Pre-debut
After the success of
SM Entertainment's boy band,
Super Junior,
the company planned to debut a new girl group, which would ultimately
turn into Girls' Generation, featuring a start-up roster of 11 members.
[12]
For nearly two years, Korean websites speculated about which of the
female SM Entertainment trainees would be placed into the group. The
candidate members were professionally trained primarily in singing and
dancing, while some were also selected to be trained in acting and
modeling. Many of the candidate members had already made names for
themselves in the Korean entertainment industry through their
participation in magazine adveritsements, television commercials, and
small television drama or film appearances,
[13][14] and Sooyoung even debuted in the Japanese market in 2002 as part of the pop duo, Route θ, which soon disbanded in one year.
[15][16]
The group witnessed several revisions, as members were either added or
cut, until final line-up of the debuting nine was decided. Prior to
their announcement, it was rumored that the group would be named "Super
Girls" after their so-called male counterparts, Super Junior.
[12]
The first member of the group to join SM Entertainment's training system was Jessica in 2000, after her and her sister,
Krystal Jung (now a member of the quintuplet girl group
f(x)), were scouted in a mall in Korea during a family vacation.
[17]
Members Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were also cast into SM's training system
in 2000 through 2000 SM Open Audition, in which Hyoyeon danced for her
audition.
[citation needed] Yuri was the next Girls' Generation member to be accepted into SM's training system after finishing second in the
2001 SM Youth Best Dancer competition. Yoona was cast the following year after auditioning singing and dancing to her favorite singers,
BoA and
Britney Spears, in 2002 SM Saturday Open Casting Audition.
[citation needed] Seohyun, the group's youngest member, was scouted in the subway by SM scout, then auditioned in 2003, singing children's songs.
[18] The group's leader, Taeyeon, was cast in 2004 after being discovered at SM's
8th Annual Best Contest winning "Best Singer 1st Place & Grand Award".
[19]
That same year, member Tiffany auditioned at SM's Starlight Casting
System in Los Angeles, and joined the company in October 2004.
[20][21]
The ninth and final member of the group to be added was Sunny, who
entered the system in 1998, training for five years before transferring
to another company, Starworld, where she trained to debut in the duo
"Sugar", which ultimately never debuted. Then under the recommendation
by the singer Ayumi she re-transferred back to SM Entertainment in 2007.
[22] Sunny is also the niece of SM Entertainment's founder,
Lee Soo Man.
[23]
2007–2008: Debut and Girls' Generation
In July 2007, Girls' Generation had their unofficial first stage performance on
Mnet's
School of Rock where the group performed their first single, "
Into the New World" (
다시 만난 세계). A documentary recording the story of the group's debut titled
Girls' Generation Goes to School was filmed by Mnet during this time, revolving around their unofficial debut and first public performances through
School of Rock.
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), 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
Inkigayo, later on MBC
Show! Music Core and KBS
Music Bank. "Into the New World" achieved No.1 spot on Mnet
M! Countdown. The group released their
first self-titled full album in late autumn of 2007 with the lead single "Girls' Generation" (
소녀시대), a remake of
Lee Seung-cheol's 1989 song. Promotion for the single started in early November. The album also included the group's first single "
Into the New World",
"Perfect For You" (re-titled "Honey"), and eight other tracks by the
group. The group first album has sold more than 100,000 copies. The last
pop-oriented girl group in Korea to accomplish this feat was
S.E.S.[24]
In early 2008, Girls' Generation began promoting their second single from the album, "
Kissing You", which won the group their first K-chart win after achieving the number one position on the KBS
Music Bank February chart.
[25] This song achieved the #1 spot on three major TV music rankings—SBS
Inkigayo, M.net M.Countdown! and
Music Bank. In March 2008, the album was repackaged, re-released and re-titled
Baby Baby.
Girls' Generation released the teaser for their single "Baby Baby" on
March 15, 2008. The single was released on digital music sites on March
17, 2008. The single, "Baby Baby", was released to promote the album.
The group also performed "Baby Baby" on various music shows such as MBC
Show! Music Core, SBS
Inkigayo, and Mnet
M! Countdown in March and April. The album promotions was concluded on April 13, 2008, on
Inkigayo.
