Grading the K-Pop Agencies 2026: SM ENTERTAINMENT

It’s that time of year again! While December is filled with year-end countdowns, I like to take a look back at some of K-pop’s biggest agencies during November. Before reading (especially if you’re new to the blog), it’s helpful to know that my grading focuses most heavily on music releases and how comebacks are managed and delivered to fans. Scandals and non-musical factors can certainly impact an agency’s grade, but the biggest criteria will always be the music itself. As usual, the thoughts below are my own and aren’t privy to any insider information. There will be plenty of subjective critique. The Good In some ways, SM Entertainment is too big to fail. Even if they don’t really drive the entire industry the way they used to at their peak, they’re still a staple of K-pop and home to some of the biggest artists around. Of these artists, aespa are still the most popular on the charts. They didn’t make many comebacks this year, but both WDA and Lemonade were decent-level hits, though a bit short of aespa’s past standards. SM’s biggest success in 2026 seems to be NCT Wish. Even though their music isn’t always for me, I’m continually surprised by just how large their fan base is. Th...