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
- Two members of A.C.E have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Jun tested positive earlier in the week after coming into contact with a confirmed case, and Byeongkwan and Chan got tested and went into self-quarantine as a precautionary measure. Chan started having symptoms during self-isolation, and eventually tested positive as well. (The remaining two members of the group are currently fulfilling their military service and therefore weren’t in close contact with the others.) You can read translations of BEAT Interactive’s statements here (about Jun) and here (about Chan).
- Former GFriend members Eunha, SinB, and Umji announced they have moved to a new agency together (Big Planet Made), and they will be re-debuting as a three member group. They also revealed that their new group’s name will be VIVIZ – this is “비비지 (bibiji)” in Hangul, and is probably a reference to their names. (“Bi” is from “Eunbi” – the Korean name that Eunha and SinB share – and “Ji” is from “Umji.”) You can read translations of the girls’ Instagram posts about it here, and you can see the social media accounts for VIVIZ here.
- YG Entertainment has denied the dating rumors between BLACKPINK’s Jisoo and soccer player Son Heungmin that started after they both returned to South Korea from Paris on the same day. You can read a translation of their statement 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.)
Youngjae (GOT7), “Vibin'” (*solo debut* 10/5)
Woodz, “Waiting” (10/5)
N.Flying, “Sober” (10/6)
Golden Child, “DDARA” (10/5)
aespa, “Savage” (10/5)
Jo Yuri, “Glassy” (*solo debut* 10/7)
Coming Up Next Week
| Monday (10/11) | Tuesday (10/12) | Wednesday (10/13) | Thursday (10/14) | Friday (10/15) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ENHYPEN | LIGHTSUM | |||
| TRI.BE |
This Week’s Music Show Wins
| The Show (SBS MTV) | No broadcast/winner announced |
| Show Champion (MBC) | No broadcast/winner announced |
| M! Countdown (MNET) | NCT 127, “Sticker” (10th win) |
| Music Bank (KBS) | ITZY, “LOCO” (1st win) |
| Music Core (MBC) | Key (SHINee), “Bad Love” (1st win) |
| Inkigayo (SBS) | ITZY, “LOCO” (2nd win) |
Album Sales, Streaming, and Charting
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 127, Sticker | AB6IX, MO’COMPLETE | Key (SHINee), Bad Love | Stray Kids, NOEASY | BamBam (GOT7), riBBon |
| Overall Digital | The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay” | Coldplay and BTS, “My Universe” | Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light” | aespa, “Next Level” | D-Hack and PATEKO, “OHAYO MY NIGHT” |
| Streaming | The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay” | Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light” | Coldplay and BTS, “My Universe” | aespa, “Next Level” | D-Hack and PATEKO, “OHAYO MY NIGHT” |
| Downloads | Key, “Bad Love” | AB6IX, “Cherry” | Coldplay and BTS, “My Universe” | Kim Ho Joong, “Thank You” | NCT 127, “Sticker” |
| Social | BTS | BLACKPINK | Lisa | Im Young Woong | TWICE |
Gaon Monthly Chart (for September)
| #1 | #2 | #3 | #4 | #5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Album Sales | NCT 127, Sticker | ATEEZ, ZERO: FEVER Pt. 3 | Lisa (BLACKPINK), Lalisa | ITZY, Crazy in Love | BTS, Butter |
| Overall Digital | The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay” | Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light” | aespa, “Next Level” | MSG Wannabe (M.O.M), “Foolish Love” | Taeyeon, “Weekend” |
| Streaming | The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay” | Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light” | aespa, “Next Level” | MSG Wannabe (M.O.M), “Foolish Love” | Taeyeon, “Weekend” |
| Downloads | NCT 127, “Sticker” | Coldplay and BTS, “My Universe” | The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay” | ATEEZ, “Deja Vu” | K. Will, “Back in Time” |
| Social | BTS | BLACKPINK | CL | Im Young Woong | Lisa |
Gaon Certifications
| Group/Artist | Album/Song | Certification |
|---|---|---|
| NCT Dream | Hello Future (Hot Sauce repackage) | Million (album sales) |
| Stray Kids | NOEASY (2nd full album) | Million (album sales) |
| The Boyz | THRILL-ING (6th mini album) | Double platinum (album sales) |
| TXT | The Chaos Chapter: FIGHT or ESCAPE (The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE repackage) | Double platinum (album sales) |
| Red Velvet | Queendom (6th mini album) | Platinum (album sales) |
| ASTRO | Switch On (8th mini album) | Platinum (album sales) |
| Mino (WINNER) | “FIANCÉ” | Platinum (downloads) |
| Noel | “Late Night” | Double platinum (streams) |
| Jang Beom June | “Can’t Sleep” | Platinum (streams) |
The International Side of K-pop
- K-pop on various Billboard charts:
- ITZY’s first full album Crazy in Love debuted at #11 on the Billboard 200, which is their highest ranking yet. (Their other 2021 release, Guess Who, debuted at #148 a few months ago.)
- Crazy in Love also debuted at #1 on five Billboard charts: World Albums Sales, Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales, Tastemakers, and Independent Albums.
- NCT 127’s Sticker ranked #32 on the Billboard 200 after debuting at #3 last week.
- BTS’s collaboration with Coldplay, “My Universe,” debuted at #1 on Billboard‘s “Hot 100.” It’s their sixth song to reach #1 on the chart, and the fifth one to debut at #1.
- aespa will appear on American television for the first time next week when they perform on The Kelly Clarkson Show on October 15th.
- TWICE’s English single “The Feels” is their first to appear on the UK’s Official Singles chart, debuting at #80.
- BLACKPINK’s Lisa officially broke two Guinness World Records. “LALISA” is now the YouTube music video with the most views in 24 hours for both a K-pop soloist and any solo singer.
- The following K-pop music videos reached new viewer milestones on YouTube:
- iKON’s “Killing Me” is their second music video to pass 200 million views after “Love Scenario.”
- Suga’s “Daechwita” (released as Agust D) is his first music video to pass 300 million views.
- BTS’s “Blood Sweat & Tears” reached 800 million views.
Notable Variety Shows Featuring K-pop Idols
| Weekly Idol | Knowing Brothers | Amazing Saturday | |
|---|---|---|---|
| This Week | N.Flying | Super Junior D&E, Young Tak, Lee Chanwon (Pt. 2 of 300 episode special) | Karina and Winter (aespa) |
| Next Week | ENHYPEN | Non-idol guests | Mingyu and Seungkwan (SEVENTEEN) |
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: SM Entertainment (aespa)
VIDEO SOURCES: YouTube, FNC Entertainment (N.Flying), SM Entertainment (aespa), Sublime Artist Company (Youngjae), WAKEONE (Jo Yuri), Woollim Entertainment (Golden Child), Yuehua Entertainment (Woodz)*
*”Waiting” music video distributed by Stone Music Entertainment.
OTHER SOURCES: YouTube, Wikipedia, Billboard, Gaon Chart, KBS, MBC, MNET, SBS
Katherine Does K-POP 