Girls' Generation (Korean: 소녀시대, Hanja/Japanese: 少女時代, Sonyeo Sidae/Shōjo Jidai) are a popular nine-member South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment in 2007. The nine members are: Taeyeon, Jessica, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona and Seohyun. They are often referred to as SoShi (소시, Hanja: 少時), or SNSD, the first of which is an abbreviation and the second, mainly used outside Korea, is an acronym of the group's Korean name So Nyuh Shi Dae.
The group has released two Korean full albums, three Korean mini-albums, one Japanese full album and various singles. Their 2009 hit single "Gee" holds the record for being the longest running No.1 song on KBS's Music Bank, having held the No.1 chart ranking for 9 consecutive weeks. Genie was named song of the decade by the Korean music site, Melon. The group also won various awards in 2009 and 2010, including consecutive Artist of the Year (Daesang) awards at the Seoul Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards, Melon Music Awards, and the Korean Cultural Entertainment Awards.
The group began a foray into the Japanese music scene in late 2010 under Nayutawave Records, a part of Universal Music, with the Japanese remakes of their 2009 Korean hits "Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)" and "Gee". 2010 saw the group reach considerable success in Korea after winning the prestigious Disk Daesang (Album of the Year) and Artist of the Year at the Golden Disk Awards, Seoul Music Awards, and Melon Music Awards respectively. In 2011, the group continued to enjoy much success with their expansion to Japan, becoming the "first Korean girl group to place No. 1 on the Oricon chart and wi[n]ning several gold disc statuses for selling over 100,000 copies for their albums".
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