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
- Last week, Apink’s Naeun revealed that she had left Play M Entertainment after the expiration of her contract. (The other five members renewed their contracts, and Naeun has only left the agency and not the group.) This week, YG Entertainment confirmed that she has signed with them as an actress.
- Monsta X’s Shownu will not be participating in the group’s upcoming comeback because of eye-related health issues. You can read Starship Entertainment’s statement (in English) here.
- I.O.I reunited for a live broadcast to celebrate their fifth year debut anniversary. You can read a recap of the broadcast here.
- SM Entertainment has taken disciplinary action against an employee in their A&R department who was secretly putting lyrics written by his wife into SM artists’ songs without the company’s knowledge and profiting off of the royalties. You can read more about the situation here.
- The Korea Exchange has recently demoted both SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment from their previous blue chip status, currently ranking them as mid-size businesses. You can read a detailed explanation here.
- All of the boy groups participating in MNET’s survival show Kingdom underwent testing for COVID-19 after a dancer who performed with several of them became a confirmed case. Everyone tested negative – including staff – but the idols who came into close contact with the dancer are taking an extended period of self-isolation. (The three idols are Donghyuk from iKON, Taeyang from SF9, and Juyeon from The Boyz.) You can read more about the situation here.
This Week’s Debuts and Comebacks
(Please note that I won’t necessarily link every release that came out this week – just the ones that I’m aware of or popped up on my radar. The same is true of the “Coming Up Next Week” category.)
Yesung (Super Junior), “Beautiful Night” (5/3)
Highlight, “Not the End” (5/3)
Coming Up Next Week
| Monday (5/10) | Tuesday (5/11) | Wednesday (5/12) | Thursday (5/13) | Friday (5/14) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oh My Girl | ONEUS | WJSN The Black | ||
| NCT Dream |
This Week’s Music Show Wins
| The Show (SBS MTV) | ENHYPEN, “Drunk-Dazed” (1st ever win) |
| Show Champion (MBC) | ENHYPEN, “Drunk-Dazed” (2nd win) |
| M! Countdown (MNET) | ITZY, “In the Morning” (1st win) |
| Music Bank (KBS) | ENHYPEN, “Drunk-Dazed” (3rd win) |
| Music Core (MBC) | IU, “Lilac” (8th win) |
| Inkigayo (SBS) | Brave Girls, “Rollin'” (7th win) |
Album Sales, Streaming, and Charting
Gaon Weekly Chart
NOTE 1: Gaon‘s weekly charts reflect the previous week.
NOTE 2: Because not many K-pop songs make it onto the digital charts, I’ll only list the Top 5 for album sales and the social chart. Then I’ll make notes of any K-pop songs that placed high on the digital charts. This week, however, I just included the full weekly and monthly charts because most of the songs were K-pop. To see a full breakdown of the chart, you can go here.
