GIRLS' GENERATION - 2011 TO 2012

2011

 On 20 January, at the Seoul Music Awards, the group received the "Artist of the Year",  "Bonsang", "Popularity" and "Korean Wave" awards. Girls' Generation became the fourth artists in Korean music history (other artist being Seo Taiji, Jo Sungmo and H.O.T.) to be named 'Artist of the Year' for 2 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 2 consecutive years. They also received two Daesang Awards at the Golden Disk Ceremony, one Digital Daesang (2009), and one Physical Album Sales Daesang (2010).

In the same month, Girls Generation returned to the Japanese market through the release of their Japanese version of "Run Devil Run" as a digital single on 25 January.

On March 8, SM Japan announced on their official website the release of Girls' Generation third Japanese single and first Japanese tour. It was stated that Girls' Generation would be releasing their third Japanese single, "Mr.Taxi/Run Devil Run", which would include their first, original, Japanese song "Mr. Taxi". and the Japanese remake of their song "Run Devil Run". At the 2011 MTV Video Music Aid Japan, Girls' Generation was nominated for three awards under the "Best Group Video", "Best Video Of The Year", and "Best Karaoke! Song" categories. 

In June, the group released its debut Japanese studio album "Girls' Generation". The album was promoted via the groups' first Japan tour entitled, The 1st Japan Arena Tour, which was held in Osaka in May. A total of fourteen concerts in six cities was held over a period of a month and a half. "The 1st Japan Arena Tour" was also made available on Blu-ray and DVD on 14 December.

(Note: The 1st Japan Arena Tour consists of 14 concerts from 13 May to 18 July 2011) 

'Girls' Generation' was certified Platinum by Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) on 14 June, making it the fifth Korean album to do so following S.E.S, BOA, TVXQ and KARA. Girls' Generation was certified Double Platinum (500,000) on July 8, 2011, a first for any Korean girl group.

Also in July, it was announced that they had come out top in two out of the three nominated categories, winning "Best Group Video" and "Best Karaoke! Song" for the Japanese version of "Genie". The group set a record for the highest sales of the FIRST album as a foreign artist in Japan. Girls' Generation is the fourth artist to reach number-one spot on weekly album chart after BOA, TVXQ, and Big Bang.

The album was re-packaged, as "The Boys" in December. 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. The self-titled album was the fifth best selling album in Japan in 2011 according to Oricon's full year album ranking for 2011 and won 'Album of the Year' at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. **The single, "Mr. Taxi", sold over 100,000 copies in its first week, beating its predecessors, "Gee" and "Genie". The single also clinched 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. (**Source: Billboard Japan 16 June 2011)

Girls Generation 2nd Asian Tour was announced by S.M. Entertainment in June 2011. The tour starts from July 2011 to February 2012 with 9 concerts in 5 cities held in Seoul, Taipei, Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok with a total attendance of about 110,000. Girls' Generation signed a contract with Universal Music Group in 2011 to enter the United States market under Interscope Records. 'The Boys' was scheduled for released through iTunes and various music websites in Asia, including its native country, Korea in October, but was postponed by a few days to coincide with the worldwide album release in October. On October 10, it was confirmed that the album will be released on 19 October and the group perform a comeback on KBS Music Bank on 21 October.

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. Within minutes after the release of "The Boys", the single achieved an "all-kill" status on all major music charts in Korea.

It was announced in November that the group would be releasing their first official Japanese photobook titled "Holiday". The photobook went on sale on 30 November. On 7 December, Girls' Generation released a re-packaged 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 included the new song, "Time Machine". The re-package album was released on 28 December.

2012

On 12 January, Girls' Generation attended and won 2 awards at the Golden Disk Awards held in Osaka; the "Digital Bonsang" and the coveted "Digital Daesang". A week later, on 19 January, they won the the "Bonsang" and "Popularity" awards at the Seoul Music Awards. The group also won two awards from the Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards, "Album Of The Year for the 4th Quarter 2011" and "Oricon Special Awards".

Their appearances and performances of the English version of "The Boy" on the Late Show with David Letterman* and  ABC Live! with Kelly* on 31 January and 1 February were the first time that a Korean artist/idols has performed on both shows.They also performed on the French show, Le Grand Journal,* on 9 February, "The Boys" was released on 13 February through Universal Music Group’s Polydor Records in France.  (*Click on the link to watch on Youtube)

Figures for the groups total earnings for 2011 were released in March 2012. Girls' Generation was the top earner for S.M. Entertainment among their labelmates which include Super Junior, TVXQ, Shinee and f(x), earning over 100 billion KRW or approx USD$88.56 million. 

In April Girls' Generation-TTS, or simply "TaeTiSeo" was formed. It's a sub-group consisting of 3 members of GG: Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun. The subgroup released their first mini-album "Twinkle" on 2 May. Taetiseo held its debut stage on Mnet’s M Countdown on 3 May. The track "Twinkle" debuted at number 126 on the US Billboard 200, the highest for a K-Pop album on the chart and was achieved without any promotions or activities in the USA (Source: Mwave News).

On May 20, 2012, Girls' Generation performed with their label-mates at the Honda Center in Anaheim, as part of SMTown Live World Tour III. The tour consisting of 11 concerts in 8 cities continued, in chronological order, to Taiwan (Hsinchu City), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul), Indonesia (Jakarta), Singapore, Thailand (Bangkok), China (Beijing) and returning to Japan (Tokyo) as the final stop for 2 concerts held on 26 and 27 October 2013.

On 26 June 2012, it was revealed that Girls' Generation won "Best Album of the Year" at the 2012 MTV Video Music Award Japan for their self-titled debut Japanese album "Girls' Generation" released in June 2011.

"Paparazzi" was released on 27 June as a single from their second Japanese language album. The single's release boosted the group's total singles sales in Japan to over 645,000, according to SoundScan Japan report dated 12 July.

To commemorate Girls' Generation's 5th anniversary in August, the group announced on 5 July, the release of the first Korean Post celebrity stamps. A total of 14 stamps were directly contracted and produced by Korean Post, which included autographed album covers. More than half of the much anticipated 1,200 stamp sheets were sold within an hour of the stamps' release.

On 26 September, "Oh! / All My Love Is For You", the group's second double single was released. The singles earned first place on Oricon’s Weekly Single chart. The group's second Japanese album, "Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace", was released on 28 November. The album's release was preceded by the the release of the single "Flower Power" on 21 November. "Flower Power" peaked at #5 on the Oricon Chart while "Girls' Generation II: Girls & Peace" peaked at #3 on Oricon's Weekly Albums Chart. "Girls & Peace" has since been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).

The group released the track "Dancing Queen", a remake version of Duffy's Mercy, on 21 December.

Owing to the members' commitments and packed scheduled activities, whether as a group or individual, and the group's participation in the SMTown Live World Tour III, not many new songs were released in 2012.