Boy groups SHINee and B1A4 has been chosen as "Artist of the Year" and "Rookie of the Year" by popular record distributor Tower Records Japan.

On December 28th, according to Tower Records' chart "K-POP LOVERS! AWARDS 2011", which combines online votes and records sales of the artists, SHINee beat out KARA (#2) and Super Junior (#3) to be named the artist of the year.

The result also revealed that B1A4 was honored for the title of "Rookie of the Year" after selling over 20,000 album copies and gaining the most netizen votes, followed by the groups Boyfriend and Block B.

B1A4 expressed, "Thank you so much for always receiving us in a positive light like this. In 2012, we'll work hard to show a better image."

Source