BTS, TWICE, and BLACKPINK obviously made it on top, but 4th gen idols are also rising
As half of 2022 has passed, Spotify has unveiled the achievements of artists on this platform in this period of time. Among those, the list for Kpop artists with the highest number of streams has also been released. The data are compiled from January 1st to June 17th, 2022.
Coming first on the list is none other than BTS, who boasts 3.6 billion Spotify streams. This is a massive number that other artists can only dream of, with a huge gap with the 2nd place. As the top artist of the list, BTS proves their intense popularity throughout the world.
The 2nd place belongs to TWICE, who accumulated 876 million Spotify streams in the first half of the year. Alongside having stable footings in Korea and Japan, TWICE has also been targeting the US market, with their series of concert nights in this Western country.
Following TWICE is BLACKPINK in the 3rd position, with 745 million Spotify streams. This is an impressive number for this girl group, considering that they have no new musical releases in over a year. With a comeback approaching, BLACKPINK is certain to rise further.
The 4th to 6th positions belong respectively to three 4th gen boy grounds, including Stray Kids (713 million streams), TXT (489 million streams), and ENHYPEN (440 million streams). SEVENTEEN came in 7th with 400 million streams, while LISA, despite being a solo artist with few songs, landed in 8th place with 310 million streams. The remaining positions belong to Red Velvet (301 million streams), ITZY (289 million streams), and IU (265 million streams).
Reacting to this newly-released ranking, many fans were surprised at the popularity of 4th gen boy group on international grounds. Meanwhile, several were perplexed to see NCT and its unit missing entirely, despite NCT Dream having made a comeback recently.
“JYP girl groups and HYBE boy groups rule the international market”, one netizen commented. Meanwhile, others wrote comments like “BTS is in another league”, “BLACKPINK can still come on top despite having no new songs”, “Stray Kids is doing really well on Spotify”, and “So where is NCT popular?”
Source: K14