[26]
During the group's promotions, members Jessica, Tiffany and Seohyun
were featured on a mini-album released by Roommate, a one-man band from
Purple Communication. The mini-album was titled
Roommate: Emotional Band Aid, and was released on December 1, 2008. The song performed by the three girls, titled "Oppa Nappa" (
오빠 나빠; literally,
Bad Brother), was digitally released before the album in April 2008. The song was performed live on SBS
Inkigayo, KBS
Music Bank, and Mnet
M! Countdown.
[27][28] Later in the year, the three members released "Mabinogi" (It's Fantastic!) together as the theme song for the
Nexon game
Mabinogi, with Tiffany participating in the music video.
[29] Mnet reality show
Factory Girl chronicled the members working as interns at fashion magazine
Elle Girl.
[30] The program began airing in early October.
[31] In late 2008, the group also participated in the
SM Town Live '08 concert along with other
SM Town artists.
2009: Gee, Genie, first Asian tour, and rising popularity
Girls' Generation performing "Genie" at the LG Mobile Worldcup in 2009.
A teaser video was released in January 2009 and the first single "
Gee" released soon after. "Gee" topped
Cyworld's hourly music chart on the release day.
[32] The song also went number one on all major digital music charts within two days.
[33] The group began its album promotion in January 2009 on MBC
Show! Music Core
where they sang their new lead single "Gee" and the track "Himnae (Way
To Go)", another song from their mini-album. A week after its release,
"Gee" went #1 on KBS
Music Bank.
[34] "Gee" also went to #1 on SBS
Inkigayo
a week after their return. "Gee" went on to become a phenomenal hit,
breaking the record for consecutive number one wins on KBS
Music Bank with nine consecutive wins, as well as receiving a triple crown on SBS
Inkigayo. The song then broke the record by staying on top a seventh week,
[35] and remained in the position for an eighth week. It also tied
[36] then broke the record for longest-running #1 on
Music Bank, beating the 7-week record previously set by
Jewelry in 2008 with "One More Time".
[36] "Gee" achieved its ninth #1 on the show on March 13, 2009.
SM Entertainment
stated that over 100,000 copies of the mini-album were shipped to
stores, while sales analyst company Hanteo reported sales in excess of
30,000 copies within the first 10 days of its release. The track also
showed strength on other charts, topping the
Mujikon,
Melon and
Mnet charts for eight consecutive weeks, the
Dosirak chart for seven weeks, the
Muse chart for six weeks, and the
Baksu chart for four weeks.
[37][38]
After a short break, SM Entertainment announced that the group would be back with a new mini-album sporting a "
Marine Girl" concept. The new single was to be titled "
Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)", with the full mini-album being released digitally on June 22, 2009.
[39][40] The group started their promotional activities on June 26, 2009, appearing on KBS
Music Bank.
[41] The performance was followed by follow-up comeback performances on MBC
Show! Music Core and SBS
Inkigayo on June 27 and 28, 2009. The physical release of
Genie was delayed by SM Entertainment in order to redo the album art, and was released four days later on June 29, 2009.
[39] Their first win for their single "Sowoneul Malhaebwa (Genie)" was obtained at the July 10, 2009 episode of KBS
Music Bank. Their second award was claimed on the July 12, 2009 episode of SBS
Inkigayo. Within a few days, the song topped on 10 different digital music charts.
[42]
The track proved to be a success as it conquered various music sites,
including Melon, Dosirak, Mnet, and Bugs, and it was number one on the
weekly charts and the SKT ringtone weekly charts of the first week of
July.
[43]
The mini-album sold an estimated 50,000+ copies in its first week after
released (almost double the numbers from the first-week sales of
Gee), an unusual feat for any Korean girl group.
[44] The albums went to sell over 200,000 as of 2010.
[45] On November 2009,
SM Entertainment announced the group's
Into The New World Tour. The tickets for the tour went on sale on November 19,
[46] and sold out in 3 minutes.
[47] The tour initially consisted of two Korean shows on December 19 and 20, 2009.
[48]
The tour began at Seoul's Olympic Park Fencing Stadium on December 19
and 20 and continued onto other Asian cities including Shanghai.
[49]
2010: Oh!/Run Devil Run, Japanese debut and Hoot
Later in January, SM Entertainment confirmed the release of
Oh!, the group's second full-length album, to be on January 28.
[50] The lead single "
Oh!" was digitally released on January 25 with the music video being released two days later.
