A summary of the news, current and upcoming comebacks, charts and music show wins, and more!
NOTE: Except in special cases, the news recapped in these posts will refer to K-pop only. K-dramas, variety shows, and other forms of entertainment will only be mentioned if there is an idol or idol group involved.
News to Note
- Lovelyz apologized after an incident that happened during member Mijoo’s V-Live broadcast. She had been pointing out malicious commenters in the chat room when another unidentified member, unaware the camera was on, said something similar to, “What are those b*stards b*tching about?”
- Yang Hyun Suk has revealed more plans for YG’s two new boy groups now that all of the members have been revealed. The first group’s name has already been revealed as Treasure, and the second will be called Magnum. Together, they will be known as Treasure 13. They will debut as a large group later this year before splitting into their pre-determined teams. (So it’s a semi-NCT style arrangement.)
This Week’s Debuts and Comebacks
- ONF, “We Must Love” / We Must Love
Coming Up Next Week
| Monday (2/11) | Tuesday (2/12) | Wednesday (2/13) | Thursday (2/14) | Friday (2/15) |
| *Taemin (SHINee) | *ITZY(*) (DEBUT) | *INFINITE(**) *Hwasa (MAMAMOO) (SOLO DEBUT) *Dreamcatcher |
*Though ITZY’s single album is dropping on the 12th, they’ve already released their music video for “Dalla Dalla.” (I haven’t linked it because I’m going by KST, which means it will be in next week’s post.)
**INFINITE is releasing a digital single, so I’m not sure if they’re going to promote it.
This Week’s Music Show Wins
| The Show (SBS MTV) | No broadcast (Lunar New Year) |
| Show Champion (MBC) | No broadcast (Lunar New Year) |
| M! Countdown (MNET) | SEVENTEEN, “Home” (6th win) |
| Music Bank (KBS) | SEVENTEEN, “Home” (7th win) |
| Music Core (MBC) | No broadcast (Lunar New Year) |
| Inkigayo (SBS) | Woody, “Fire Up” (1st win) |
Album Sales, Streaming, and Charting
Gaon Weekly Chart
| Physical Sales | Digital Sales | Download | Streaming | Social | |
| 1 | SEVENTEEN You Made My Dawn | Woody, “Fire Up” | Woody, “Fire Up” | Woody, “Fire Up” | BTS, “Idol” |
| 2 | ASTRO All Light | MC the Max, “After You’ve Gone” | Lee Sora + Suga (BTS), “Song Request” | MC the Max, “After You’ve Gone” | BTS, “DNA” |
| 3 | GFriend Time for Us | Lee Sora + Suga (BTS), “Song Request” | Ha Sungwoon + Park Jihoon, “Don’t Forget” | Chungha, “Gotta Go” | CLC, “No” |
| 4 | CLC No.1 | Chungha, “Gotta Go” | Chungha, “Gotta Go” | Lee Sora + Suga (BTS), “Song Request” | BTS, “Fake Love” |
| 5 | Cosmic Girls WJ Stay? | Paul Kim, “Green Light” | MC the Max, “After You’ve Gone” | Ben, “180 Degrees” | SEVENTEEN, “Home” |
NOTE: Gaon‘s weekly charts reflect the previous week.
Gaon Monthly Chart
| Physical Sales | Digital Sales | Download | Streaming | |
| 1 | SEVENTEEN You Made My Dawn | MC the Max, “After You’ve Gone” | Chungha, “Gotta Go” | MC the Max, “After You’ve Gone” |
| 2 | Hwang Chi Yeol The Four Seasons | Chungha, “Gotta Go” | MC the Max, “After You’ve Gone” | Chungha, “Gotta Go” |
| 3 | ASTRO All Light | Ben, “180 Degrees” | Ben, “180 Degrees” | Ben, “180 Degrees” |
| 4 | GFriend Time for Us | Jennie (BP), “SOLO” | Jennie (BP) “SOLO” | Haeun, “Shin Yong Jae” |
| 5 | iKON The New Kids (repackage) | Haeun, “Shin Yong Jae” | Lee Sora + Suga (BTS), “Song Request” | Jennie (BP), “SOLO” |
Other News
- EXO‘s repackage Love Shot was certified platinum by Gaon for selling over 250,000 copies.
The International Side of K-pop
- K-pop in the TOP 10 of Billboard‘s World Album Chart:
- BTS still holds the Top 3 spots with the Love Yourself trilogy: Answer (#1), Tear (#2), and Her (#3)
- #4: EXO (Don’t Mess Up My Tempo)
- #5: CLC (No.1)
- #7: BTS (Face Yourself – Japanese album)
- #9: Ateez (Treasure EP.2: Zero to One)
- #10: SEVENTEEN (You Made My Dawn)
- BTS, Crush, and Lay attended the Grammy Awards, with BTS presenting the award for Best R&B.
- BLACKPINK is also in the United States right now! They performed at Universal Music’s Grammy Artist Showcase and will be making appearances on Good Morning America, Strahan and Sara, and The Late Show With Stephen Colbert this week.
- Jackson from GOT7 posted a photo on Instagram with Jimmy Iovine, a well-known producer who is also the co-founder of Interscope Records. He captioned it “Brand new start,” which leads fans to speculate that an American debut may be in the cards.
- Jackson also shared a video celebrating Lunar New Year with American actor/comedian Kevin Hart.
- Monsta X will be the next K-pop group to collaborate with Steve Aoki – he produced the song “Play it Cool” on their upcoming album.
Notable Variety Shows Featuring K-pop Idols
| Idol Room Guest | Weekly Idol Guest | |
| This Week | No broadcast (Lunar New Year) | GFriend (Sowon, Yerin, Eunha, SinB) and Kim Donghan (Lunar New Year Special) |
| Next Week | Taemin (SHINee) Special Guests: Jeno and Jisung (NCT), Chani (SF9), and Kim Donghan | ONF |
This Past Week
- TUE 2/5 and WED 2/6 | Idol Star Athletics Championships| MBC | A bi-annual television special (during Lunar New Year and Chuseok) that shows K-pop idols competing in different athletic events like archery, rhythmic gymnastics, bowling, track, and more. Soompi recapped Day One and Day Two.
- THU 2/7 | Super Intern | MNET | A show featuring JYP Entertainment interns working to become full-time employees. Stray Kids and Yubin made appearances on this episode.
Currently Airing
- (G)I-DLE To Neverland (MNET)- travel reality show in San Francisco. Episodes available subbed in English on YouTube.
- GOT7 Real Thai (xTVN) – travel reality show in Thailand. Episodes linked on Omona They Didn’t weekly.
- EXO Travel the Ladder (Season 2/Oksusu) – travel reality show in Taiwan. Episodes linked on Omona They Didn’t weekly.
*SOURCES NOTE: I get my news from a mix of sources, and all of them report the same information and sometimes cite each other as well. So rather than linking the exact article for each and every news item (unless the article provides a lot more detail), I will cite my general news sources below. Each of them will most likely have an article and/or tweet providing more details on the item in question.
MY REGULAR NEWS SOURCES: Soompi, Omona They Didn’t (Livejournal), mes #TeamPinky (Twitter @OH_mes), The Seoul Story (Twitter @theseoulstory), Girl Group Zone! (Twitter @girlgroupzone)
FEATURED IMAGE SOURCE: Billboard (Red Carpet photos article)
VIDEO SOURCES: WM Entertainment (ONF)
OTHER SOURCES: YouTube, Wikipedia, Billboard, Gaon Chart, Instagram (Jackson Wang @jacksonwang852g7), KBS, MBC, MNET, SBS
Katherine Does K-POP 