YG Entertainment turns 30: from Jinusean to BLACKPINK's Billboard 200 and two new groups on the way

YG Entertainment hit its 30th anniversary in 2026, three decades after the label started as a planning company in 1996.

Jinusean and One Time (원타임) built the early years, planting mainstream hip-hop into Korean pop. The 2000s shifted the sound: Wheesung, Gummy, and Big Mama rode an R&B vocalist wave, while Se7en's solo success opened YG's first serious push into overseas markets.

BIGBANG and 2NE1 followed. Both are now assessed as the definitive form of the K-pop hip-hop idol. The 2010s expanded the roster further—PSY, Lee Hi, AKMU, WINNER, and iKON all joined during that stretch. PSY's Gangnam Style peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, a chart position that made the label's global ambitions concrete.

BLACKPINK pushed those ambitions further. The group topped both the US Billboard 200 and the UK Official Albums Chart, and drew 1.8 million audience members across world tours. Currently, TREASURE and BABYMONSTER carry the next-generation banner for the label.

Two more acts are coming. A five-member rookie boy group debuts in September. A four-member rookie girl group operates under the working title Next Monster. (Whether the girl group name sticks past debut is the label's call.)