[51] On January 30, the group started promotions with the recording of MBC
Show! Music Core.
[52]
The broadcast of the performance experienced a blackout near the end,
to which MBC made the whole performance available online in response.
[53] With "Oh!", the group went on to win five consecutive K-charts on KBS
Music Bank, as well as achieving a triple crown on SBS
Inkigayo.
[54] "Oh!" also went on to win the
Music Bank half-year K-chart, coming in at second on Hanteo's first half album sales chart,
[55] and also winning the end-of-year K-chart.
[citation needed] The music video ranked as the number one most viewed
YouTube
video in Korea by the end of 2010. It was also number one in Hong Kong
and made the top ten in both the Taiwan and Japan rankings.
[56]
Girls' Generation at an LG event in 2010.
Starting on March 11, 2010, photos of the members were released online showcasing a dark concept, dubbed "Black SoShi".
[57] A teaser video was released on March 16, with the new single
Run Devil Run being released as a
digital single
on March 17. Mid-June, it was announced that the group had signed
contracts in May, and would begin working under Universal Music Japan's
record label Nayutawave Records for their Japanese promotions, with
their first Japanese single expected to be released in September 2010.
[58][59][60] Girls' Generation began promotion in Japan in August. "少女時代到来~初来日記念盤~" (
Girls' Generation's Arrival ~ First Time in Japan Commemoration Disc ~),
a DVD featuring seven of the group's music videos as well as special
bonus footage, was released on August 11, with the special edition of
the DVD containing a pink glowstick as well as a pass to the Girls'
Generation debut at the
Tokyo Ariake Colliseum on August 25.
[61]
In the first week after release, the DVD sold 23,000 copies, ranking
fourth on the weekly DVD Oricon ranking and third on the weekly music
DVD ranking,
[62] and made Girls' Generation the first female K-pop group to make the Oricon DVD Top-5 ranking.
[63] Amidst their Japanese activities, the group also participated in the
SMTown Live '10 World Tour alongside their label-mates on August 21 at
Seoul Jamsil Olympic Stadium.
[64] They participated in the subsequent Shanghai, Los Angeles, Paris and Tokyo stops as well.
[65]
On August 25, the group held their first showcase in Tokyo Ariake Colliseum.
[66] With an initial 10,000 fans invited, it was reported to be the most large-scale plan for a Korean artist debuting in Japan.
[61]
However, due to high number of expected attendees, the group's
management announced that the showcase would take place three times in
the same day rather than once to accommodate the large amount of fans.
[67]
The group sang five of their Korean tracks at each of the showcases,
and the total number of attendees over all three shows were estimated to
be at least 22,000.
[68]
At this showcase, the "Genie" Japanese music video was also revealed
publicly for the first time and the teaser having been released a few
days prior on August 20.
[69] Their Japanese debut single "Genie" debuted at the fifth spot on the same day of its release on the Daily
Oricon Charts
and later rose to the second position on the Daily Charts some time
later, earning the group a fourth position on the Oricon weekly ranking.
[70][71][72] The group also hit the number one spots on Japan iTunes' music video chart and both the
Rekochoku daily video clip chart and incoming movie daily ranking chart a day later.
[73] With pre-orders amounting to 80,000, the single sold an estimated 45,000 copies in the first week after release.
[74][75] On October 20, 2010, the group released their second Japanese single, "
Gee".
[76][77] A week after the release of their Japanese single, the group released their third Korean mini-album,
Hoot on October 27, 2010, consisting of five tracks.
[78] The video for lead single, "
Hoot", a song originally written in English as "Bulletproof", was released on October 28.
[79][80] Girls' Generation commenced their promotional activities with a comeback stage on KBS
Music Bank on October 29.
[81]
"Hoot" quickly rose to the top of the charts and received the number
one spot numerous times on music shows, proving to be another successful
release for the group.
[82][83][84][85]
The group simultaneously promoted "Hoot" and "Gee" in Korea and Japan
respectively, and participated in Japanese music broadcasts such as the
FNS Music Festival, where they performed their two Japanese singles, "
Gee" and "Genie" on December 4. On December 22, 2010, "
Hoot"
was repackaged with additional tracks from previous albums and released
in Japan. The release rose to the second position on the Oricon charts
and sold 21,000 copies on the first day, faring surprisingly well
considering that all the included tracks were entirely in Korean.
