The top echelons of popularity when it comes to Hallyu stars feels like one of those elite clubs – hard to get in but once in it’s a breezy ride to stay on top. How else to explain the enduring popularity of the current set of It folks, the likes of which is starting to be a cut and paste exercise when writing about them because it’s the same names regardless of what the poll and/or award is.
A just released poll of nearly two hundred thousand Chinese voters asked to pick their most anticipated Korean star for 2016 activities revealed a list that’s basically a carbon copy of the folks who were popular in 2015. Kim Soo Hyun, Lee Min Ho, and Lee Jong Seok were the actors on the list, while Jeon Ji Hyun and Park Shin Hye were the K-actresses Chinese audiences were most looking forward to next year. Yoo Jae Seok and Kim Jong Kook led the way for variety stars, while Big Bang, 2NE1 and Miss A were the K-pop groups that C-fans can’t wait to see in 2016.
I think 2017 will have some movement on this bunch of always popular K-stars, namely Jeon Ji Hyun might drop off after she has her baby and goes on acting hiatus. Or not, she’s perennially popular. I think Lee Min Ho will only lose his top popularity when he enlists in the army for his military service, whereas Kim Soo Hyun and Lee Jong Seok have a few more years before their time is up to serve. I’m a bit surprised Kim Woo Bin isn’t on this list but that might change is his drama Arbitrarily Fond hits it big in China. All in all, China remains one of the top consumer markets for Korean entertainment so being big there is nothing to yawn at, and definitely worth the time spent to continue to grow that fan base.
When none of the actors are good at acting ?
@OverTheRainbow Come on that is mean spirited.
Those three actors might not be great actors but at least they are serviceable(they get the job done) for most of their projects.
To say none of them can act is a little bit harsh nobody is expecting Daniel Day Lewis From them
I’m speaking of the actors ,not the actress, I can’t deny that jeon ji hYun is a great actress, but the actors on the over hand ,even though their projects are high rating ,due to their popularity, can’t act like their acting is great * Kim soo Hyun being the exceptional
I think all the actors mentioned here are pretty decent :/
@UJ me too. All of them have at least one project that they did exceptionally well in
go away troll!
Hallyu star not actor actress
but they are celebrity main work cf and event
What even? Hallyu start are Korea celebrities that are popular and can spread Korea waves internationally. It can be actors actresses, idols ect…
And if they are actors they have to have certain big hit projects to get their name out.
Hallyu have selling point is her and his name guarantee popular ,good image by overlooked acting skills.
I can’t say them that actor or actress cause movie or drama is part time jobs
How it pains me that the oftentimes puerile taste of the Chinese market dictates so much in the Korean industry… can we go back to Japan having the biggest say???
@CLINTON CARTER
Yess!
Kim So Hyun is a good actor, and he pretty much stole each and every scene he was in even as a rookie in “Will it snow for Christmas?”
Lee Min Ho is a bias of mine,but tbh he was exceptionally brilliant in only 1 drama “City Hunter”. “Heirs” made me cringe.
Lee Jeong Suk is also a favorite, and he was BRILLIANT in “I can hear your voice”.
Park Shin Hye is pretty much the same, serviceable. None of her performance has ever made me go wow. But I still like her.
As for Jeon Ji Hyun, well she is the QUEEN!
Aren’t KSH and LMH the same age? Why would KSH have “a few more years before his time is up” then?
KSH is a year younger than LMH so he’ll be due for service in 2017.
They are only 8 months apart which means enlistment is around the same time. I know it’s weird but I think it has something to do with LMH’s Longevity his been around for 8-years since he has made already on this survey as the most anticipated actor. Since he was involved in the project that started the second hallyu wave which was the big global one he has been the number 1 poster boy for Hallyu wave. Thats exactly 8-years as hallyu king and the face of korea, so I agree with OP. since I think he will enlist in 2017 and might be the end of an era that year. it would be damn weird not having LMH around in these year 17-18 and I don’t think that he would return to Dramaland and move only to movies after enlistment which means his upcoming rumoured drama might be the last dance for LMH on the Dramaland. Its like when you finish highschool and have to go to that last party
Its unsurprisingly many of the same people over and over…wonder what Chinese entertainers and celebs the Chinese are looking forward to seeing more of?
Lol this list is sooooooo boring chinese folks taste about k-ent is really predictable *rollseyes*
too bad coz they are laughing all the way to the bank but you still stuck here taking envy pills coz your bias is not there.
You sad baby ?? Awwww go see mummy and daddy they will give you a sweet
you offering me your mummy and daddy sweet??, No thank you! now you go cry at the corner coz your bias is still not there.
I wounder if LMH would not be this charming than still on bases of his acting can make this far…
Kim Woobin hasn’t had any drama under his belt as lead yet. I’d be more surprised if he is in the list.
People can say PSH isn’t popular as her fans claim but she is still the most popular young actress outside Korea- China and Japan to be more specific, and one of the top young actresses in Korea. I can’t think of another young actress name can compete with her yet.
And I didn’t expect 2ne1 or MissA there either… SNSD, Tara and f(x) are more popular than then in China.
The reality is hard for them to believe that shin hye is very popular this word give them heart attack.
Off course her acting st.nks now. When I rewatch her as a teenager I cry. She had so much more soul ! 🙁
Her acting is Ok now but she needs to find the suitable roles to progress .
PSH haters/antis are so pressed lol. The main reason she gets hate from certain portions of i-fans is because she is more popular, relevant, and well-liked by the Korean public than their faves have ever been or will ever be. She’s a fine actress, of course there is room for improvement (but I can say this for most Korean actresses I have seen), but she is still a lot better than some of the tragic acting we see from certain other actresses/idol actresses, which their fans try to shield.
