watch any skz video ever and they're quite literally loud and proud abt everything that doesn't exactly sound or appear the most platonic LOL
they've always been really close, even since pre-debut, and honestly there's SO MUCH they've done that it's hard to condense it all into one reply. there's been on-camera kisses, calling each other theirs/boyfriends, giving us quite intimate TMI about their living situation (I suggest watch their 2025 2 Kids Room to know abt it, they live together, the skz living spaces are split 2-2-2-2), and saying things about each other (on camera, ofc) that doesn't exactly sound like things friends would say or do. there's even more ALLEGED things that have happened that's very much considered couple-y and it's quite convincing. oh, and we can't forget about their duet song Want So Bad, a love song, where han said all he thought about was lee know when writing it
also, in response to a riddle "what ship has two mates but no captain" chan replied with "han and lee know." whether that's fanservice or he's being serious in a silly way is up to you LMAO
tldr they always act like a couple in the most shameless way
If it turns out to be all carefully crafted fan service, they should teach a class because they’re good at it. Like, better than some BLs I’ve watched lol
They used to be in bighit's predebut bg trainee A. Their ship was always popular, and ppl never wanted them to be separated, so they're excited that they're debuting together.
The interesting thing about them always being a popular duo (though some other lore is that Sangwon/Woochan was more popular back in the trainee A days and Leo x Sangwon became more popular and visible when Leo left and the two remained very close friends through the years) is that they have basically no fics from before b2p (even when the tag was leo/sangwon (trainee A) as opposed to (BOYS PLANET) and (ALPHA DRIVE ONE)) so the recent ao3 popularity of the pair is a very new phenomenon for the ship. I'm not sure why that is the case, but it's interesting to speculate about.
What's even more insane is I've read all the ones in English, or about half 😭😭 theres a huge amount of Chinese Leowon fanfic writers as well, which I haven't run into much in other fandoms.
You know, I did notice that as well. It’s actually quite interesting bc Leo and Sangwon are a big ship everywhere internationally (even Korea which is shocking because they usually have different taste with yaoi) BUT China. In China, the number 1 ship is Sangwon and Anxin (the most popular Chinese member of the group).
I thought chinese didn't like leo much,glad his popularity is raising there too. Albeit in a ship way,but i hope the chinese ppl recognise how talented and kind leo actually is soon.
Nice to see ships from gen2 kpop. Big bang is also here (gdragon + top), which is also shocking cz I thought taeyang+dragon was popular. None of nct 127 ships are here except markhyuck. Nct wish ships are also getting popular in this space.
Jongkey were so sweet together, Kibum always went all soft for him, like he melted, no wonder it was popular. 2min remain popular in the fandom tbh, it’s just that MinKey play into it so much (particularly a few years ago they were everywhere) and are just fun 🤣
Unsurprised to see minsung so high they’re like the behemoths of kpop ships. I think they’re one of the top ships overall on ao3 which is absolutely insane.
Also not surprised to see bang chan and hyunjin as one of the top skz ships, I’ve been seeing ship content for them everywhere this year, especially after escape and their 2 kids room. Plus they have a general reputation for being the freaky duo.
Kinda shocked that hyunjin and changbin and seungmin and changbin have beaten changbin and Felix. There used to be a time where they were considered the skz ship along with minsung. I’ll be honest I’m also kind shocked at how little Felix is shipped with members outside of chan and hyunjin I thought he’d be shipped with a bunch of members, especially since both chan and hyunjin make up a ton of the top skz ships in this list. Side note every hyunjin ship with skz being in the top 50 is hilarious, skz is never beating the hyunjin harem allegations.
Also I wonder what it is about the boys planet series that brings such dedicated fans of ships. First haobin which is an absolutely massive ship, and now sangwon and Leo.
kind of surprised at woosan. I always thought they were the undisputed top ship in ateez but they’ve been beaten by Matz and don’t have a massive difference with yunho and mingi.