[86] On December 9, 2010, the group attended the
Golden Disk Awards and was awarded three awards including the Disk Daesang (Album of the Year) for their 2nd album
Oh!.
The group also became the first girl group to have both a Disk Daesang
(2010) and Digital Daesang (2009). On December 15, 2010, the group
attended the
Melon Music Awards winning the
Best Dressed Singer award and
Hot Trend Song award for, "Hoot", as well as the
Artist of the Year award. This would be the second consecutive 'Artist of the Year' award for the group. They topped the
Hanteo annual
Singer Award chart for 2010.
[87] The group was named on Asia Today's list of
50 Korean power leaders for 2011 at the number forty-fourth spot, being the only
idol group from the list.
[8] Girls' Generation was designated "Artist of the Year" by Dosirak, Soribada, Korea Gallup, Hanteo and Sport Korea and also won
Best Song of The Year with "Oh!" at Monkey 3.
[88][89]
2011: Girls' Generation, Touring, International Expansion and The Boys
Girls' Generation at Visual Dream World Premiere Showcase.
In latter half of January, it was announced that the group would be
returning to the Japanese market through the release of their Japanese
version of "
Run Devil Run" as a digital single, released on January 25, 2011.
[90] On January 20, 2011, at the 20th
Seoul Music Awards, the group received "Artist of the Year", the "Bonsang" prize", a "Popularity" award, and a "
Hallyu award". In doing this, Girls' Generation became one of four artists in Korean music history (the others being
Seo Taiji,
Jo Sungmo and
H.O.T.)
to be named 'Artist of the Year' for two consecutive years. The group
also became the only girl group in history to receive 'Artist of the
Year' awards for the Seoul Music Awards, and
Melon Music Awards
for two consecutive years. They also received two Daesang Awards at the
Golden Disk Ceremony, one Digital Daesang (2009), and one Physical
Album Sales Daesang (2010).
[91]
On March 8, SM Japan updated their official website with information
about the release of Girls' Generation third Japanese single and their
first Japanese tour. It was stated that on April 27, Girls' Generation
would be releasing their third Japanese single, "
Mr. Taxi / Run Devil Run", which would include their first, original, Japanese song "
Mr. Taxi".
[92] and the Japanese remake of their song "
Run Devil Run". At the
2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan (VMAJ),
Girls' Generation was nominated for three awards under the "Best Group
Video", "Best Video Of The Year", and "Best Karaokee! Song" categories.
[93]
On July 2, it was announced that they had come out top in two out of
the three nominated categories, winning "Best Group Video" and "Best
Karaokee! Song" for the Japanese version of "Genie".
[94] On June 1, 2011, the group released its debut Japanese studio album,
Girls' Generation.
[95] The album was promoted via the groups first Japan tour entitled,
The 1st Japan Arena Tour, which started in
Osaka on May 31, 2011. A total of fourteen concerts in six cities would be held over a period of a month and a half.
Girls' Generation
was certified Platinum (250,000) by Recording Industry Association of
Japan on June 14, 2011, making it the fifth Korean artist's album to do
so after S.E.S, BoA,
TVXQ and
KARA.
Girls' Generation then was certified Double Platinum (500,000) on July 8, 2011, a first for any Korean girl group.
[96][97]
The group also set a record for recording the highest sales of the
FIRST album as a foreign artist in Japan. Girls' Generation is the
fourth artist to obtained number one spot on weekly album chart after
BoA, TVXQ, and
Big Bang,
[98]
and became the third Korean act to surpass the 500,000 mark after BoA
and TVXQ. As a result of their rising popularity, Girls' Generation
became the highest earning foreign artist in Japan for the first half of
2011.
[99] By the end of 2011, the album had sold over 728,000 copies.
[100][101]
The album was re-packaged, as "The Boys" on December 28, 2011. Their
most successful album to date, it was certified 'Million' by the
RIAJ, and made the group the second Korean artist to earn this achievement in Japan since labelmate
BoA's
"Best of Soul" in 2005, as well as being the first female group to do so.
[9] The self-titled album was the fifth best selling album in Japan in 2011
[102] and won
Album of the Year at the
2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. The lead single, "
Mr. Taxi", sold over 100,000 copies in its first week, beating out its predecessors, "Gee" and "Genie".
