As I impatiently wait for some of my favorite acts to make long-overdue comebacks, it made me wonder how long the longest K-pop hiatuses have been. So, I did some research!
The following statistics are rounded by month rather than specific days, unless there was a tie between two acts. I’ve kept my focus to acts from established agencies that have at least some name recognition. Given this, my cut-off line was somewhat arbitrary, but each of these groups hails from an agency I think most hardcore K-pop fans will have at least heard of.
I didn’t include disbanded groups (sorry, Pristin) and counted all NCT units as one idol group. I also chose to limit my scope to post-2016 debuts. When looking at hiatuses, I did not count non-promoted releases or solos/sub-units.
With all of that in mind, here are the top fifteen longest hiatuses in the past three-and-a-half years.
These are the most long-suffering fan groups, and these are the artists we should all be getting behind when they finally re-emerge from their long hibernations.
Want do you think? Are there any surprises in this list? Which act are you most eager to see make a speedy comeback?
1. Good Day
Hiatus: 23+ Months
C9 Entertainment
(Aug 30, 2017 – present)
2. TRCNG
Hiatus: 19 Months
TS Entertainment
(Jan 2, 2018 – Aug 5, 2019)
3. KNK
Hiatus: 16 Months
YNB Entertainment / Stone Music
(July 20, 2017 – Jan 7, 2019)
4. Victon
Hiatus: 14+ Months
Plan A Entertainment
(May 23, 2018 – present)
5. Elris
Hiatus: 13+ Months
Hunus Entertainment
(June 28, 2018 – present)
6. IN2IT
Hiatus: 12.5 Months
MMO Entertainment
(July 26, 2018 – Aug 7, 2019)
7. MYTEEN
Hiatus: 12+ Months
Music Works
(July 10, 2018 – present)
8. IMFACT
Hiatus: 12 Months
Star Empire
(Apr 4, 2017 – Apr 16, 2018)
9. BLACKPINK
Hiatus: 12 Months
YG Entertainment
(June 22, 2017 – June 15, 2018)
10. A.C.E
Hiatus: 11.5 Months
Beat Interactive
(June 7, 2018 – May 17, 2019)
11. ONF
Hiatus: 10 Months
WM Entertainment
(Aug 2, 2017 – June 7, 2018)
12. Golden Child
Hiatus: 9+ Months
Woollim Entertainment
(Oct 24, 2018 – present)
13. Gugudan
Hiatus: 9+ Months
Jellyfish Entertainment
(Nov 6, 2018 – present)
14. Dreamcatcher
Hiatus: 9 Months
Happyface Entertainment
(July 27, 2017 – May 10, 2018)
15. Astro
Hiatus: 9 Months
Fantagio Entertainment
(Nov 1, 2017 – July 24, 2018)
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
You say in your post that you don’t count non-promoted releases but then you mark astro’s special album “rise up” as a comeback. Shouldn’t the hiatus be from nov-2017 til jan-2019?
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I debated this, but Always You did have one music show performance and was released as part of a physical mini album, so I made the exception.
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Surprised TRCNG is having a comeback soon. I thought TS was pretty much finished. Also, I feel like Sonamoo has been MIA for a long time.
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Almost 19 months 😦
But, they debuted in 2014 so they didn’t fall within the scope of this list.
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I’m guessing MVP was excluded due to their company not being high-profile enough, but they’d definitely be the longest on this list. I feel like booboo the fool for getting SUPER attached to them immediately following their debut (I really, *really* enjoyed Take It and thought they had so much talent and potential….I remember you described them as rookies “out for blood” and it filled me with such hopes for the group) only for them to promptly drop off the face of the Earth in terms of musical output. It happens a lot in nuguland, I know, but with the budget their company had for the MV I thought just maybe…..ah, well. Maybe it’s better to have them disappear with a strong single to their name instead of return after all this time with some dreadful downbeat trap song in order to ride trends. I’m not sure which would be worse.
I have to wonder if Good Day will get another chance if CIX bring in enough money for C9…I’m crossing my fingers for those girls.
On a final note, I can’t believe it’s already been a year since Sorry For My English.
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“Sorry for my English” was a good old fashioned kitsch song. Was it a good song? Probably not. Did I listen to it a lot? Oh yes. More than I will admit to.
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Take It was probably one of the best and most promising debut tracks ever. Then came The Uni+, and MVP rebooted into nothing their rising career. Unexplainable hiatus for a rookie group.
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They are not within the scope of your list, but B.A.P was probably the group that had the most tragic, iconic, career-shattering hiatus. 😢 *sigh*
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Nick, I think you need something else to do during this kpop down time. These are the kind of lists that are fan-created on much crappier websites and a dozen or three youtube stations. At least on this site, the comments aren’t filled with fan wars about certain ones you list.
As for me, I have been filling my time this week listening to Super Junior on shuffle until their comeback. I have a couple hundred songs among the main group, -M group, the subunits, and all the solo releases, so I am good for a while.
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i’ve been filling my time like that too, but with a lot of different groups since Spotify barely has any kpop groups’ entire discography… so jealous that you have access to all of -M’s songs.
if Nick doesn’t mind me suggesting, i would love to finally read that Top 10 Best Songs of Super Junior Units (excluding D&E since you already did them!) you kinda considered writing back in 2016? https://thebiaslist.com/2016/02/07/the-top-ten-best-songs-by-super-junior/
or maybe even updating some of the older Top 10 Best lists!
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I buy whatever I can on iTunes. Well, mostly – I don’t have the full SuJu catalogue, but “most”. And then, on a limited basis, I buy the Japanese releases from amazon. I don’t do streaming except on youtube when autoplay kicks in.
I would also suggest to Nick that he give us a primer on his writing process, since he writes so well. High quality recent examples are the thrice daily ways to describe a drop chorus with trap breakdown. I don’t think he has ever repeated himself. We could even rank them! … assuming he collates them for us 😛
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Haha! You’re too kind.
You can blame it on my four years working within the publishing industry, back when my YA book series was being published. From hyper-analyzing every word in a query letter to revising entire novels over and over again, I’ve gotten to the point where I can rattle off a readable piece of writing pretty quickly, with little revision needed.
Of course, I’m not nearly as OCD about the work on this site. The only one I really have to answer to is myself, after all. But, I still try to make the writing pop whenever possible. Honestly, that’s half the fun — especially when a song is less than inspiring.
As far as a process… there really isn’t much of one. I aim for three paragraphs (sometimes longer) and 250-300 words (often longer). Paragraph one is always a general overview/introduction. Paragraphs 2-3 are more song-specific.
I’ll tell you one thing, though… no one in publishing ever prepares you to generate varying descriptions for drop choruses and trap breakdowns on a daily basis. Thank you, K-pop. But please stop.
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Yeah, that post probably needs to happen. Maybe I’ll write it up for publication while I’m away at KCON. I’m gonna need a few pre-prepared posts for those few days anyway.
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This is a joke. BIGBANG had been on hiatus the longest from 2012 (Alive) to 2016 (MADE series)
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