Individual Rookie Idol Brand Reputation Rankings, August to October 2026: Three Months Compared
The Korean Business Research Institute publishes a brand reputation ranking for individual rookie idols every month. RESCENE’s Zena was No. 1 in the October 2026 edition (Korean Business Research Institute, October). A single month shows only who is on top. This page lines up the institute’s August, September and October 2026 releases to show who rose, who fell and how the scores changed (August; September; October releases). Every figure comes from the institute’s own press releases.
How the ranking works
The institute measures each idol’s brand with four indexes: consumer participation, media, communication and community. The four are combined into one brand reputation index (October release). Each edition covers about one month of online data. The October ranking used data collected from September 2 to October 2, 2026 (October release).
| Edition | Data period | Brand data points analyzed |
|---|---|---|
| August 2026 | Jul 5 – Aug 5, 2026 | 17,927,629 |
| September 2026 | Aug 2 – Sep 2, 2026 | 14,634,013 |
| October 2026 | Sep 2 – Oct 2, 2026 | 17,499,682 |
Sources: August release, September release, October release.
The amount of data changes from month to month. In October the institute analyzed 19.58% more data than in September (October release). Because the data pool changes size, scores are easiest to compare within the same month.
Top 10 by month
| Rank | August 2026 | September 2026 | October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Woni (RESCENE) | Woni (RESCENE) | Zena (RESCENE) |
| 2 | Keonho (CORTIS) | Zena (RESCENE) | Woni (RESCENE) |
| 3 | Wonhee (ILLIT) | Liv (RESCENE) | Liv (RESCENE) |
| 4 | Minami (RESCENE) | Minami (RESCENE) | Minami (RESCENE) |
| 5 | Zena (RESCENE) | May (RESCENE) | May (RESCENE) |
| 6 | Liv (RESCENE) | Wonhee (ILLIT) | Anna (MEOVV) |
| 7 | May (RESCENE) | Keonho (CORTIS) | Mai (izna) |
| 8 | Juhoon (CORTIS) | Dohoon (TWS) | Ryu Sarang (izna) |
| 9 | Anna (MEOVV) | Anna (MEOVV) | Keonho (CORTIS) |
| 10 | Minju (ILLIT) | Jiwoo (Hearts2Hearts) | Wonhee (ILLIT) |
Sources: August release, September release, October release.
RESCENE’s five members over three months
| Member | August | September | October |
|---|---|---|---|
| Woni | No. 1 · 2,508,173 | No. 1 · 2,857,659 | No. 2 · 3,080,390 |
| Zena | No. 5 · 1,137,350 | No. 2 · 1,276,749 | No. 1 · 3,131,887 |
| Liv | No. 6 · 1,101,213 | No. 3 · 1,107,096 | No. 3 · 1,103,735 |
| Minami | No. 4 · 1,343,118 | No. 4 · 1,032,418 | No. 4 · 812,128 |
| May | No. 7 · 953,332 | No. 5 · 977,044 | No. 5 · 682,019 |
Sources: rank from each month’s top-30 list; scores from the August, September and October releases. The August scores for Liv and May come from the September release, which compares each member with the previous month (September release).
All five RESCENE members were in the Top 7 in August (August release). In September and October they held all of the top five places (August release; September release; October release).
Zena’s climb. Zena went from No. 5 to No. 2 to No. 1 over the three months (August; September; October releases). Her October index of 3,131,887 was 145.30% higher than her September score (October release). Most of that came from the communication index, which was 1,717,340 of her October total (October release).
Woni’s scores kept rising even after she lost first place. Her index went up each month, from 2,508,173 to 2,857,659 to 3,080,390 (August; September; October releases). She was second in October because Zena’s index was higher (October release).
Minami and May lost ground on score while keeping their places. Minami stayed at No. 4 in all three months, but her index fell from 1,343,118 to 812,128 (August; October releases). May held No. 5 in September and October while her score dropped 30.20% (October release).
October’s top five, index by index
| Rank | Member | Participation | Media | Communication | Community | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zena | 238,194 | 350,024 | 1,717,340 | 826,328 | 3,131,887 |
| 2 | Woni | 394,020 | 444,775 | 1,252,419 | 989,176 | 3,080,390 |
| 3 | Liv | 246,312 | 152,205 | 420,773 | 284,445 | 1,103,735 |
| 4 | Minami | 199,584 | 126,872 | 281,665 | 204,008 | 812,128 |
| 5 | May | 184,338 | 115,639 | 267,967 | 114,076 | 682,019 |
Source: October release.
Woni led Zena in three of the four indexes: participation, media and community (October release). Zena took first place on the strength of a single index, communication, where her 1,717,340 was about 465,000 higher than Woni’s (October release). The gap between first and second overall was 51,497 points, while the gap between second and third was almost two million (October release).
Who moved in and out
- izna’s Mai and Ryu Sarang entered the October Top 10 at No. 7 and No. 8 (October release). Neither was in the September top 30 (September release).
- MEOVV’s Anna moved up from No. 9 in August and September to No. 6 in October (August; September; October releases).
- CORTIS’s Keonho went from No. 2 to No. 7 to No. 9 (August; September; October releases). His August index was 1,429,603 (August release).
- ILLIT’s Wonhee went from No. 3 to No. 6 to No. 10 (August; September; October releases).
Reading these rankings
The index is built from online data: consumer participation, media coverage, communication and community activity (October release). The releases do not include album sales or streaming figures. The institute also publishes keyword analysis. For Zena in October, the top keywords included Shilla princess (신라공주) and trot medley (October release).
Soompi publishes English summaries of these rankings each month (Soompi). The figures on this page are taken from the institute’s original Korean releases.
Sources
- Korean Business Research Institute, Individual rookie idol brand reputation, October 2026 (Korean): https://www.brikorea.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=rep_1&wr_id=6699
- Korean Business Research Institute, September 2026 (Korean): https://www.brikorea.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=rep_1&wr_id=6593
- Korean Business Research Institute, August 2026 (Korean): https://www.brikorea.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=rep_1&wr_id=6492
- Soompi (secondary source): https://www.soompi.com/article/1881397wpp/october-individual-rookie-idol-brand-reputation-rankings-announced-2
Last checked: 2026-10-30
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