BLACKPINK is attaining achievements that’s way beyond their title of “YouTube Queen”.
BLACKPINK is writing a new history as a Kpop girl group. Beyond the title of “YouTube Queen”, which they earned by constantly setting new records on YouTube, the group is also showing remarkable growth in major charts in the US, the UK, and more.
BLACKPINK’s 2nd regular album “BORN PINK”, released on September 16th of last month, topped the Billboard main album chart “Billboard 200” on October 1st. This is the first time a female Korean artist managed to achieve this, breaking the record of BLACKPINK’s first regular album “The ALBUM”, which peaked at 2nd place after its release in October 2020. With this, BLACKPINK becomes the 4th Korean artist to attain such a position, and the first female group in about 14 years and 5 months since Danity Kane of the United States achieved the same on April 5, 2008.
In Billboard’s main single chart “Hot 100”, which is calculated by adding up physical single and digital music sales, streaming figures, radio airplay figures, and YouTube views, BLACKPINK’s title song “Shut Down” entered at 25th place. “Pink Venom”, which was pre-released in August, entered the 22nd place in the first week of release on the same chart, breaking its own record for a single Kpop girl group single song.
In addition, in the “Billboard Global 200” and “Billboard Global (excluding the US)” charts, which rank based on streaming and music sales (downloads) collected from 200 regions around the world, without including broadcast scores, “Shut Down” topped the list, while “Pink Venom” assumed second place. According to Billboard, “Shut Down” achieved 152.8 million streams and more than 17,000 music sales in a week, putting it in the first position. This is the first record for a group or female artist around the world, leading Billboard to say, “BLACKPINK has secured an exceptional achievement, and is the 3rd to do so among, after Drake and Harry Styles.”
YG Entertainment (hereinafter referred to as YG), the agency of BLACKPINK, also analyzed the BLACKPINK’s Billboard performance this time, saying, “As it is based on local popularity in the United States, it is a testament that confirms BLACKPINK’s growing influence in the mainstream pop market”, at the same time revealing, “BLACKPINK #1 spot on the Billboard 200 was predicted early.”
According to YG, the album “BORN PINK” sold 2,141,281 copies (including exports to North America and Europe) within one day of release, making BLACKPINK the first Kpop girl group to become a double million seller with one single album. As a result, the number one spot on the “Billboard 200”, which includes album sales figures in North America, was predicted in advance.
He also achieved great results not only in the U.S. Billboard chart but also in the U.K.’s official chart, which is called the world’s two largest music, proving their global position, and surpassing their first and best record, which was “THE ALBUM” at 2nd place. In the UK’s Official Singles Top 100, “Shut Down” entered 24th place in the first week, and “Pink Venom” settled at 22nd place.
As such, BLACKPINK is the only Asian female artist to simultaneously top the U.S. Billboard 200 and the U.K. official album chart, and is also the first female artist worldwide to do so 21 years after Destiny Child in 2001.
In addition, BLACKPINK topped the global weekly charts on Spotify, the world’s largest music streaming platform, with more than 400 million listeners in 184 countries. “Shut Down” topped the Weekly Top Songs chart with 39,186,127 streams over the past week, setting a new record for a Korean singer. YG mentioned that the title track and all b-side songs charted on Spotify, and evaluated, “BLACKPINK also proved that it secured popularity in the mainstream pop market by ranking all eight tracks in the album.”
“BORN PINK” is BLACKPINK’s first album in a year and 11 months since October 2020. In the meantime, each member (except Jisoo) released a solo album and performed various activities, such as challenging acting, but as the group hiatus dragged out, anticipation for full group activities continuously grew. As if in response, BLACKPINK is setting a new Kpop record by carrying out a spectacular “BORN PINK” project with its second full-length album, pre-release single, and title song.
They also broke their previous records on YouTube. The music video of the pre-released song “Pink Venom” surpassed 90 million views within 24 hours of its release, setting the world’s highest 24-hour view record in the history of female singers. Meanwhile, the MV for the title song “Shut Down” has exceeded 100 million views in about 5 days and 3 hours, and BLACKPINK’s total accumulated views have reached 34 billion. In addition, with the comeback, the number of subscribers to BLACKPINK’s official YouTube channel also increased sharply, surpassing 82 million. This is the best record among artists in the world.
Driven by such momentum, BLACKPINK will commence their world tour, starting with a concert in Seoul on October 15th. In particular, this tour is expected to attract a total of 1.5 million audiences, the largest scale in the history of a Kpop girl group. Via the tour, BLACKPINK is expected to meet fans in North America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania, including LA stadium performances in the U.S. to prove their status as a “Kpop Queen.”
Source: News1