[103] The single also managed to clinch the number 1 spot on
Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks and was nominated for Video of the Year at the
2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan.
[104][105]
Girls Generation 2nd Asian Tour was announced by SM Entertainment in June 2011. The tickets for the tour went on sale on June 7, 2011 on GMarket. On July 24,
[106]
Girls' Generation was selected by SISA Press as "The Most Influential
Entertainers in Korea" for the year 2011, after having placed sixth in
2010.
[5] Setting their sights on the international market, Girls' Generation signed a contract with
Universal Music Group in 2011 to release
United States material under
Interscope Records.
[107] The Boys was originally scheduled to be released through
iTunes
and various music websites in Asia, including its native country, Korea
on October 5, 2011. But on September 30, it was revealed that the
album's release has been postponed so as to bring about a worldwide
album release.
[108] On October 10, it was confirmed that the album will be released on October 19, 2011 and comeback on KBS
Music Bank on October 21, 2011.
The title track, "
The Boys", co-written by member Tiffany and produced by
Teddy Riley, famous for his work with
Michael Jackson, was released in both Korean and English, and eventually Japanese.
[109]
Within minutes after the release of "The Boys", Girls' Generation
achieved an "all-kill" status on all major on- and off-line music charts
in Korea. Despite not charting on
Hot 100,
the song managed to peak inside the Top 30 on the iTunes chart in the
United States, selling over 21,000 copies and becoming one of the best
selling K-Pop songs, at that time, in the United States.
[110]
The same titled album sold 227,994 albums within twelve days in South
Korea, becoming the best selling album in October and third best selling
album in 2011. By the end of December, "The Boys" had sold a further
150,000 copies, bring its total to 385,348 copies, becoming the best
selling album in South Korea in 2011.
[111] The group began promotions on KBS
Music Bank with "The Boys" and "
MR. Taxi".
On October 23, 2011, it was confirmed by the members at the New York
City date of SMTown World Tour II, that "The Boys" maxi-Single would be
released internationally on November 19, 2011, although the date was
later moved to December 8, 2011. With only two months of sales, The Boys
managed to become the 10th best selling digital track in its native
country of 2011, having sold 3,032,658 copies since its October release.
As of April, 2012, the album had sold over 410,000 copies in South
Korea, setting a Gaon Chart record for the best selling, non-repackaged
album in the chart's history.
[112]
It was announced on November 11, 2011, that the group would be
releasing their first official Japanese photobook titled "Holiday".
"Holiday", reached the number one spot on the book sales ranking chart
under the photograph collection category and sold 17,000 copies the
first week after going on sale on November 30. It ranked eighteenth on
the overall book sales ranks. "The 1st Japan Arena Tour" was also made
available on Blu-ray and DVD on December 14, 2011.
On December 7, 2011, it was announced that Girls' Generation will be
releasing a re-packaged version of their debut Japanese album "Girls'
Generation", which included a Japanese version of the "The Boys", and
remixed versions of "The Great Escape", "Bad Girl", and "Mr. Taxi". It
also contained the new song, "Time Machine". The album was released on
December 28, 2011, and, collectively with the initial album, "Girls'
Generation" passed sales of over 800,000, with shipments of 1 million.
[113] The album placed fifth on the Oricon Weekly CD Albums chart for the second week of January, 2012 (Jan 9 – 15)
[114]
and Oricon announced that it was the first time in history that an
album by a Korean artist has placed in the Top 10 for seventeen weeks.
The previous record holder was the original soundtrack for the Korean
drama “Winter Sonata”, which remained in the Top 10 for sixteen weeks.
[115][116]
Due to their Japanese releases, the group ranked fifth among Japanese
artists in terms of monetary profit, the group had generated over 4.5
billion Yen (US$57 million) for 2011.
[117]
2012: International promotions, TaeTiSeo and Girls & Peace
On January 12, 2012, the group attended the
Golden Disk Awards, held in
Osaka,
bringing home two awards; the "Digital Bonsang" and the highly coveted
"Digital Daesang". A week later, on January 19, 2012, they attended the
Seoul Music Awards, and brought back two awards, the "Bonsang" and "Popularity" awards. The group also won two awards from the
Gaon Chart Awards, winning the Album Of The Year for the fourth Quarter and Oricon "Hallyu Singer" award.
Girls' Generation perform "The Boys" at the LG Cinema 3D World Festival, 1 April 2012.
