This idea first came to me around last year when I was really getting into SHINee again, and realized Taemin would’ve been a ’10 liner if he’d debuted in 2025. Crazy. Then I got reminded of a Korean post I’d found from 2020 on how old 1st gen groups would’ve been if they’d debuted then, and I thought it would be interesting to do this now. It really puts into perspective how old or young the idols were all those years ago (and also pretty easily shuts up arguments about how “K-pop groups are getting to young nowadays!!”). Since I can’t include every single group ever, I’m only including most important groups from the Big 3 (except NCT cuz… man there’s like 5,000 of them) from 2003 (the start of 2nd gen with TVXQ) to 2016, as well as BTS for coverage’s sake. The reason I’m not including 1st gen is because most fans aren’t familiar and that would clog up the list. If I get something wrong, please be sure to tell me, because it’s probably my fault lol.
Also, for old ladies like me, here are the current ages of the most recent major K-pop debut, LNGSHOT, for reference:
- Ohyul: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- Ryul: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- Woojin: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- Louis: 15 (turning 16) years old – 2010
Now, here we go!!
TVXQ (debuted 2003)
- Jaejoong: 17 (turning 18 year after debut) years old – 2009
- Yunho: 17 (turning 18 year after debut) years old – 2009
- Yoochun: 17 years old – 2009
- Junsu: 17 years old – 2009
- Changmin: 15 (turning 16 year after debut) years old – 2011
Super Junior (debuted 2005)
- Leeteuk: 22 years old – 2004
- Heechul: 22 years old – 2004
- Han Geng: 21 years old – 2005
- Yesung: 21 years old – 2005
- Kangin: 20 years old – 2006
- Shindong: 20 years old – 2006
- Eunhyuk: 19 years old – 2007
- Donghae: 19 years old – 2007
- Siwon: 18 years old – 2008
- Ryeowook: 18 years old – 2008
- Kibum: 18 years old – 2008
- + Kyuhyun (debuted 2006): 18 years old – 2008 [2009 if he had debuted in 2005]
- + Henry (debuted 2008): 18 (turning 19) years old: 2007 [2010 if he had debuted in 2005]
- + Zhou Mi (debuted 2008): 22 years old – 2004 [2006 if he had debuted in 2005]
Big Bang (debuted 2006)
- T.O.P: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Taeyang: 18 years old – 2008
- G-Dragon: 18 years old – 2008
- Daesung: 17 years old – 2009
- Seungri: 15 (turning 16) years old – 2010
Wonder Girls (debuted 2007)
- Yeeun: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- Sunye: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- Sunmi: 14 (turning 15) years old – 2011
- Hyuna: 14 (turning 15) years old – 2011
- Sohee: 14 (turning 15) years old – 2011
- + Yoobin (debuted later in 2007): 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- + Hyerim (debuted 2010): 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008 [2011 if she had debuted in 2007]
Girls’ Generation (debuted 2007)
- Taeyeon: 18 years old – 2008
- Jessica: 18 years old – 2008
- Sunny: 18 years old – 2008
- Tiffany: 18 years old – 2008
- Hyoyeon: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- Yuri: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- Sooyoung: 17 years old – 2009
- Yoona: 17 years old – 2009
- Seohyun: 16 years old – 2010
SHINee (debuted 2008)
- Onew: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Jonghyun: 18 years old – 2008
- Key: 16 (turning 17) years old – 2009
- Minho: 16 (turning 17) years old – 2009
- Taemin: 14 (turning 15) years old – 2011
2AM (debuted 2008)
- Changmin: 22 years old – 2004
- Seulong: 21 years old – 2005
- Jo Kwon: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Jinwoon: 17 years old – 2009
2PM (debuted 2008)
- Jay Park: 21 years old – 2005
- Jun. K: 20 years old – 2006
- Nichkhun: 20 years old – 2006
- Taecyeon 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- Wooyoung: 19 years old – 2007
- Junho: 18 years old – 2008
- Chansung: 18 years old – 2008
2NE1 (debuted 2009)
- Bom: 25 years old – 2001
- Dara: 24 (turning 25) years old – 2001
- CL: 18 years old – 2008
- Minzy: 15 years old – 2011
f(x) (debuted 2009)
- Victoria: 22 years old – 2004
- Amber: 16 (turning 17) years old – 2009
- Luna: 16 years old – 2010
- Sulli: 15 years old – 2011
- Krystal: 14 (turning 15) years old – 2011
Miss A (debuted 2010)
- Fei: 23 years old – 2003
- Jia: 21 years old – 2005
- Min: 19 years old – 2007
- Suzy: 15 (turning 16) years old – 2010
EXO (debuted 2012)
- Xiumin: 22 years old – 2004
- Luhan: 21 (turning 22) years old – 2004
- Kris: 21 (turning 22) years old – 2004
- Suho: 20 (turning 21) years old – 2005
- Lay: 20 (turning 21) years old – 2005
- Baekhyun: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- Chen: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- Chanyeol: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- D.O: 19 years old – 2007
- Tao: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Kai: 18 years old – 2008
- Sehun: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
BTS (debuted 2013)
- Jin: 20 (turning 21) years old – 2005
- Suga: 20 years old – 2006
- J-Hope: 19 years old – 2007
- RM: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Jimin: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- V: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- Jungkook: 15 (turning 16) years old – 2010
GOT7 (debuted 2014)
- Mark: 20 (turning 21) years old – 2005
- Jay B: 20 years old – 2006
- Jackson: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- Jinyoung: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- Youngjae: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- Bam Bam: 16 (turning 17) years old – 2009
- Yugyeom: 16 (turning 17) years old – 2009
Red Velvet (debuted 2014)
- Irene: 23 years old – 2003
- Seulgi: 20 years old – 2006
- Wendy: 20 years old – 2006
- Joy: 17 (turning 18) years old – 2008
- + Yeri: 16 years old – 2010 [2011 if she had debuted in 2014]
WINNER (debuted 2014)
- Jinwoo: 22 (turning 23) years old – 2003
- Seunghoon: 22 years old – 2004
- Mino: 21 years old – 2005
- Seungyoon: 20 years old – 2006
- Taehyun: 20 years old – 2006
DAY6 (debuted 2015)
- Jae: 22 (turning 23) years old – 2003
- Sungjin: 22 years old – 2004
- Junhyeok: 22 years old – 2004
- Young K: 21 (turning 22) years old – 2004
- Wonpil: 21 years old – 2005
- Dowoon: 20 years old – 2006
iKON (debuted 2015)
- Jinhwan: 21 years old – 2005
- Yunhyeong: 20 years old – 2006
- Bobby: 19 (turning 20) years old – 2006
- B.I: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Donghyuk: 18 years old – 2008
- Junhoe: 18 years old – 2008
- Chanwoo: 17 years old – 2009
TWICE (debuted 2015)
- Nayeon: 20 years old – 2006
- Jeongyeon: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Momo: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Sana: 18 (turning 19) years old – 2007
- Jihyo: 18 years old – 2008
- Mina: 18 years old – 2008
- Dahyun: 17 years old – 2009
- Chaeyoung: 16 years old – 2010
- Tzuyu: 16 years old – 2010
BLACKPINK (debuted 2016)
- Jisoo: 21 years old – 2005
- Jennie: 20 years old – 2006
- Rosé: 19 years old – 2007
- Lisa: 19 years old – 2007
submitted by /u/imnanbaboya
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