| #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album Sales | ENHYPEN, Border-Carnival | ITZY, Guess Who | AB6IX, MO’Complete: Have a Dream | ONF, City of ONF | NU’EST, Romanticize |
| Overall Digital | Brave Girls, “Rollin'” | IU, “Lilac” | Justin Bieber, “Peaches” | SG Wannabe, “Timeless” | Brave Girls, “We Ride” |
| Streaming | Brave Girls, “Rollin'” | IU, “Lilac” | Justin Bieber, “Peaches” | Brave Girls, “We Ride” | SG Wannabe, “Timeless” |
| Download | ONF, “Ugly Dance” | AB6IX, “CLOSE” | Kim Ho Joong, “I Love You More Than Me” | ENHYPEN, “Drunk-Dazed” | SG Wannabe, “Timeless” |
| Social | BTS | BLACKPINK | Im Young Woong | Young Tak | Lee Chan Won |
Gaon Monthly Chart (April)
| #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album Sales | ENHYPEN, Border-Carnival | Baekhyun (EXO), Bambi | ASTRO, All Yours | Kang Daniel, Yellow | ITZY, Guess Who |
| Overall Digital | IU, “Lilac” | Brave Girls, “Rollin'” | IU, “Celebrity” | Justin Bieber, “Peaches” | Brave Girls, “We Ride” |
| Streaming | IU, “Lilac” | Brave Girls, “Rollin'” | IU, “Celebrity” | Justin Bieber, “Peaches” | Brave Girls, “We Ride” |
| Download | Kang Daniel, “Antidote” | Im Young Woong, “My Starry Love” | NU’EST, “Inside Out” | ASTRO, “ONE” | IU, “Lilac” |
| Social | BTS | BLACKPINK | Im Young Woong | Lee Chan Won | Young Tak |
Gaon Certifications
| Group/Artist | Album/Song | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| BTS | Map of the Soul: Persona | Four million sales (album) |
| Super Junior | The Renaissance | Platinum (album) |
| IU | Lilac | Platinum (album) |
| Rosé (BLACKPINK) | On the Ground | Platinum (album) |
| Stray Kids | Clé: LEVANTER | Platinum (album) |
| ATEEZ | ZERO: Fever Part 2 | Platinum (album) |
| WayV | Kick Back | Platinum (album) |
| MC the Max | “Bloom” | Platinum (streams) |
| Hwasa (MAMAMOO) | “Maria” | Platinum (streams) |
| TWICE | “Fancy” | Platinum (streams) |
| OVAN | “I Need You” | Platinum (streams) |
The International Side of K-pop
- BTS made history on a Billboard chart twice this week:
- They became the first artists to take the Top 4 places on the World Album Sales chart.
- V’s solo song “Singularity” also reached #1 on the World Digital Song Sales chart, making them the first group to have 28 #1 singles on that particular chart.
- BTS has also been nominated at the MTV Movie & TV Awards in its new vote-based category “Best Music Documentary” (for Break the Silence: The Movie).
- CJ ENM is collaborating with HBO Max and Endemol Shine Boomdog to create a K-pop audition show in South America. You can read more about it here.
- SM Entertainment is collaborating with MGM Television to create a K-pop audition show in the United States. The aim of this program is to create the next unit of NCT, which will be called NCT-Hollywood. You can read more about it here.
- The following K-pop music videos reached new viewer milestones on YouTube:
- MAMAMOO’s “Starry Night” is their third music video to hit 100 million views.
- Red Velvet’s “Peek-A-Boo” is their fourth music video to hit 200 million views.
Drama and Variety Show Casting News
- Many idols will appear in upcoming horror series Ghost Story. The cast includes Minhyuk (BTOB), Jisoo (Lovelyz), Oh My Girl (Arin), Shownu (Monsta X), Seola and Exy (Cosmic Girls), Jaehyun (Golden Child), Ju Haknyeon (The Boyz), and AleXa.
- Chaeyeon from DIA and I.O.I has joined the upcoming drama Yeonmo, about a woman impersonating her deceased twin brother the crown prince. (SF9’s Rowoon is starring as the prince’s tutor, while Victon’s Byungchan is playing the prince’s bodyguard.) Chaeyeon will be playing the prince’s wife.
Notable Variety Shows Featuring K-pop Idols
| Weekly Idol | Knowing Brothers | Amazing Saturday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Week | ITZY | Non-idol guest | ITZY (Lia and Ryujin) |
| Next Week | ENHYPEN | Non-idol guest | Non-idol guest |
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), The Seoul Story (Twitter @theseoulstory), and Girl Group Zone! (Twitter @girlgroupzone)
FEATURED IMAGE SOURCE: Around Us Entertainment (Highlight)
VIDEO SOURCES: YouTube, Around Us Entertainment (Highlight), SM Entertainment (Yesung)
OTHER SOURCES: YouTube, Wikipedia, Billboard, Gaon Chart, KBS, MBC, MNET, SBS
Katherine Does K-POP 