Their appearances on the
Late Show with David Letterman and
Live! with Kelly
on January 31, 2012, and February 1, 2012, where they performed remixes
of the English version of "The Boys", marked the first time that a
Korean musical act has performed on each of the shows.
[118] They also performed on the
French show,
Le Grand Journal, on February 9, 2012, after it was announced that they were to release "The Boys" on February 13, 2012, through
Universal Music Group’s
Polydor Records in France. In the same month,
Forbes
Korea reported the year's list of the "Top 40 Power Celebrities".
Girls' Generation ranked number one on the list, thus making them the
most powerful South Korean girl group and female celebrity.
[119]
Figures for the groups total earnings for 2011 were released in March,
2012. The group placed first among their label, earning over 100 billion
won, or, approximately, $88.56 million USD.
[120] April 2012 saw the formation of
Girls' Generation-TTS,
or simply "TaeTiSeo", a subunit composed of members Taeyeon, Tiffany,
and Seohyun. The subgroup released their first mini-album,
Twinkle, on May 2.
[121]
The group continued promotion throughout the month, performing on
variety shows and at the Hallyu Dream Wave Concert. "Twinkle" debuted at
number 126 on the
Billboard 200, selling over 3,000 copies and making it the highest charting K-Pop album on the chart at the time.
[122] By July, 2012, the album had sold 140,000 copies in its native country, and a further 24,000 copies abroad.
[123] On May 20, 2012, the group performed with their label-mates at the
Honda Center in
Anaheim, as part of the first date of
SMTown Live World Tour III. The tour will continued to Tokyo, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.
[124]
"
Paparazzi" was released on June 27, 2012 which serve as the lead single from their second Japanese-language album.
[125]
Paparazzi proved to be another successful release for the group,
debuting atop the Japanese Hot 100, selling over 92,000 copies in its
first week, becoming their second best first week opening, following the
102,000 debut of
Mr. Taxi,
a year prior. "Paparazzi"'s release, boosted the groups total single
sales in the country to over 647,000, according to SoundScan Japan.
[126][127] That same month, the group won "Best Album of the Year" for their debut Japanese album at the
2012 VMAJs.
[128]
It was announced on July 3, 2012, that the group was to release
official stamps the following month, commemorating their 5th
Anniversary. A total of 14 stamps were produced, which included
autographed album covers. This marked the first time a celebrity had
made a contract with
Korea Post to produce stamps.
[129] Within an hour of the stamps' issuing, over half of the available stamp sheets had already sold out.
[130] On August 10, 2012, it was revealed that the group was to release a Blu-ray/DVD videography entitled "
Girls' Generation Complete Video Collection".
[131]
Performing in Singapore, November 2012
"
Oh! / All My Love Is For You",
the group's second double A-side single, and the second single from
their second Japanese studio album was released on September 26, 2012,
and featuring a Japanese remake of their 2010 single, "
Oh!".
[132] Oh!, earned first place on Oricon’s Weekly Single chart, selling 66,000 copies in its first week. In addition, the group's
Complete Video Collection
reached number one on Oricon's Weekly DVD and Blu-ray charts, selling a
collective 59,000 discs. They are the second artist to reach number one
on all three charts in the same week.
[133] The group's second Japanese album,
Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace, was released on November 28, 2012.
[134] The album was preceded by the single "
Flower Power", which is set to be released on November 21, 2012.
[135]
Despite having a limited release, "Flower Power" sold 29,000 copies in
its first week, peaking at number five on the Oricon Chart, the single
also reached number six on the Japan Hot 100. Girls' Generation II:
Girls & Peace sold 116,963 copies in its first week of release,
ranking third on Oricon's Weekly Albums Chart. "Girls & Peace" has
since been certified Platinum by the
RIAJ, denoting 250,000 copies sent to Japanese retailers.
[136] The group released the
2011 Girls' Generation Tour DVD on November 30, 2012 which features footage from the 2011 concert tour of the same name.
[137]
Due to their Japanese releases in 2012, the group ranked seventh among
Japanese artists and as the top Korean artist in Japan in terms of
monetary profit after generating over 4.3 billion Yen (US$51 million) in
2012.
[138] The group released the track "
Dancing Queen", a remake version of
Duffy's Mercy, on December 21, 2012.
[139]