There is definitely a trend in various entertainment industries, and this can be gauged by the search keywords. For K-pop, the trend is more prevalent as there are different K-pop artists who become popular throughout the era.

One netizen collected the data of the most searched K-pop artists on YouTube starting from 2010 to 2020 in South Korea. The most searched K-pop artists showed the most popular K-pop group of that time.

So without further ado, here is the list of the top 5 most searched male and female K-pop artists starting from 2010 to 2020.

Male idols artists:

2010

1. SHINee

2. 2PM

3. CNBLUE

4. Big Bang

5. B2ST

2011

1. TVXQ

2. 2PM

3. Super Junior

4. Big Bang

5. B2ST

2012

1. Big Bang

2. SHINee

3. Super Junior

4. INFINITE

5. B2ST

2013

1. EXO

2. SHINee

3. INFINITE

4. Big Bang

5. B2ST

2014

1. EXO

2. BTS

3. VIXX

4. SHINee

5. INFINITE

2015

1. BTS

2. EXO

3. Big Bang

4. SHINee

5. Seventeen

2016

1. BTS

2. EXO

3. Seventeen

4. Big Bang

5. SHINee

2017

1. BTS

2. Wanna One

3. EXO

4. Seventeen

5. WINNER

2018

1. BTS

2. Wanna One

3. EXO

4. Seventeen

5. NCT

2019

1. BTS

2. EXO

3. Seventeen

4. NCT

5. X1

2020

1. BTS

2. Seventeen

3. NCT

4. EXO

5. TXT

Female idol artists:

2010

1. Girls' Generation

2. KARA

3. IU

4. T-ara

5. Miss A

2011

1. Girls' Generation

2. IU

3. 2NE1

4. T-ara

5. SISTAR

2012

1. Girls' Generation

2. IU

3. 2NE1

4. SISTAR

5. T-ara

2013

1. Girls' Generation

2. IU

3. A Pink

4. Girl's Day

5. SISTAR

2014

1. A Pink

2. IU

3. Girl's Day

4. AOA

5. Girls' Generation

2015

1. A Pink

2. IU

3. Girls' Generation

4. EXID

5. AOA

2016

1. TWICE

2. I.O.I

3. MAMAMOO

4. IU

5. GFriend

2017

1. TWICE

2. IU

3. Red Velvet

4. BLACKPINK

5. MAMAMOO

2018

1. TWICE

2. IU

3. Red Velvet

4. BLACKPINK

5. MAMAMOO

2019

1. TWICE

2. IU

3. IZ*ONE

4. BLACKPINK

5. Red Velvet

2020

1. IU

2. BLACKPINK

3. TWICE

4. IZ*ONE

5. Oh My Girl

2021

Male Idols:

1. BTS

2. Seventeen

3. NCT

4. The Boyz

5. SHINee

Female idols:

1. IU

2. BLACKPINK

3. TWICE

4. Aespa

5. Oh My Girl

According to this data, EXO took number 1 in 2013 as soon as they made an appearance. BTS has been at number 1 for seven consecutive years after they took their first number 1 in 2015. TWICE also took number 1 as soon as they made an appearance in 2016 and have been number 1 for four consecutive years. Seventeen and NCT have been consistently climbing the ranking over the years. IU has been on the chart for all 12 years and has taken the number 1 spot in 2020 and 2021.

Netizens also joined the online community post to express their thoughts on the data and commented, "Wow, SHINee is amazing too," "This data shows that BLACKPINK has a lot of overseas fans since this is a data collected in only South Korea," "I'm amazed how Seventeen has steadily been increasing in ranking," "BTS is amazing in my opinion," "this is from Google data?" "BTS and IU are legends," and "The reason SHINee wasn't in the ranking in 2011, is because they didn't promote in Korea so they're really amazing."