[News] TVXQ Defends Crown For The Second Year As K-pop Group Who Has Expanded Their Influence The Most Globally During First Half Of 2013!

[News] TVXQ Defends Crown For The Second Year As K-pop Group Who Has Expanded Their Influence The Most Globally During First Half Of 2013!

You voted, and we listened - TVXQ has officially been named 'the K-Pop group who has expanded their influence the most globally during the first half of 2013.'

For Stage 1 of our semi-annual KpopStarz reader poll we asked you to tell us what you think by voting from July 8-14 for the K-Pop group who has shown the farthest international reach so far this year.

The votes have been counted, and although the race was a close one, TVXQ have come out on top as the winners with 36.95% of the votes!

Stage 1 was particularly tight as runner-up JYJ was not far behind with 34.43% of the vote.

Adding a little more interest and tension to the vote, as many fans are already aware of, the three JYJ members are former TVXQ group mates.  The first stage of this year's KpopStarz semi-annual reader poll thus turned out to be a battle between members of the same original group!

TVXQ initially started as a five-member boy band under SM Entertainment in 2003.  The group originally contained members Yunho, Changmin, Jaejoong, Yoochun, and Junsu until 2009 when the latter three singers filed suit against their record label subsequently leaving the group completely.

TVXQ then continued on as a pop duo with just Yunho and Changmin whilt Jaejoong Yoochun, and Junsu went on to form the triad JYJ.

Since TVXQ's official return as a duo in 2011, Yunho and Changmin have taken their music to fans all around the world.  Since late 2012, the two have been playing concerts across the world as part of the TVXQ World Tour Catch Me in support of their sixth studio album.

Their far-reaching appeal is no doubt a result of TVXQ's unique sound and style that blends elements of rap, rock, dance, electronic, ballad, and, of course, a capella.

This year TVXQ has gone completely global holding concerts around Asia as well as in North and South America.

It is no surprise then that you fans voted them as the K-Pop group to expand their influence the most globally this year.

In a respectable third place finish, this year's dark horse was girl group f(x) with 4.62% of the votes.

Both holding wildly successful international tours this year, Super Junior and B.A.P finished out the top five with 4.01% and 1.93% of the votes, respectively.

Thanks for your votes, everyone!  And, of course, a big congratulations to TVXQ on their win!