G-Dragon

Kwon Ji-yong was six when he first performed publicly in Seoul as part of Little Roo'ra. Years later he surfaced as G-Dragon, leading BigBang through a run that redefined the boy band ceiling. His 2009 solo debut Heartbreaker became the best-selling album by a Korean soloist at the time and took Album of the Year at the Mnet Asian Music Awards. One of a Kind followed in 2012, then Coup d'Etat in 2013 with the number-one single "Who You?"; that same year he became the first Korean soloist to headline Japanese dome arenas on a world tour. By 2017 his Act III: M.O.T.T.E tour was the largest a Korean soloist had ever mounted. He left YG Entertainment in 2023 after two decades, signed to Galaxy Corporation under his birth name, and returned in 2025 with Übermensch - Album of the Year at the Melon Music Awards, anchored by the chart-topping "Home Sweet Home", which won Song of the Year. That year South Korea awarded him the Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit; at the time he was the youngest recipient and the first idol to receive it.