K-pop band BIGBANG's legion of fans have proved their loyalty to the group. According to the latest news, the boy band is currently in third place on the 2016 TIME 100 readers' poll, beating international artists such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé.
The current ranking on the chart reveals that YG Entertainment's band is in the third place, trailing behind Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. And the most surprising news of all? BIGBANG has surpassed President Barack Obama, who has about 2 percent of the votes compared to BIGBANG, which has 2.2 percent.
To be sure, BIGBANG is the only K-pop band on the top 100 list. CL aka Lee Chae-rin, band member of YG Entertainment's 2NE1, is the other K-pop artist who has received 1 percent of the votes so far.
The TIME article, which dubbed BIGBANG as "the biggest boy band in the world," also elaborated the band's popularity in the U.S.
"They've been around for 10 years and have played arenas across North America thanks to their large and fervent international fan base. Member G-Dragon has also broken out as a solo artist, collaborating with the likes of Missy Elliott, Diplo and Skrillex," the TIME article pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post article highlighted that BIGBANG's popularity might be numbered due to South Korea's compulsory military service. According to the report, 27-year-old band members G-Dragon aka Ji-yong and Taeyang aka Dong Young-bae might be enlisted in 2017.
"We are Korean, so we have to go someday, but I don't know when it's going to be. Until then, we'll just try hard to do what we got to do," GD told the outlet.
