Katherine’s K-pop Recap: November 8-14, 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

• JYP Entertainment has announced a new group named Xdinary Heroes. Based on the video unveiling the first member, it appears that this will be a band. You can see their teaser and social media accounts here, and the first member introduction here.
• MNET’s 2017 survival show Idol School received a fine from the Korea Communications Standard Commission (KCSC) for the producers’ vote manipulation. (This was the show that eventually formed fromis_9). You can read more about the situation here.
• Melon revealed their nominees for the upcoming Melon Music Awards and opened fan voting for the next couple of weeks – you can see the various nominees and categories here.
• SM Entertainment is taking legal action against netizens making malicious and negative posts about Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon – you can read a translation of their statement here.
• There have been reports that Lovelyz member Mijoo will be joining Antenna after she leaves Woollim Entertainment next week, but Antenna clarified that nothing has been decided yet.
• Weki Meki’s Doyeon recently injured her wrist, and it might affect her ability to fully participate in the group’s upcoming comeback next week. You can read a translation of Fantagio Entertainment’s statement about it here.
• D-CRUNCH has undergone two lineup changes – Dylan is going on hiatus to focus on his mental health, while Minhyuk is leaving the group entirely. You can read translations of AI GRAND KOREA’s statements about it here.
• Super Junior’s Shindong has tested positive for COVID-19 after crossing paths with a confirmed case. He hasn’t been in close contact with any of the Super Junior members recently, so they don’t have to get tested. You can read a translation of SJ Label’s statement on the situation here.
• HYBE has created a new sublabel called ADOR, which will be headed by Chief Brand Officer Min Heejin. The label will also be debuting a new girl group in 2022. You can read more about the situation here.
• Play M Entertainment and Cre.ker Entertainment have officially merged into one new label named IST Entertainment. (Play M was originally home to Apink, Victon, and Weeekly; Cre.ker was originally home to The Boyz.) You can read a translation of the announcement from the new agency here.
• WEi member Kim Yohan has tested positive for COVID-19 after coming into contact with a case while filming his upcoming drama School 2021. All of the other WEi members tested negative, as did the rest of the cast and staff of the drama. However, the premiere of School 2021 will be delayed. You can read translations of statements from OUI Entertainment and the drama production company 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 (11/15)	Tuesday (11/16)	Wednesday (11/17)	Thursday (11/18)	Friday (11/19)
T-ARA			Weki Meki	Monsta X

This Week’s Music Show Wins

The Show (SBS MTV)	The Boyz, “Maverick” (1st win)
Show Champion (MBC)	The Boyz, “Maverick” (2nd win)
M! Countdown (MNET)	NCT 127, “Favorite (Vampire)” (3rd win)
Music Bank (KBS)	The Boyz, “Maverick” (3rd win)
Music Core (MBC)	The Boyz, “Maverick” (4th win)
Inkigayo (SBS)	The Boyz, “Maverick” (5th 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	The Boyz, Maverick	NCT 127, Favorite	NCT 127, Favorite (kit version)	Super Junior D&E, Countdown (“Countdown”/duo version	Super Junior D&E, Countdown (“be”/Eunhyuk version)
Overall Digital	IU, “Strawberry Moon”	aespa, “Savage”	The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay”	Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light”	Im Young Woong, “Love Always Run Away” (OST)
Streaming	IU, “Strawberry Moon”	aespa, “Savage”	The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay”	Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light”	aespa, “Next Level”
Downloads	The Boyz, “Maverick”	SEVENTEEN, “Rock With You”	Im Young Woong, “Love Always Run	NCT 127, “Favorite (Vampire)”	Super Junior D&E, “Zero”
Social	BTS	Lisa	BLACKPINK	Im Young Woong	Kim Ho Joong

Gaon Monthly Chart (for October)

	#1	#2	#3	#4	#5
Album Sales	SEVENTEEN, Attacca	ENHYPEN, Dimension: Dilemma	NCT 127, Favorite	aespa, Savage	ITZY, Crazy in Love
Overall Digital	Im Young Woong, “Love Always Run Away” (OST)	The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay”	aespa, “Savage”	Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light”	Coldplay and BTS, “My Universe”
Streaming	The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber, “Stay”	aespa, “Savage”	Lee Mujin, “Traffic Light”	Coldplay and BTS, “My Universe”	aespa, “Next Level”
Downloads	Im Young Woong, “Love Always Run Away” (OST)	SEVENTEEN, “Rock With You”	NCT 127, “Favorite (Vampire)”	IU, “Strawberry Moon”	aespa, “Savage”
Social	BTS	Lisa	BLACKPINK	Im Young Woong	aespa

