Lee Min-ho, Song Hye-kyo, EXO, top hallyu stars of the year: survey

SEOUL, March 2 (Yonhap) — Actor Lee Min-ho, actress Song Hye-kyo and boy band EXO have been chosen as the most popular “hallyu” stars of 2016, a survey showed Thursday.

Soompi, a U.S.-based online news provider specializing in Korean pop culture, announced the winners of the 12th annual Soompi Awards elected in a vote by hallyu fans from 139 countries around the world. Hallyu refers to the global boom of Korean pop music, TV dramas and films.

This image provided by Soompi shows actor Lee Min-ho.

In the vote, Lee was named Actor of the Year, beating the “Descendants of the Sun” hero Song Joong-ki and Park Bo-gum of “Love in the Moonlight.”

Song Hye-kyo won in the Actress of the Year category over singer-actress Yoona from Girls’ Generation who starred in the tvN drama series “The K2.”

The Artist of the Year and Best Male Group went to EXO, which made big hit on music charts with “Lotto,” “Lucky One,” “Monster” and “For Life.” The runner-up in the Artist of the Year category was BTS (Bangtan Boys) who won Album of the Year for its second LP “Wings” and Song of the Year for its lead track “Blood, Sweat & Tears.”

TWICE, the girl group that gained huge popularity for “Cheer Up” and “TT,” was named Best Female Group.

Best Male Solo and Best Female Solo went to Taemin of the boy group SHINee and Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation.

This image provided by Soompi shows K-pop boy group EXO.