Katherine’s K-pop Recap: July 5-11, 2021

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

• Although CJ E&M recently mentioned they were discussing a potential IZ*ONE reunion with the members’ respective agencies, they announced this week that those talks had fallen through. So for the time being, it (sadly) seems like there won’t be a reunion.
• Super Junior’s Heechul and TWICE’s Momo have broken up after about a year and half of dating (publicly).
• JYP Entertainment announced that they will be debuting a new girl group around February 2022, almost 7 years after TWICE and three years after ITZY.
• Given the rise of COVID-19 cases in Seoul, there were a lot of idols who had to get tested for the virus after coming into contact with confirmed cases. Here’s a breakdown of some of the people who tested positive or negative:
  • Inseong from SF9 and Kim Sejeong tested negative. They’re currently acting in the musical The Red Book, and got tested when a different cast member contracted the virus.
  • Minhyuk from NOIR tested positive. He is currently participating in the musical On Air – Spin Off, and several other idols involved the show have taken tests – including iKON’s Jinhwan, former GFriend member Yerin, and MIRAE’s Dongpyo. You can read more about the situation here.
  • Brave Girls tested negative after an external staff who worked on one of their schedules got the virus. Though they did not come into close contact with that person, they decided to end promotions for “Chi Mat Ba Ram” and cancel their follow-up activities for “Pool Party.” You can read a translation of Brave Entertainment’s statement about it here.
  • LIGHTSUM’s makeup artist tested positive, so the membvers all took tests and went into self-isolation. Though they all tested negative, they have halted promotions for now. The makeup artist was with them at a performance of M! Countdown, where they crossed path with one of AleXa’s dancers. She and her staff got tested and were negative, so she resumed activities. EPEX also decided to get a test given the situation and were negative as well. You can read more about the situation here. (It also mentions some other artists who had to get tested around the same time like KINGDOM and Red Velvet’s Irene – both of whom had negative results.)
  • ATEEZ’s San has tested positive (although asymptomatic). The group first got tested after an external staff member contracted the virus, and those results came back negative. As they started to resume their activities, they decided to get tested again – which is when San got the positive result. (And sadly, it was right before his birthday.) You can read a translation of KQ Entertainment’s statement about it here and a translation of the letter San wrote to his fans here.
  • All of LOONA tested negative after one of their staff members tested positive, but they have decided to stop promoting their latest album for now. You can read a translation of Blockberry Creative’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.)

Coming Up Next Week

Monday (7/12)	Tuesday (7/13)	Wednesday (7/14)	Thursday (7/15)	Friday (7/16)
	Baek A Yeon	H:ATFELT	OnlyOneOf

This Week’s Music Show Wins

The Show (SBS MTV)	LOONA, “PTT (Paint the Town)” (1st win)
Show Champion (MBC)	No broadcast/winner
M! Countdown (MNET)	NCT Dream, “Hello Future” (1st win)
Music Bank (KBS)	NCT Dream, “Hello Future” (2nd win)
Music Core (MBC)	NCT Dream, “Hello Future” (3rd win)
Inkigayo (SBS)	NCT Dream, “Hello Future” (4th win)

Album Sales, Streaming, and Charting

(This section is a lot longer than normal because there’s the Gaon weekly chart, the Gaon monthly chart, the Gaon certifications, and a bunch of other mid-year stuff.)

Gaon Weekly 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	NCT Dream, Hello Future	EXO, Don’t Fight the Feeling	2PM, Must	LOONA, [&]	Han Seungwoo, Fade
Overall Digital	MSG Wannabe M.O.M, “Foolish Love”	MSG Wannabe JDSK, “Only You”	aespa, “Next Level”	BTS, “Butter”	Brave Girls, “Chi Mat Ba Ram”
Streaming	MSG Wannabe M.O.M, “Foolish Love”	aespa, “Next Level”	MSG Wannabe JDSK, “Only You”	BTS, “Butter”	Brave Girls, “Chi Mat Ba Ram”
Downloads	NCT Dream, “Hello Future”	MSG Wannabe M.O.M, “Foolish Love”	MSG Wannabe JDSK, “Only You”	Han Seungwoo, “Fade”	2PM, “Make It”
Social	BTS	BLACKPINK	Im Young Woong	Kim Ho Joong	NCT Dream

(According to Hanteo, NCT Dream’s Hello Future also recorded the highest number of 1st day sales and second highest number of 1st week sales for any repackage album since the chart was created.)

Gaon Monthly Chart (for June)

	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
Album Sales	SEVENTEEN, Your Choice	EXO, Don’t Fight the Feeling	NCT Dream, Hello Future	TWICE, Taste of Love	Monsta X, One of a Kind
Overall Digital	BTS, “Butter”	aespa, “Next Level”	Heize, “Happen”	Oh My Girl, “Dun Dun Dance”	Justin Bieber, “Peaches”
Streaming	BTS, “Butter”	aespa, “Next Level”	Heize, “Happen”	Oh My Girl, “Dun Dun Dance”	Justin Bieber, “Peaches”
Downloads	BTS, “Butter”	MSG Wannabe M.O.M, “Foolish Love”	Brave Girls, “Chi Mat Ba Ram”	Ha Sungwoon, “Sneakers”	SEVENTEEN, “Ready to Love”
Social	BTS	BLACKPINK	Im Young Woong	Kim Ho Joong	TWICE

Gaon Mid-Year Results (from January to June, 2021)

	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
Streaming	IU, “Celebrity”	Brave Girls, “Rollin'”	BTS, “Dynamite”	KyoungSeo, “Shiny Star (2020)”	IU, “Lilac”
Downloads	Im Young Woong, “My Starry Love”	Kang Daniel, “Antidote”	Kang Daniel, “Paranoia”	IU, “Celebrity”	BTS, “Dynamite”

To see a list of the Top 50 Overall Digital and Album Sales, you can go here.

