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Cho Yong-pil chosen as best singer of 2013

Dec. 19, 2013 - 17:46 By 윤민식

K-pop legend Cho Yong-pil was selected as South Korea's best singer of 2013, beating out global star Psy in an annual poll released on Thursday.

Cho received the most votes at 17.6 percent in a survey conducted by Gallup Korea on 4,263 people aged 13 or older across the country for three times from July through November.

Voters could choose up to three favorite singers among those who were active this year.

The 63-year-old singer, dubbed "the king of singers" in South Korea, has made a splash in the local music scene with the release of "Hello," his first full-length album in nearly 10 years in April. Two songs contained in the album -- "Hello" and "Bounce" -- topped local music charts and rankings run by major television networks, with the album selling over 200,000 copies.

Rapper Psy, who became a YouTube sensation for "Gangnam Style" last year, took the second place with 11.7 percent of support.

The video of his latest song "Gentleman" surpassed the 600 million view mark on the video-sharing site earlier this month, becoming the most-viewed YouTube video of the year.

Nicknamed "Trot Queen," singer Jang Yun-jeong was at No. 3 with 8.8 percent support, followed by boy band EXO (8.4 percent) and Girls' Generation (8.3 percent).

In addition, female singer IU (8.1 percent), girl group Sistar (7.6 percent), veteran singer Lee Seung-chul (6.6 percent), newbie girl group Crayon Pop (6.5 percent) and G-Dragon (6.4 percent), a member of boy band Big Bang were included in the top 10 list in that order. (Yonhap News)