you want a piece of me

Let's not pretend that the auction of SNSD's "Chocolate Love" MV outfits wasn't a popularity contest. Because it was. Whether it was a case of fans trying to compete against the fans of other girls by proving theirs is more popular by beefing up the bids or an actual, outright bidding war among fans of the same girl who really, really wanted an outfit, the auction is a definite instance of each girl's earning power.

So let's do pretend that these numbers can translate more literally into quantifying the comparative popularities of the SNSD members, while keeping in mind that this is only one case and shouldn't be extrapolated to represent everything SNSD does and has done. Popularity among the girls is always shifting and each is strong(er) in certain categories. (For example, if the girls make money off of television appearances, Sunny should be making more these days than she has been since she has a regular spot on "Invincible Youth" now. Similarly, SooYoung should also be out-earning SeoHyun who doesn't have any current non-SNSD activity.) I'm using the auction because we have concrete numbers. I know that the auction only encompasses those that are willing to spend their money on their idols for collectibles--but this financial outpouring is exactly what I'm interested in and these are the pockets SM wants to dip into (the auction was for charity but these are the same people SM is tapping). So I'm going to play a little game of percentages.

I was originally going to use these numbers as part of a larger post musing on the SNSD fandom (the land of milk and honey, rainbows and lollipops, peace for all and good will toward men, kumbaya~), but then I saw the numbers and I thought they deserved a post of their own.

( For your viewing pleasure, three handy-dandy tables. )