Alongside some of the global music world’s biggest names such as Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Pharell Williams, K-pop megastars 2NE1 and Big Bang solidified their place as two of YouTube’s top artists by being selected for the 2015 YouTube Music Awards.

This year the world’s largest video sharing site has recognized 50 music artists from across the world who showed the most significant growth in YouTube views, subscribers and engagement over the past six months. Collectively, all 50 artists including the likes of Rihanna, Sam Smith and Ariana Grande have amassed more than 164 million subscribers and 47 billion video views. 

Representing the K-pop world as the only two Korean artists on the list, Big Bang and 2NE1 have accrued mass followings and viewings on YouTube with individual members’ music video releases over the past year.

Big Bang’s official YouTube channel has attracted nearly 3.5 million subscribers to date, with idol members G-Dragon and Taeyang’s most recent music video release, “Good Boy,” stacking more than 43 million views since it was released three months ago. Taeyang’s solo smash hit music video “Eyes, Nose, Lips” also added to the group’s YouTube tally, amassing more than 37.8 million views since it was uploaded last June.

After its much-awaited return to the music scene last year with its second studio album, 2NE1 has racked up more than 17.4 million views of its most recent music video, “Gotta Be You,” while “Come Back Home” has surpassed the 30-million-viewer mark.

Unlike YouTube’s inaugural 2013 YouTube Music Awards, which included a live ceremony in New York and based its accolade system on the “artists and songs that YouTube fans have turned into global hits over the past year,” the music awards have returned with a new identity after its first go-around was met with mixed reviews.

The site has decided to scrap the live ceremonies all together and simply “recognize the biggest and emerging artists to watch on YouTube in 2015” based solely on their YouTube performance statistics.

In 2013, then nine-member girl group “Girls’ Generation” beat monster music stars like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, One Direction and Psy to take home the “Video of the Year” award for its “I Got a Boy” music video.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)