This is a question that could get things pretty ugly amongh k-pop girl group fans, but here goes: who's the best singer among female idol groups?

According to an online community board posting, the topic of "Ranking of girl group idols with the best vocal talent" was raised. This posting attracted all the more attention because three industry/professional experts claimed to have taken part in the rankings.

There was a systematic standard involving detailed scoring and various factors to derive these rankings. Some of these factors included television and radio appearances, stage presence, lyrical expression, pitch, voice stability, breathing, and a sense of rhythm. All in all, it wasn't just vocal talent that came into play, whether or not the stars could express their music in their own style in line with their respective groups was taken into account.

Out of all the female group stars, Hyorin of SISTAR came in first with 380 points. Davichi's Lee Hae-ri followed, with Brown Eyed Girls' Jea coming in third. Although she's a solo artist, IU came in fourth place, while Girls Generation's Tae-yeon rounded out the top five.