Korean boy band SHINee has been chosen as artists of the year by popular record distributor Tower Records Japan, according to its official website on Wednesday.
According to the results (online votes and records sales of the artists) on Japan's Tower Records chart for "K-POP LOVERS! AWARDS 2011," SHINee beat out KARA and Super Junior to be named the artist of the year.
The results also revealed that group B1A4 was honored with the title of "Rookie of the Year" followed by boy bands Boyfriend and Block B.
Composed of members Key, Minho, Jonghyun, Onew and Taemin, SHINee is one of Korea's most popular male groups who made their debut in 2008 under major talenthouse SM Entertainment.
The boys made their debut in Japan under EMI Music Japan in June of this year with "Reply - You are my everything." They became the first Asian singers to perform at the Abbey Road Studios in London before their official debut.
They released their first full-length Japanese album earlier this month and will kick off their nationwide tour in April of next year.
B1A4 (Be the One, All for One), formed of members Sandeul, Baro, Jinyoung, Gongchan and CNU, made their debut in April this year with single "OK." They followed it up with their second mini-album which featured their title track "Beautiful Target."
The group signed with top Japanese talent agency Pony Canyon, a subsidiary of Japanese Media Group Fujisankei Communications Group, in October and will release their first album in the country next month.
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10 아시아 Reporter : Lucia Hong luciahong@
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