2012 in South Korean music

The following is a list of notable events and releases that happened in 2012 in music in South Korea.

Notable events and achievements

 * January 11–12 – the 26th Golden Disc Awards take place, the first time it was held in January. Super Junior and Girls' Generation win the grand prizes.
 * January 31 – Girls' Generation become the first K-pop group to appear on an American late night talk show, performing the English version of "The Boys" on the Late Show with David Letterman.
 * February 1 – Girls' Generation similarly appear on Live! with Kelly, the first U.S. morning talk show appearance from a K-pop artist.
 * February 29 – Kiha & The Faces and IU win the grand prizes at the 18th Korean Music Awards.
 * June – The Korean music industry grosses nearly $3.4 billion in the first half of 2012, according to Billboard estimates, a 27.8% increase from the same period a year prior.
 * June 22 – Show Me the Money airs its first season, which is considered a pivotal work in making hip hop a mainstream genre in South Korea.
 * July 28 – 2NE1 embark on their New Evolution Global Tour, considered the first world tour by a K-pop girl group.
 * September 10 – Big Bang announces their three concert dome tour in Japan, making them the first Korean artist to perform at three dome stadiums in a single tour.
 * September 26 – Psy's "Gangnam Style" attains a peak of number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest for a K-pop song on the chart.
 * October 16 – KCON 2012 takes place at the Verizon Amphitheater in Irvine, California, the first K-pop dedicated convention in the United States.
 * November 18 – Psy becomes the first Korean artist to perform at the American Music Awards.
 * November 19 – The third annual Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards take place. Psy, Song Chang-sik and Geum Sa-hyang are awarded the Order of Cultural Merit; Park Seong-yeon and Kim Chang-wan receive the Presidential Commendation; and Na Yoon-sun, 2NE1 and Lee Eun-ha receive the Prime Minister's Commendation.
 * November 24 – "Gangnam Style" becomes the most viewed video on YouTube with 805 million views, surpassing Justin Bieber's "Baby".
 * November 30 – Psy, BigBang, and Super Junior win the grand prizes at the 2012 MAMA.
 * December 14 – Busker Busker, Beast and Psy win the grand prizes at the annual Melon Music Awards.
 * December 18 – "Gangnam Style" is ranked number one on YouTube's list of top trending video of 2012.
 * December 21 – The music video for Gangnam Style" becomes the first video in YouTube history to surpass 1 billion views.

Debuted groups

 * 100%
 * 15&
 * 24K
 * 2BiC
 * A.cian
 * A-Jax
 * A-Prince
 * AOA
 * B.A.P
 * Big Star
 * BTOB
 * C-Clown
 * Crayon Pop
 * Cross Gene
 * D-Unit
 * EvoL
 * EXID
 * EXO
 * Fiestar
 * From the Airport
 * Gangkiz
 * Girls' Generation-TTS
 * GLAM
 * Hello Venus
 * Hyungdon and Daejun
 * JJ Project
 * Lunafly
 * Mr. Mr.
 * NU'EST
 * Puretty
 * Rainbow Pixie
 * She'z
 * Skarf
 * Skull & Haha
 * Spica
 * Sunny Days
 * Tahiti
 * Tasty
 * The Barberettes
 * The SeeYa
 * The Solutions
 * Tiny-G
 * Two X
 * VIXX
 * Wonder Boyz
 * ZE:A Five

Solo debuts

 * Ailee
 * Allen Kim
 * Anda
 * Baek A-yeon
 * Ben
 * Han Seung-yeon
 * John Park
 * Juniel
 * Kim Sung-kyu
 * Lee Hi
 * Loco
 * Stephanie
 * Yong Jun-hyung

Disbanded groups

 * 2NB
 * Big Mama
 * Black Pearl
 * Broken Valentine
 * JQT
 * Loveholics
 * T-max

Charts

 * List of number-one hits of 2012 (South Korea)
 * List of number-one albums of 2012 (South Korea)