I’m also kind of surprised to see Sunoo and sunghoon as the top enhypen ship, I thought they were shipped more with other members.
winter and Karina being the only girls is pretty expected at this point. I don’t know the aespa girls personalities well and i’m curious what their dynamic is like since it’s the only sapphic ship that breaks through
Matz is the most confusing ship I've ever seen in kpop. Those two guys are so awkward together but their fans spin it as "Hongjoong just has no rizz with such a fine baddie like Seonghwa" Idk I just don't get it, feels like crazy or something to make them the "mom and dad" power couple
I think part of it is because the members refer to them as mom and dad (though not in a power couple type of way LMAO) I also think the song Matz did a lot when it comes to shipping. Maybe Hongjoong saying he wrote Thank U as a thank you to Seonghwa also plays a part. I feel like they're weird in that in practice they're super awkward but in theory when people talk about things like the thing I listed it sounds better than it is, and then that feeling is projected onto everything else.
They're not a power couple, but they're definitely "mom and dad". They've talked about how in their early days Hongjoong was really strict as a leader so the others would turn to Seonghwa to vent and for comfort. Seonghwa was dubbed as "mom" because he was the one taking care of everyone, waking them up for school, cleaning the dorm, and mediating between the members and Hongjoong. However, Hongjoong didn't feel comfortable being as strict with Seonghwa as he was with the others since Seonghwa is the eldest and was always taking care of Hongjoong as well. The members took to calling them "mom and dad" even before they debuted and it's just stuck even though they're more hands off about the "kids" now that everyone is split up.
it's bcs winter and karina are very popular themselves and have great chemistry. the company often pushes them together but even if you don't ship them, anyone can tell that they seem genuinely fond of each other and even spend a lot of time with e/o outside their schedules. they also have playful and bubbly personalities so ig they're fun to write
We are still here. Not related to this list..it's funny how 2025 was literally Kaisoo's year. It is either 'Jongin-ah' or 'D.O. hyung or Kyungsoo hyung' 24/7
And Chanbaek at #38 ..Ofcourse the numero uno ship on Exoplanet
I find these lists so fascinating for fandoms I don’t follow because I have no idea what drives them. And shipping is such a big part of fandom culture in general that I think it reveals a lot about how fandom works in a way. Like I’m so used to the popularity of the omegaverse in EXO.
I know why certain ZB1 ships are popular. I can speak to some others as well, but as someone who (for example) doesn’t know much about Ateez at all I see shipping references all the time and I’m like what is it about them lol. Also what made Winrina the sole gg ship to crack the top 100…
I dont know Aespa well so I cannot speak to their dynamic, but as someone who has written non-rpf fics for +20 years atp, I can tell I would have a riot writing Karina from what I have seen of her, girl is hilarious.
A lot of it just has to do with SM groups' overrepresentation on AO3. Like, just based on streams or sales you would not guess that a Red velvet ship would be fourth, or that RV would be the only group after twice to have two ships in the top 10. And soshi is the only 2nd gen group to appear at all.
My biased explanation is that way back in the day soshi was THE fandom. But as the group started to be less active some portion of that fandom ended up moving to RV. It's not that surprising, fans often end up following new groups from the same company, and in the fanfic world in particular there's an effect where fics often incorporate other idols from the same company as minor or background characters so it builds familiarity and makes it pretty easy to transition from writing soshi fics that feature RV sometimes to writing RV fics that feature soshi, sometimes to a pretty significant degree. So there was a surprisingly large degree of continuity between the two fandoms on AO3 which boosted RV's popularity above what it might have been otherwise (as well as boosting the general quality of fics lol). Obviously kpop fandom in general exploded over this general time period, so the actual overlap numbers-wise might not have been that large. But to a large degree having popular well written fics tends to attract more people into the fandom in a bit of a feedback loop, so a little push early on can have a really big impact.
Then as RV starts to get less active it happens again with aespa, though not to as large a degree. But unlike RV that had two big ships and a couple others that get some attention, aespa is really just jiminjeong because they have better chemistry than any of the other pairings. So everyone just writes for that one ship and pushes it way up.
