Posted by Jacques Peterson on 12/20/2012 at 1:25 AM News

The Popdust Files: 2ne1, 2pm, 4Minute, A Pink, Baek Ji Young, brown eyed girls, cnblue, girls' generation, hyuna, INFINITE, Jaejoong, Jea, jyj, K-pop, Lee Hi, Nine Muses, PSY, Seventeen, SPEED, t-ara, TEEN TOP

The tail-end of this year has been a little weak for major K-pop comebacks, but you can stop being disappointed now, because all the good stuff is right around the corner. The first couple months of 2013 will see some of K-pop’s biggest stars returning, so if you’re a dedicated fanboy or fangirl, you can probably expect to kick off the new year completely broke.

Girls’ Generation’s January comeback is undoubtedly going to be the biggest of the bunch. Other top tier stars returning in the same month are JYJ’s Jaejoong, who will release a solo rock EP, ballad queen, Baek Ji Young, scandal-prone girl group, T-ara, pop-rock band, CNBLUE, and INFINITE’s highly-anticipated hip-hop sub-unit, INFINITE H.

January will also see Brown Eyed Girls’ vocalist, Jea, release her first solo album, as well as the return of supermodel girl group, Nine Muses, CCM’s SPEED, and Pledis Entertainment’s new 17-member boy band, Seventeen. Rising rookies, B.A.P, and HyunA’s girl group, 4minute, are also tentatively penciled in.

From YG Entertainment, we’ll get a new album from “1.2.3.4.” singer Lee Hi in February, and PSY’s first global album around February or March. Sadly for Blackjacks –who must be getting pretty antsy by now with all of 2NE1′s pushbacks– there’s still no news on the fierce foursome’s return.

Less concrete comeback dates include boy bands 2PM and TEEN TOP, who are confirmed to release new albums early in the year, as well as the popular A Pink, who recently hinted at a possible return with a teaser image on their official website.

But as exciting as all of this is, try not to get your hopes up too high. As any loyal K-pop fan knows by now, pushbacks are commonplace in the industry –especially when the competition is stiff– so expect a flurry of infuriating postponement announcements to hit over the next few months.

[Via TiaraDiadem / Daum / Hallyu8]