The Most Famous
MUSICIANS from South Korea
This page contains a list of the greatest South Korean Musicians. The pantheon dataset contains 3,175 Musicians, 19 of which were born in South Korea. This makes South Korea the birth place of the 23rd most number of Musicians behind Hungary, and Ireland.
Top 10
The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary South Korean Musicians of all time. This list of famous South Korean Musicians is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of South Korean Musicians.
1. Nam June Paik (1932 - 2006)
With an HPI of 68.02, Nam June Paik is the most famous South Korean Musician. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages on wikipedia.
Nam June Paik (Korean: 백남준; July 20, 1932 – January 29, 2006) was a South Korean artist. He worked with a variety of media and is considered to be the founder of video art. He is credited with the first use (1974) of the term "electronic super highway" to describe the future of telecommunications. Born in Seoul to a wealthy business family, Paik trained as a classical musician, spending time in Japan and West Germany, where he joined the Fluxus collective and developed a friendship with experimental composer John Cage. He moved to New York City in 1964 and began working with cellist Charlotte Moorman to create performance art. Soon after, he began to incorporate televisions and video tape recorders into his work, acquiring growing fame. A stroke in 1996 left him partially paralyzed for the last decade of his life.
2. Lee Soo-man (b. 1952)
With an HPI of 66.54, Lee Soo-man is the 2nd most famous South Korean Musician. His biography has been translated into 28 different languages.
Lee Soo-man (Korean: 이수만, born 18 June 1952) is a South Korean business executive and record producer who is best known for being the founder of SM Entertainment, a multinational entertainment company based in Seoul. He has also been referred to as the "president of culture", as one of the pioneers of the Korean Wave. Lee debuted as a singer in 1971 while he was a student at Seoul National University. In 1989, he founded SM Entertainment, which has since become one of the largest entertainment companies in the country.
3. Suga (b. 1993)
With an HPI of 62.11, Suga is the 3rd most famous South Korean Musician. His biography has been translated into 53 different languages.
Min Yoon-gi (Korean: 민윤기; born March 9, 1993), known professionally by his stage names Suga (슈가; [ɕʰuɡa̠]; stylized in all caps) and Agust D, is a South Korean rapper, songwriter and record producer. He debuted as a member of the South Korean boy band BTS in June 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. His first solo mixtape, Agust D, was released in 2016 and re-released in 2018 to digital download and streaming platforms, reaching number three on Billboard's World Albums Chart. In 2020, he released his second solo mixtape, D-2; it peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard 200, number seven on the UK Albums Chart, and number two on Australia's ARIA Album Chart. Suga released his debut solo album, D-Day, in 2023. It debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, tying him with BTS bandmate Jimin as the highest-charting South Korean solo artists of all time. A full member of the Korea Music Copyright Association, Suga has songwriting and production credits on over 160 songs, including Suran's "Wine", which peaked at number two on the Gaon Music Chart and won Best R&B at the 2017 Melon Music Awards.
4. Myung-whun Chung (b. 1953)
With an HPI of 61.56, Myung-whun Chung is the 4th most famous South Korean Musician. His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.
Myung-whun Chung (Korean: 정명훈; born 22 January 1953) is a South Korean conductor and pianist.
5. Yang Hyun-suk (b. 1970)
With an HPI of 60.13, Yang Hyun-suk is the 5th most famous South Korean Musician. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.
Yang Hyun-suk (Korean: 양현석; born January 9, 1970) is a South Korean music executive, rapper, dancer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame as a member of Seo Taiji and Boys during the 1990s. After the group disbanded, he founded and became the executive producer and chairman of YG Entertainment, the fourth-largest record company in South Korea.
6. Kyung Wha Chung (b. 1948)
With an HPI of 58.95, Kyung Wha Chung is the 6th most famous South Korean Musician. Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Kyung Wha Chung (Korean: 정경화; born 26 March 1948) is a South Korean violinist.