Exactly leah14 as much as they hate her it won’t affect her bcz they called their opinions a facts but they keep denying that her popularity is bcz her Co stars if that true why other actresses who acted with these Co stars getting the same attention .
PARK SHIN HYE HAS AN ACTING SKILL AND THERE ARE ACTORS WHO WANT TO WORK WITH HER BUT FOR DOGS WHO KEEP BARKING EVERY WERE I WILL TELL THEM THE SHIP IS STILL SAILING EITHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT .
to be honest, i love C-actors more than K-actors, but well… those pretty actors are really popular even in their hometown.. so wont blame this result, predictable, correct?
bigbang, 2ne1 and missA, nah, this is kinda unpredictable since we didnt see exo and snsd… not to mention suju since some of them in military service…
Jiang Xin is the queen of cdrama
What poll is this? There are many so called polls on weibo, Baidu or some obscure sites that are normally dominated by bots though..what choice did the audience have to choose? Don’t read these polls as bible.
so bots only know how to choose only these actors, I guess bots have a good taste 😀
@Rhino well in almost every poll we see the same names again and again..and that means something ..those names are very much popular whether we like it or not
yeah result are on the bases who are FAMOUS Not who are Skill in their art so yeah than PSH make sense…
bitter coz your bias is not in the list? take a chill pill or cry at the corner.
Why would she is popular if she has no skill? She might not be the best actress out there but don’t play down her performance and talent just because you don’t like her
You should go worry about your faves struggle acting instead.
Lol if this thought keep your heart calm than keep on thinking this i just said what is fact…
what you think =/= facts
statics and proofs = facts
you don’t have to agree but the fact that you calling what you think is facts showing how arrogant you are
Likewise you don’t have to agree with me but the fact that its pinching you so badly is showing how intolerable you are about other views…
you call statics and proofs as FACT than you really need to brush up your skill of doing homework as on bases of statics and proof SUZY more famous than psh..
So you are fan of suzy hahaha that is why you are dragging shin he name in your comments you should study facts before commenting stupidly about shin hye .
Actually as koala mentioned her name one of the most searched one not your suzy .
First of all, this list is talking about the Chinese public’s preferences. PSH is, by far, the most popular Korean actress abroad in her age range. So, internationally, she is more popular so take that FACT! But, anyway, let me give you another fact. You can go on and on about Suzy’s superficial popularity all you want, especially after her movie The Sound of the Flop, opps sorry I meant The Sound of the Flower had one of the worst box office collections in Korea this past year.
Han Cinema:
As of 2015.12.13 : 316 310 admissions (total)
As of 2015.12.06 : 300 729 admissions (total)
As of 2015.11.29 : 229 353 admissions (total)
Apparently, Suzy’s not popular enough for people to pay to see her tragic, basic acting. Next time please try harder to hate on a successful actress, it was wayyy to easy putting you in your place 😉
OMG level of your intelligence :O just because i mention suzy name mean i am suzy fan hahhahahhahhahhahah seriously read my comment again i guess i need to explain in simple way, otherwise its hard for your intelligence to grab the real point… on fact and figure suzy is more popular (ig, tweeter follower, # of cfs, blah blah) than psh it doesn’t mean that she is brilliant artist likewise your psh might be famous but for me her acting never touch me..
i don’t get it why psh fans are so rude and intolerable just because what you like other do not like doesn’t mean comment back harshly to them..
@lucifier : if she doesn’t touch you why you are mentioning her name or why you are here the article mentioning Park shin hye one of the most who the audiences were looking forward to next year 2016 OK it doesn’t discuss your feeling toward her career just ignore her presence but actually you can’t you call us rude and then who are you ???
at the end what do you want from your comments shin hye doesn”t deserve so who is deserving this ???
Park shin hye has the skill and the people follow her bcz of her Ok ,
Look at your comments you will see the rudeness radiating just ignore her name as me I don’t comment either bad or good at articles for someone I don’t like .
You are the one who enters a post talking about the most anticipated Hallyu acts in China and leaves a negative comment insinuating that PSH isn’t skilled and then you are surprised that her fans want to defend her? Don’t leave rude comments if you can’t handle getting rude comments back. You dare to insult my intelligence, yet I’m the one leaving harsh and rude comments? I didn’t personally attack you in my previous reply, I just simply presented some box office figures. But since you started with personal attacks, let’s go there.
Also, your agenda in mentioning Suzy in comparison to PSH was so glaringly obvious and now you want to back track and claim you are not a Suzy fan? Sure thing buddy! Of course Suzy is incredibly popular in Korea (this isn’t up for debate), yet is this a post talking about Korean popularity? No. So you bringing the name up, was obviously a ploy on your end. Your complete lack of intelligence on the subject is laughable and you continue to talk about facts and figures without showing any of these facts and figures. Don’t you know that the number one rule in a debate is to make sure you have receipts to back up what you are saying?
At the end of the day I can only explain this to you, but I can’t understand it for you. Good luck with that.
@lucifer, you talking about follower, I give you example.
Fact, psh weibo follower 10 million still counting, what’s number is sz?, lol.
And you said sz famous than psh, famous where, just in korea? About outside korea, is any body know sz,nope.psh known inside and outside korea, her fans from over the world. Fyi, the it girls never do cheap commercials like sz do (cookies and etc, famous just in korea) and psh have good cf and known at outside korea too.
Think before you talk.
Whether these actors are the best out there is neither here nor there. The important thing is they have that X factor that people see in them that makes people like them better than other more talented actors. That’s what has made them top stars. Good for them!!