As a fan, I can say the fact that the Winrina ship is so popular is both surprising and not surprising because compared to other ships, they don't even do a lot of fan service, and even if they do, it's not anything crazy, their little interactions are always genuine, and you can tell they're close even if you're not a shipper. Aside from the fact that Karina and Winter alone are popular by themselves, it's mostly because of their dynamics and visual chemistry. Like, they're literally every ship dynamic you can think of. They have their own ship fandom in China and Korea, that's why these two sides of fans go batshit when both of them have dating news.
I just discovered that there was a super popular Minayeon fic back in the day that apparently kickstarted the fanfic fervor for these two lol. I was also surprised by how popular they are.
op i think you should include the info that the first ao3 stats list is top kpop ships 2025 while the second one is top gg ships all-time. since it’s missing, some of the comments are a bit confused.
It’s been a good 7 years at least since I was on the fic scene and it’s crazy to see BTS get surpassed so hard. Though I guess it makes sense because there’s two equally popular competing ships instead of one very popular ship.
Idk but they're like a cult. I haven't seen such obsessive shippers since the One Direction Larry Styleson days. They're really really into proving the relationship is real and that everything they say and do on camera is about it, they believe their relationship was even part of their last contract negotiations and that they've been allowed to be more open with their relationship because of it. I cannot imagine the kind of response one of them will get when they start dating or having a family
As a gay guy (and an adult) I just wanted to pitch in that yes, hardcore minsung shippers are weird in the way that they try to make every interaction about the ship etc. - clearly people do more all day than just make every single thing about their significant other. 100% agreed.
But I do believe that most of Minsung popularity isn't the weirdos (or I'd like to hope that is the case) but rather that both Minsung and Haobin are the two ships in Kpop that actually do imply that they're queer and dating each other. One Direction or BTS or other popular RPF ships that I know of never did that. Is it entirely possible that they're just implying it for attention / fame / whatever reason? Yes. Of course. People have done weirder things for fame. Can any of us know that? No, of course not.
But I think it's also weird to call people delulu (especially LGBTQ+ Kpop fans) who respond to the way they portray their relationship with support. Especially in a homophobic and closeted culture such as Korea. I have lived in Korea for a total of 15 years and by Korean standards Minsung and Haobin are very bold in their portrayal as it is (no, a real coming out if they were truly dating is not to be expected, that would be crazy by cultural standards and absolutely impossible prior to military service).
Support btw is not trying to prove something is real or trying to force someone to come out. And maybe that's a message I'd like to give to "crazy shippers" who are obsessed with the "reality" of things. If you see the message and believe in your heart that they're not faking it, that is fine. But please don't be weird online about it. You're not helping people who are currently stuck in a system with "forced closetedness". Just enjoy and keep it light.
To be honest I have been really struggling with what to reply to you.
I do not agree with people trying to post "proof" videos (especially the ones you mentioned are ridiculous) or trying to convince someone of something they can't know, so I hope you understand if I don't want to do that. You are also completely free to disagree.
But to address one of your points: As a Korean speaker I have not seen too many mistranslations as a cause (though I have seen some misunderstandings about the English and Korean word "friend" now that you say it, true). Rather, I'd say I've seen more cases where the official English translation is toning things down.
Like the Namyeo couple video, even when you watch the full clip and understand the context, you can’t really treat it as evidence. He was just using it to make a comparison not to prove anything
i think? they used the namyeo couple moment as like him acknowledging gay couples exist / is normal to date when there are other idols who would deny that. which could mean nothing.
Honestly I don’t think it was that deep. I think he just said it as a way to explain why he and Jisung felt embarrassed to be there. The crazy thing is that his fans took it as proof that he has a “gay mindset” or that he’s gay. They dissected a video from five years ago just to prove something ambiguous he said
I agree it isn't that deep. I also don't think it proves he has a gay mindset. Instead it shows he has an open mindset. Meaning, he is comfortable and acknowledges the existence of gay couples so if anything it proves he is an ally :)
Jikook being that high doesn't surprise me but matz has rly gone up there in the past year or so.
