BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN & NCT Make Korean History With Joint Chart Achievement

This is an incredible step for K-Pop internationally!

Before K-Pop fans counted sales through Hanteo and Gaon, MIAK was the original platform for album sales records. MIAK was created in 1998, over 20 years ago. Now, for the first time in history since the Korean album charts began, BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, and NCT have made 21st century history by becoming the first trio of groups to exceed 1 million sales in the same month.

In October, BLACKPINK set their own record by becoming the first K-Pop girl group in history to sell 1 million copies of a single album. As of last month, the group has sold over 1.2 million copies of the album—including over 300,000 copies sold internationally.

But they weren’t the only ones to have such a successful sales month. Following NCT‘s album release on October 12, RESONANCE Pt. 1 sold 1.2 million copies in just one week. The album managed to accumulate 1.1 million stock pre-orders and sold 400,000 copies abroad.

And now, SEVENTEEN has joined their ranks. The album was released on October 19, and yesterday, Pledis Entertainment confirmed Semicolon has already sold 1.06 million copies.

Not only have BLACKPINK, NCT, and SEVENTEEN achieved something huge in their own right, they’ve also set an incredible record for K-Pop, proving the genre’s worldwide popularity. The last time any trio of groups achieved the same feat was 22 years ago, when H.O.T, Seo Taiji, and Sechs Kies also managed to sell 1 million copies each in the same month.

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BLACKPINK Tops No.1 On Bloomberg Ranking With 'Biggest Pop Group In The World'

Bloomberg ranks BLACKPINK as the “Biggest pop group in the world” because the company ranks number one among musicians from well-known media and analysis companies.

Bloomberg launched its Pop Star Power Ranking back in April this year, aiming to measure “the rise and fall of the world’s most in-demand musicians“. BTS was the first K-pop group to make the list that month, coming in at #18 and steadily rising over the months.

Now, the ranking for November has been established and set a new record: BLACKPINK has been crowned as the world's largest pop music! The group defeated the top 5 singers Pop Smoke, Cardi B, Justin Bieber and Juice WRLD to win the championship.

The Bloomberg Pop Star Power Ranking is based on six key criteria: ticket sales, concert grosses, album sales, Spotify streams, Instagram engagements, and YouTube views. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, BLACKPINK may not have any concert ticket sales to their name this year, but that hasn’t stopped them from storming the top spot after a trio of successful songs this year.

Alongside the boy group BTS, BLACKPINK has achieved a level of global popularity unprecedented in the history of music.
- Lucas Shaw, Bloomberg

To date, “How You Like That” has accumulated 630 million YouTube views and 280 million Spotify streams.

Meanwhile, “Ice Cream” with Selena Gomez captured an international audience with 390 million YouTube views and 180 million Spotify streams.

And despite being released just over a month ago, “Lovesick Girls” already has 230 million YouTube views and 90 million Spotify streams.

According to Bloomberg, these impressive figures and the group’s immense social engagement all contributed to their Pop Star Power Ranking #1. But as if topping the list isn’t impressive enough, BLACKPINK’s historic victory also breaks several records. For one, they’re the first South Korean act to achieve the title since the list’s inception.

On top of that, they’re also the first group to take the top spot, and their win is also an achievement for female artists. Only two women have topped the list before them: Lady Gaga in July and Cardi B in September. BLACKPINK recently collaborated with Cardi B for a song on The Album, which broke all-time K-Pop girl group album sales records with 1.2 million total sales so far.

With rumors circulating that main vocalist Rosé could be releasing her first solo song before the year is out, BLACKPINK can only go up from here.