Gaon Certifications

Group/Artist	Album/Song	Certification
BTS	Love Yourself: Answer (3rd compilation album)	Triple million (album sales)
NCT 127	Sticker (3rd album)	Double million (album sales)
ENHYPEN	Border: Carnival (2nd mini album)	Triple platinum (album sales)
Rosé (BLACKPINK)	R (1st single album)	Double platinum (album sales)
Lisa (BLACKPINK)	Lalisa (1st single album)	Double platinum (album sales)
ATEEZ	ZERO: Fever Part 3 (7th mini album)	Double platinum (album sales)
Monsta X	Follow: Find You (7th mini album)	Platinum (album sales)
ITZY	Crazy in Love (1st full album)	Platinum (album sales)
K. Will	“Beautiful Moment” (OST)	Platinum downloads
BTS	“Dynamite”	Double platinum streams
Ariana Grande	“thank u, next”	Platinum streams
KyoungSeo	“Shiny Star”	Platinum streams
Shin Ye Young	“Why Break Up?”	Platinum streams

Though it hasn’t officially received a certification yet, Gaon Chart announced that ENHYPEN’s recent full album Dimension: Dilemma has sold over a million copies. This makes them the 9th currently active K-pop group to become a “million seller” after EXO, BTS, NCT 127, SEVENTEEN, NCT, BLACKPINK, NCT Dream, and Stray Kids. They’re also one of the fastest groups to sell over a million copies of one album after debut, achieving this feat in just under a year. (They might actually be the fastest, since all of the groups besides EXO and BTS received their first million certification in 2020 or 2021 – but I don’t know how long it took EXO to become a million seller, so I can’t say for sure.)

The International Side of K-pop

• K-pop on various Billboard charts this week:
  • BTS and Coldplay’s “My Universe” ranked #23 on the”Hot 100″ in its sixth week.
  • Lisa’s “Money” spent a second week on the “Hot 100” at #93, making her the only female K-pop soloist to have a single that’s charted for more than one week.
  • SEVENTEEN’s Attacca became their first album to stay on the Billboard 200 for more than one week, ranking #151 in its second week.
  • NCT 127’s Sticker ranked #193 in its seventh week.
• “Yours,” the OST that BTS’s Jin sang for the drama Jirisan, has already been seeing impressive global results. It became #1 on the iTunes Top Songs chart for more than 81 regions in less than a day – the highest for a K-pop solo song released in 2021 – and it became the first Korean OST to debut on Spotify’s Global Chart (at #45).
• BTS has confirmed they will be performing the remix of “Butter” with Megan Thee Stallion at the American Music Awards on November 21st.
• Coldplay and BTS’s “My Universe” is #12 on the UK’s Official Singles chart in its seventh week, while Lisa’s “Money” came in #68 in its sixth week (extending her record as the longest charting female K-pop soloist).
• Lisa’s “Money” is also now the fastest song by any K-pop soloist to reach 200 million streams on Spotify.
• The following K-pop music videos reached new viewer milestones on YouTube this week:
  • BLACKPINK’s “How You Like That” is now the fastest K-pop girl group music video to reach 1 billion views, accomplishing the feat in slightly less than a year and a half.
  • MAMAMOO’s “HIP” is their first music video to hit 300 million views, remaining their most-watched music video on YouTube.
  • Jeon Somi’s “Dumb Dumb” has become her first music video to reach 100 million views.

Notable Variety Shows Featuring K-pop Idols

	Weekly Idol	Knowing Brothers	Amazing Saturday
This Week	Moonbin and Sanha (ASTRO), Jangjun and Joochan (Golden Child), Yohan and Donghan (WEi)	Xiumin (EXO), Seolhyun (AOA), Jangjun (Golden Child), Dayoung (WJSN), other non-idol guests/ Celebrity Friends Special	Non-idol guests
Next Week	ONEUS	Street Woman Fighter Special	Minhyuk and Jooheon (Monsta X)

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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: JYP Entertainment (TWICE)

VIDEO SOURCES: A Story (“Yours” music video), IOK Company (B.I), JYP Entertainment (TWICE), Mark Tuan’s YouTube channel, Mystic Story Entertainment (Billlie), RBW Entertainment (ONEUS)

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