Pristin

Pristin never filled a trophy case, but their short career left a few marks that fans still point to. The group's debut and subsequent EPs all landed in the top five of the Gaon Album Chart, a run of consistency that many rookies never manage. Their music videos together passed 100 million views, with "Wee Woo" leading the pack. More unusually, Pristin wrote and composed much of their own music, and that self-made approach earned them respect from listeners who were tired of factory-line idol pop. The fact that the top two finishers of an entire Produce 101 season ended up in the same permanent group was a genuine first, and it gave Pristin a place in the history of the survival show era. Their disbandment, and the later public comments from Jung Eun-woo about management struggles, turned the group into a reference point for conversations about how mid-sized agencies handle their talent. For a group that lasted barely two years, that is a lot of conversation.