine-member South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2007. The nine members are: Taeyeon (Leader), Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. They are often referred to as SoShi (소시, Hanja: 少時), or SNSD, the first of which is an abbreviation and the second, mainly used outside Korea, is an acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyuh Shi Dae.
The group has released two Korean full albums, three Korean mini-albums, one Japanese full album and various singles. Their 2009 hit single "Gee" holds the record for being the longest running No.1 song on KBS's Music Bank, having held the No.1 chart ranking for -9 consecutive weeks. Gee was named song of the decade by the Korean music site, Melon. The group also won various awards in 2009 and 2010, including consecutive Artist of the Year (Daesang) awards at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Melon Music Awards, and the Korean Cultural Entertainment Awards.
The group began a foray into the Japanese music scene in late 2010 under Nayutawave Records, a part of Universal Music, with the Japanese remakes of their 2009 Korean hits "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)" and "Gee". 2010 saw the group reach considerable success in Korea after winning the prestigious Disk Daesang (Album of the Year) and Artist of the Year at the Golden Disk Awards, Seoul Music Awards, and Melon Music Awards respectively. In 2011, the group continued to enjoy much success with their expansion to Japan, becoming the "first Korean girl group to place No. 1 on the Oricon chart and winning several gold disc statuses for selling over 500,000 copies for their albums".
In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on M.Net's School of Rock where the group performed their first single, titled "Into the New World" (다시 만난 세계, Dasi Mannan Segye). A documentary recording the story of the group's debut titled M.Net's Girls Go To School was filmed during this time, showing the members as they moved into an apartment together and prepared for their performances. The group's first single was physically released soon after, including an instrumental of the group's debut song and two other tracks; "Beginning" and "Perfect for You". The latter's Korean title is "Wish" (소원, SoWon), which later became the name of Girls' Generation's official fan-club, S♡NE. The group's debut officially began on August 5, 2007, first performing on SBS's Inkigayo and then later on MBC's Show! Music Core and KBS's Music Bank. Into the New World achieved No.1 spot on M.net M.Countdown!.
On December 26, 2008, posters of the Girls' Generation members wearing roller-skates were posted up in various locations around Seoul. SM Entertainment's phone-lines were blocked up by callers asking whether the posters were for sale and the company asked fans to stop taking the posters down for personal use.Three days later on December 29, the group's management stated that the posters were indeed teaser posters and that the group would soon release their first EP, The First Mini Album – Gee the following month in January 2009.
Korean discographyStudio albums
2007: Girls' Generation
2010: Oh!
2011: TBA
Repackaged albums
2008: Baby Baby
2010: Run Devil Run
2011: TBA
Extended plays
2009: Gee
2009: Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)
2010: Hoot
Single albums
2007: Into the New World
Live albums
2010: Girls' Generation, The 1st Asia Tour Concert: Into The New World
DVD
2011: All About Girls’ Generation: Paradise in Phuket
Dramas2007: Kimcheed Radish Cubes (cameo) (Korea)
2007: Unstoppable Marriage (cameo) (Korea)
2011: Sazae-san 3 (cameo) (Japan)
Reality shows
2007: Girls' Generation Goes to School
2007: MTV Girls' Generation
2008: Factory Girl
2009: Girls' Generation's Horror Movie Factory
2009: Himnae-ra-him!/Cheer Up!
2009: Girls' Generation's Hello Baby
2010: Right Now It's Girls' Generation
