Korean entertainment industry professionals have chosen Wanna One as best K-pop artist for the year and BTS as best K-pop brand in a survey.
Media outlet JoyNews24 conducted a survey from October 15 to 24 among 200 industry professionals, including producers, entertainment company representatives and entertainment reporters on the occasion of its 13th anniversary.
The survey asked respondents to name the Best K-pop Brand, Best Song and Best Artist for 2017.
BTS emerged as the top pick in the Best K-pop Brand category, garnering 92 votes. In second place is rookie boy band Wanna One, which debuted last August, with 45 votes followed by agency SM Entertainment with 20.
The media outlet cited BTS' "Love Yourself: Her" album as having major impact in the world music market. The group's song "DNA" became the first song from a Korean boy band to enter the Billboard Hot 100.
Boy band EXO placed fourth with 15 votes followed by the survival audition TV show "Produce 101" with 14. Big Bang received six votes while IU, G-Dragon, YG Entertainment and TWICE got three votes each.
Others answers in the survey were Cube Entertainment, Pledis Entertainment, NU'EST, CJ E&M and JYP Entertainment.
Wanna One: 2017 Best K-pop Artist
Wanna One, the 11-member band, took first place in the category Best K-pop Artist this year, receiving 50 votes, followed by BTS with 44.
Wanna One has been called a "Super Rookie" for its tremendous impact when they debuted. They're experiencing huge popularity, thanks to the members' appearance on "Produce 101." They also won several TV music show trophies and sold hundreds of thousands of albums.
Solo artist IU placed third with 18 followed by TWICE and Bolbbalgan4 with nine votes each. Veteran singer Yoon Jong Shine got eight votes while EXO had four. Sunmi and Heize got three votes each while artists who also got votes were Mamamoo, Davichi, Lee Hyori, Black Skirts, Zico, BTOB and Penomeco.
'Like It': Best Song of 2017
The respondents picked Yoon Jong Shin's "Like It" as the Best Song of 2017, getting 49 votes. The song topped music charts and placed first on TV music show "Music Bank" 27 years after he made his debut.
"Pick Me," the song used in "Produce 101" Season 2 and included in Wanna One's album, took second place with 45 votes.
Heize's track "You, Clouds, Rain" is third with 19 votes followed by Red Velvet's "Red Flavor" with 13. Wanna One's "Energetic" and "Never" got three and two votes, respectively.
