KBS's 'Music Bank' under fire for alleged score rigging

Trot singer Lim Young-woong [ILGAN SPORTS]

KBS’s “Music Bank” is facing accusations that its scoring system is rigged.

On May 13, trot singer Lim Young-woong competed head to head for the top spot on the music show against HYBE's new girl group Le Sserafim. Lim performed his latest track “If We Ever Meet Again” from his first full-length album “I’m Hero,” while Le Sserafim sang its debut song “Fearless.”

Le Sserafim took the top spot, beating Lim by 846 points. However, fans of Lim started posting complaints on KBS’s official website demanding an explanation.

On Wednesday, KBS responded to viewers’ complaints saying that the “scoring system has five categories — Digital Streaming Scores, which accounts for 60 percent, TV/radio broadcast scores, accounting for 20 percent, viewer preference scores, accounting for 10 percent, album sales, accounting for 5 percent and social media scores, accounting for 5 percent.”

The broadcasting station added that Lim’s title track “If We Ever Meet Again” was not played on any of KBS’s television programs or radio shows between May 2 to 8, or any kind of digital content, and explained why he received a zero score for “TV/radio broadcast.” Le Sserafim received 5,348 points in that category.

However Lim’s fans were not appeased and demanded KBS disclose how Le Sserafim could receive a score of over 5,000, “by appearing in what kind of programs, how many times and when.”

KBS refuses to disclose its method for calculating TV/radio broadcast scores.

Lim’s “Im Hero” sold more than 1.1 million copies in the first week of its release. This is the highest number ever recorded by a Korean solo artist.

BY YIM SEUNG-HYE [yim.seunghye@joongang.co.kr]