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
- Rookie girl group cignature has added two new members to their lineup after the departure of Ye Ah and Sunn earlier this year. You can learn more about them here.
- B.A.P member Himchan made a post on Instagram apologizing for his past actions over the last few years. (He was recently sentenced to 10 months in prison for indecent assault, and he was also booked for drunk driving last year.) This post turned out to be a suicide note of sorts, as he attempted to take his life shortly after. He was found in time, and he is currently not in any immediate danger. You can read a translation of his Instagram post here and more about the situation here.
- Last week, I wrote that a schoolmate of ITZY’s Lia had made a post accusing her of bullying several months ago. JYP Entertainment had taken legal action against her for defamation, but those charges were dismissed by the police due to insufficient evidence. This week, JYP Entertainment released a statement further explaining the situation and declaring that they were requesting the case be investigated again. You can read a translation of their statement here.
- Yerin is the first member of GFriend to sign with a new agency following the group’s departure from Source Music. She has joined Sublime Artist Agency, the same company that GOT7’s Youngjae also recently signed with. You can read translations of her Instagram post about it and Sublime Artist Agency’s announcement here. (Neither she nor her new agency mentioned what kind of activities she will be doing, so I guess we’ll see if she does music or acting or something else.)
- After two years, former Wanna One member Lai Kuanlin has won the lawsuit he filed against Cube Entertainment to terminate his contract. You can read more about it here.
- There have been several more developments in the situation between April and former member Hyunjoo.
- Chaewon, one of the first April members to deny any bullying of Hyunjoo, made another detailed post to the group’s fancafe explaining some things that happened in the past. You can read a translation of that here.
- Hyunjoo made a post on Instagram saying that her family is preparing for the lawsuits raised against her brother and herself, and she asked people to stop attacking and criticizing the April members. You can read a translation of that here.
- Chaewon responded to Hyunjoo’s post, as well as criticisms that she got some dates wrong on her previous post. You can read a translation of that here.
- CJ ENM confirmed that IZ*ONE and the agencies they belong to have been discussing a reunion, but also clarified that it’s just talk so far and there’s nothing confirmed. You can read more about the situation here.
- SEVENTEEN is delaying their comeback promotions after coming into close contact with two staff members who tested positive for COVID-19. Though all the members tested negative, they have been recommended to undergo self-isolation until the end of June. You can read Pledis Entertainment’s statement about it 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.)
UP10TION, “Spin Off” (6/14)
Brave Girls, “Chi Mat Ba Ram” (6/17)
SEVENTEEN, “Ready to Love” (6/18)
BamBam (GOT7), “Ribbon” (6/15)
Yugyeom (GOT7), “All Your Fault” (6/17)
Coming Up Next Week
| Monday (6/21) | Tuesday (6/22) | Wednesday (6/23) | Thursday (6/24) | Friday (6/25) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A.C.E |
This Week’s Music Show Wins
| The Show (SBS MTV) | Ha Sungwoon, “Sneakers” (1st win) |
| Show Champion (MBC) | BTS, “Butter” (9th win) |
| M! Countdown (MNET) | TWICE, “Alcohol-Free” (1st win) |
| Music Bank (KBS) | EXO, “Don’t Fight the Feeling” (1st win) |
| Music Core (MBC) | BTS, “Butter” (10th win) |
| Inkigayo (SBS) | TWICE, “Alcohol-Free” (2nd win) |
Album Sales, Streaming, and Charting
Gaon Chart
NOTE: Gaon‘s weekly charts reflect the previous week. To see a full breakdown of the chart, you can go here.
| #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album Sales | EXO, Don’t Fight the Feeling | TWICE, Taste of Love | WEi, Identity: Action | N.Flying, Man on the Moon | Monsta X, One of a Kind |
| Overall Digital | BTS, “Butter” | Heize, “Happen” | aespa, “Next Level” | Oh My Girl, “Dun Dun Dance” | Justin Bieber, “Peaches” |
| Streaming | BTS, “Butter” | Heize, “Happen” | aespa, “Next Level” | Oh My Girl, “Dun Dun Dance” | Justin Bieber, “Peaches” |
| Downloads | Ha Sungwoon, “Sneakers” | EXO, “Don’t Fight the Feeling” | TWICE, “Alcohol-Free” | BTS, “Butter” | HEIZE, “Happen” |
| Social | BTS | BLACKPINK | Lim Young Woong | EXO | TWICE |
EXO also sold over a million copies of Don’t Fight the Feeling in its first week, making the group “million sellers” for the sixth time.
The International Side of K-pop
- TXT has been seeing some pretty great results internationally for their latest comeback:
- The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200, which is their highest ranking to date. It’s their fourth album to appear on the chart, and the first time they’ve been within the Top 10.
- Because their Japanese album ranked on the Billboard 200 earlier this year, they’re now the third K-pop artist in history to have multiple albums rank on that chart within one year (after BTS and TWICE).
- The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE also ranked #1 on Billboard‘s World Album Sales chart, as well as for Top Album Sales and Current Top Album Sales.
- In Japan, The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE topped Oricon’s Weekly Albums chart. It’s the fourth album of TXT’s to do so, a distinction that only three other non-Japanese artists have previously achieved: Mariah Carey, TWICE, and SEVENTEEN.
- TXT also performed “Magic” on The Late Late Show With James Corden, which you can watch here.
- BTS’s “Butter” has ranked #1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 for the third week in a row, becoming their first single to do so. (“Dynamite” also placed #1 three times, but not consecutively.) It also came in #1 on the Global Excl. U.S. chart and moved to #2 on the Global 200.
- Two K-pop music videos hit new viewer milestones this week:
- aespa’s “Next Level” has reached 100 million views on YouTube. They achieved this milestone in just over a month, about three weeks faster than with “Black Mamba.”
- TWICE’s “Alcohol-Free” also reached 100 million views, and it’s now their fastest to do so since it took about a week and a half.
Notable Variety Shows Featuring K-pop Idols
| Weekly Idol | Knowing Brothers | Amazing Saturday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Week | fromis_9 | Non-idol guests | SEVENTEEN (S. Coups, Hoshi, Seungkwan) |
| Next Week | Special episode | Non-idol guests | Brave Girls (Minyoung and Yujeong) |
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: Brave Girls’ Twitter account (original tweet here)
VIDEO SOURCES: YouTube, Abyss Company (BamBam), AOMG (Yugyeom), Brave Entertainment (Brave Girls), Pledis Entertainment (SEVENTEEN)*, TOP Media (UP10TION), The Late Late Show with James Corden,
*”Ready to Love” music video distributed by HYBE.
OTHER SOURCES: YouTube, Wikipedia, Billboard, Gaon Chart, KBS, MBC, MNET, SBS
Katherine Does K-POP 