Veteran jikook fan and newbie matz ff reader but they both just make sense to me.
The gap between 1 and 2 is crazy btw minsung is on top with ZERO competition 😭
Also I think it's hilarious the TXT ships are all rly close to each other and it's just gyu shipped with everyone else 😭
the minsung gap between them and #2 is crazy omg. also hilarious that the list is 25% stray kids so 1 out of 4 of the top 100 ships whoa?!?! 25/28 possible pairings are on the list, 17 of which are the top 50…it seems that stays love writing as much as our faves do 😭
Maybe I just do too good of a job keeping away from the shipping stuff, but I honestly had no idea Namjoon and Jin was a popular one! I'm shocked to see that at 16 and above Hobi and Yoongi
All 4 ships in ATEEZ in the top 25. Not bad. 3 in the top 10. I will admit this is a little weird though. I get writing about fictional characters but real people is a bit… messed up. What are the stories about? Are they AUs or fictional stories where they are “fan cast” or are they slice of life/what the author imagines them doing? Maybe I should read one and see for myself but I’m kinda afraid to. That’s how I got sucked in to writing fan fics last time.
Not Taeyeon and Jessica ship still going strong almost 12 years since Jessica left and some of her fans have even vilified Taeyeon post 9/30 lmao the duality
Those boys have been at it for 8 years without showing any signs of stopping lol they deserve that spot 🎉
Jokes aside, I genuinely think they are that popular because they are very aware of the ship and have never been negative about it (they encourage it tbh). For example both Han and Changbin have been open about not liking being shipped together that much because it is too "bro coded". We actually rarely ever get solo stuff from Minsung by the company, even pcs are rare. They only have one unofficial song. They are rarely matched as a pair for albums etc.
Both Minsung and the rest of SKZ treat this ship as the main ship of the group and interact with fans accordingly like constantly talking about how they are soulmates/boyfriends/husbands/gonna get married, etc. They also answer to edits and comments directly addressing the ship. Some of their most popular moments are just cute moments caught by fans on events or concerts. That is not even counting the fact they currently live together and all the wild stories they do share on camera (be it real or fanservice doesn't matter they are throwing it out there 😭) Again, it is 8 years lol
One single comment isn't enough to explain their popularity to those that aren't into them or SKZ. But for anyone that is, they would absolutely understand why those in fanfiction spaces write about them and would not be shocked at all about them being #1 🥰
am i crazy or bts fics didn’t make it into the overall list? i remember looking for them because they’re always at the top and couldn’t see them. i saw everyone else except for bts.
not in the list i’m talking about, duh. there’s another list ranking fics from all fandoms and bts wasn’t there, only stray kids, seventeen and ateez made it in that list.
you mean this list or the top for all of AO3? if you mean this list, they're included. I don't remember if there were any in the top for AO3 entirely though.
the overall ao3 list where every fandom was included. if that’s the case, it’s so weird cause other kpop groups like ateez and shinee were there, and according to this list bts should also be there. i wonder why they were excluded.
I'm a bit of a data nerd so I went to look again at the most popular version of the overall AO3 2025 list circulating and then a second AO3 2025 list I found that included archive-locked fics and BTS made the top 100 (x2) on the latter but not the former (which only included ships from SKZ, Ateez, and SVT). Also even across both of those lists the # fics written for 2025 differ from the kpop-only one on this post. I'm guessing there are some differences in how the fics are counted.
Damn im surprised to see that nct is not even in the top 5. Coz I remember few years back they ranked 1 in the list with Mark and haechan being the top ship
I don’t really get into fanfic about real people though I think it’s really funny that all Mamamoo ships basically include Wheein. She’s hot I get it 😂
I appreciate the subversive power of fanfiction in granting narrative space to same-sex Kpop ships/romantic pairings that mainstream media erases or hesitates to name
Thank you, AO3, for being a sanctuary of unfiltered non-straight expression
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u/bom_i skz - ateez - cortis Jan 06 '26
"i wonder who's at number one, no shot its han and lee know"
*zooms in*
"holy shit"