Gaon Certifications

Group/Artist	Album/Song	Certification
NCT Dream	Hot Sauce (1st full album)	Double million (album)
Stray Kids	IN生 (1st album repackage)	Double Platinum (album)
ATEEZ	ZERO: Fever Pt. 2 (6th mini album)	Double Platinum (album)
Tones and I	“Dance Monkey”	Platinum (streaming)

Hanteo Chart

Last week, Hanteo Chart released a mid-year ranking list of the K-pop artists who contributed most to the industry so far this year. This week, they released a new mid-year chart that reflects the Top 50 K-pop Artists based on album sales around the world. (Hanteo has a Global Authentication system where fans who buy albums can use a QR code and/or a barcode to register them with the Whosfan app.) I listed the Top 10 below, but you can find the whole Top 50 and some other interesting information about the chart here.

1. BTS
2. ATEEZ
3. NCT Dream
4. Monsta X
5. TREASURE
6. TXT
7. Stray Kids
8. Dreamcatcher
9. ENHYPEN
10. Wonho

The International Side of K-pop

• A lot of BTS news this week:
  • “Butter” is #1 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 for the 6th week in a row, extending BTS’s record for their longest #1 song on that chart.
  • BTS participated in Louis Vuitton’s Fall-Winter 2021 show in Seoul, which you can watch here. (They became global ambassadors for the fashion brand earlier this year.)
  • BTS is returning to The Tonight Show for two nights to perform “Permission to Dance” and “Butter.” They’re scheduled to appear on Tuesday, July 13th and Wednesday, July 14th.
  • BTS’s Japanese compilation album BTS, The Best earned a million certification from the RIAJ (Recording Industry Association of Japan), making them the first male Korean act to ever earn a million certification for an album. They’re also the first K-pop group to do so in over a decade; the last time it happened was with Girls’ Generation in 2011.
  • “DNA” is BTS’s fourth single to be certified silver in the UK.
  • “Permission to Dance” debuted at #2 on Spotify’s Global Top 50.
• Stray Kids placed #1 on Billboard‘s World Digital Song Sales chart for the first time with their mixtape “OH.”
• TXT’s song “Magic” ranked #40 on Billboard‘s Pop Songs Airplay chart, which takes data from weekly radio airplay across the United States. Not only is this TXT’s first song to enter the chart, it’s also the fastest K-pop song by any artist to debut on it. (The other K-pop acts who have appeared on this chart include BTS, TWICE, Monsta X, and LOONA.)
  • The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE also spent its fourth week on the Billboard 200 at #107, and is still the only K-pop album of 2021 to remain on the chart for so long.
• TWICE’s Taste of Love ranked #90 on the Billboard 200 in its third week, making it TWICE’s longest charting album on the chart. It’s also the first girl group K-pop album of 2021 to spend three weeks on the chart, and the first girl group mini album to ever do so.
  • Taste of Love also placed #1 on the World Album Sales chart this week.
• The following music videos achieved new viewer milestones on YouTube:
  • Rosé’s “Gone” reached 100 million views.
  • BTS’s “Black Swan” reached 300 million views, and “Permission to Dance” also hit 100 million views in just over two days.
  • GOT7’s “If You Do” is their second music video to reach 200 million views after “Just Right.”
  • NCT U’s “90’s Love” hit 100 million views.

Drama and Variety Show Casting News

• Super Junior’s Siwon and Apink’s Eunji have been cast in TVING’s latest drama City Girl Drinkers, about three women around the age of 30 who make a habit of getting a drink after work. Eunji plays one of the three women, and Siwon plays a TV PD who will feature in their stories.
• BoA and NCT’s Taeyong will be part of the judge panel for Street Woman Fighter, MNET’s upcoming survival show for female dance crews. Kang Daniel will also be the host.
• Dingo Music is producing a new web drama called “The Guys I Want To Catch,” about the adventures of four police trainees who failed their exams. The four main characters will all be played by idols: Highlight’s Dongwoon, TEEN TOP’s Niel, Pentagon’s Wooseok, and Victon’s Sejun.
• Super Junior’s Heechul and Girls’ Generation Taeyeon are part of the main cast for JTBC’s new variety show Pet-kage, which is about going on package tours with your pets.

Notable Variety Shows Featuring K-pop Idols

	Weekly Idol	Knowing Brothers	Amazing Saturday
This Week	NCT Dream	T-ARA	Defconn and Jeong Hyungdon (not idols, but former hosts of variety shows like Weekly Idol and Idol Room
Next Week	SF9	Jun Jin and Andy (Shinhwa), Miyoun and Eunhye (BABY V.O.X)	Non-idol guests (actors for drama The Witch’s Diner)

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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: Big Hit Music (BTS)

VIDEO SOURCES: YouTube, 1theK (The Boyz “Drink It” preview), Big Hit Music (BTS)*, Cube Entertainment (Jeon Soyeon), FNC Entertainment (SF9), JYP Entertainment (DAY6 Even of Day), Louis Vuitton, MZ Entertainment (“TEAMO”), SM Entertainment (Kyuhyun/Taeyeon/NCT Dream)
*”Permission to Dance” is distributed by HYBE Labels.

OTHER SOURCES:  YouTube, Wikipedia, Billboard, Gaon Chart, Hanteo, KBS, MBC, MNET, SBS