7. Yiruma (b. 1978)
With an HPI of 57.25, Yiruma is the 7th most famous South Korean Musician. His biography has been translated into 36 different languages.
Lee Ru-ma (Korean: 이루마; born 15 February 1978), better known by the stage name Yiruma (stylized from Lee Ru-ma), is a South Korean pianist and composer.
8. Unsuk Chin (b. 1961)
With an HPI of 54.19, Unsuk Chin is the 8th most famous South Korean Musician. Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.
Unsuk Chin (Korean: 진은숙 [tɕin ɯn.suk]; born July 14, 1961) is a South Korean composer of contemporary classical music, who is based in Berlin, Germany. Chin was a self-taught pianist from a young age and studied composition at Seoul National University as well as with György Ligeti at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg. The recipient of numerous awards, she won the 2004 Grawemeyer Award for her Violin Concerto No. 1, the 2010 Music Composition Prize of the Prince Pierre Foundation for the ensemble piece Gougalōn and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2024. In 2019, writers of The Guardian ranked her Cello Concerto (2009) the 11th greatest work of art music since 2000, with Andrew Clements describing it as "perhaps the most original and entertainingly disconcerting of all of [her concertos], cast in four brilliant movements that never quite conform to type".
9. Lee Jong-hyun (b. 1990)
With an HPI of 50.22, Lee Jong-hyun is the 9th most famous South Korean Musician. His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.
Lee Jong-hyun (Korean: 이종현; born May 15, 1990), also known by his mononym Jonghyun, is a South Korean musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He was the former lead guitarist and vocalist of South Korean rock band CNBLUE. He made his acting debut in an omnibus movie Acoustic in 2010, followed by his television debut in the Korean drama A Gentleman's Dignity in 2012. He appeared in television dramas Orange Marmalade (2015), Lingerie Girls' Generation (2017) and Evergreen (2018). In August 2019, Lee departed CNBLUE after the backlash over a private direct message towards a YouTuber, and amidst allegations of him viewing illicit videos and having inappropriate sexual conversations degrading women in the Jung Joon-young KakaoTalk chatrooms, a part of Burning Sun scandal.
10. Eun Ji-won (b. 1978)
With an HPI of 49.36, Eun Ji-won is the 10th most famous South Korean Musician. Her biography has been translated into 18 different languages.
Eun Ji-won (Korean: 은지원; born June 8, 1978) is a South Korean rapper, singer, actor and entertainer. He is the leader of the first generation idol group Sechs Kies (젝스키스). He is recognized as an ancestor of the K-pop world, paving the way for hip-hop in the Korean pop scene. He is also considered an entertainment icon, popularly known as "Eun Choding" (Elementary Eun) for his childish on-screen persona on 1 Night 2 Days. In addition to his music, he continues to appear in shows like New Journey to the West.
People
Pantheon has 19 people classified as South Korean musicians born between 1932 and 2000. Of these 19, 18 (94.74%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living South Korean musicians include Lee Soo-man, Suga, and Myung-whun Chung. The most famous deceased South Korean musicians include Nam June Paik. As of April 2024, 1 new South Korean musicians have been added to Pantheon including Han.
Living South Korean Musicians
Go to all Rankings
Lee Soo-man
1952 - Present
HPI: 66.54
Suga
1993 - Present
HPI: 62.11
Myung-whun Chung
1953 - Present
HPI: 61.56
Yang Hyun-suk
1970 - Present
HPI: 60.13
Kyung Wha Chung
1948 - Present
HPI: 58.95
Yiruma
1978 - Present
HPI: 57.25
Unsuk Chin
1961 - Present
HPI: 54.19
Lee Jong-hyun
1990 - Present
HPI: 50.22
Eun Ji-won
1978 - Present
HPI: 49.36
Jung Yong-hwa
1989 - Present
HPI: 48.81
Kang Min-hyuk
1991 - Present
HPI: 48.56
Jaehyun
1997 - Present
HPI: 47.58
