aespa (aespa) expanded their genres with a different "metallic" flavor through their 2025 single 'Dirty Work' (Dirty Work) and their sixth mini album 'Rich Man' (Rich Man), solidifying their position as a representative K-pop girl group with a distinctive color and musical growth.
According to Melon's "2025 domestic and international annual chart top 100" released recently, aespa entered the annual chart with six songs — "Whiplash" (Whiplash), their highest-ranking song among K-pop girl groups, the double title tracks from their first full-length album "Supernova" (Supernova) and "Armageddon" (Armageddon), "Dirty Work", "Rich Man", and Karina's solo song "UP" (UP) — making them the artist with the most songs on the annual chart.
They also showed their presence at year-end awards. At the "2025 MAMA AWARDS," aespa won four awards, including best dance performance female group, best female group, and best choreography (Whiplash), and at the "MMA 2025" they won three awards, including stage of the year and global artist, recognizing their achievements for the year.
Moreover, aespa proved their global popularity by becoming the most charted and most number-one Korean act on China's "Tencent Music Chart 2025," being selected as artist of the year, group of the year, and song of the year (Whiplash), and being nominated in the U.S. "2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards" in the "Favorite K-pop Collab" institutional sector (Dirty Work (Feat. Flo Milli)).
aespa's remarkable achievements have continued into advertising. Through successive mega hits, three solo concerts, and a world tour, the group has built global influence, buzz, and popularity, attracting love calls from various brands both for the group and individual members, resulting in about 30 advertising contracts.
As aespa keeps renewing career highs with each comeback and carving out their own path, expectations for their next moves are high. According to spoilers the members gave at year-end award shows, aespa will release their second full-length album this year. Now entering their seventh year since debut, attention is focused on the even more unstoppable energy, an expanded musical spectrum, and the synergy based on their strengthened teamwork that aespa will deliver.
[Photo] SM Entertainment
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