The case of the music charts void of K-pop boy bands

K-pop

Published: 11 Oct. 2022, 16:39

The case of the music charts void of K-pop boy bands

Team ARMY52Hz for BTS, a group consisting of BTS’s fans dubbed ARMY, uploaded a post last week encouraging other ARMY to actively stream “Yet To Come” so that it makes it onto the top 100 songs of 2022. As of now, it is uncertain if any BTS song will make it onto the annual chart.

Boy bands now are nowhere to be found gracing the top spots of streaming charts, not even in the top 50.

K-pop agencies report on a near daily basis that boy groups are hitting new highs in CD sales, selling over a million copies in the first week. But how often do people actually listen to these boy bands’ songs?

As of Tuesday, the only boy bands on the top 100 of Melon Chart is Big Bang and BTS. Big Bang’s “Still Life” (2022) is at No. 57 and BTS’s “Dynamite” (2020) is at No. 58, with four more songs below that.

Meanwhile, a wide array of girl groups from the second to fourth generations of K-pop — notably Girls’ Generation, Blackpink, IVE and NewJeans — are consistently ranking high.

Songs by boy bands NCT 127 and Seventeen occasionally enter the top 100 in the early morning for a brief moment, due to fans’ organized non-stop streaming to boost their chart performance. However, as soon as the general public turns on Melon during morning rush hour, the boy bands are pushed back off the charts. The same phenomenon can be observed on other platforms such as Genie Music, on which the highest-ranking song by a boy band is also “Still Life” at No. 57.

As of Tuesday, the highest-ranking song by a boy band on Melon Chart is Big Bang’s “Still Life” (2022), above, at No. 57. [YG ENTERTAINMENT]

At this rate, Big Bang is the only boy band to have secured a spot on the 2022 annual Melon Chart, which will be announced early next year.

BTS songs like “Dynamite,” “Butter” (2021), “Permission To Dance” (2021) and “Spring Day” (2017) are long-running on domestic charts, but the band’s latest song “Yet To Come” (2022) saw relatively lukewarm success. It is uncertain whether “Yet To Come” will make it into the chart's top 100 songs of the year.

Team ARMY52Hz for BTS, a group consisting of BTS’s fans dubbed ARMY, uploaded a post on its Twitter last week encouraging other ARMY to actively stream “Yet To Come” so that it makes it onto the annual chart.

Conventionally, girl groups have been stronger in terms of streaming chart performances as they tend to adopt a more broadly appealing music style. However, even a few years ago, boy bands could also be found at the top of domestic charts with a good hit. Boy bands BTOB, Winner and Highlight have all topped local charts in recent years. iKON’s “Love Scenario” (2018) was a chart-topping megahit that enjoyed great popularity among all genders and age groups.

Boy band BTS [BIG HIT MUSIC]

Critics and industry insiders have long pointed out that K-pop boy bands’ fandom-centered promotion strategy is leading them to become estranged from the general public.

Boy band NCT 127 released its fourth full-length album “2 Baddies” on Sept. 16 and subsequently went on meet-and-greet tours around the country. Meet-and-greets are considered to boost album sales since fans buy CDs in bulk to maximize their chance to win a ticket to the session. Usually, one CD purchase is registered as one entry into the ticket raffle. NCT 127 sold over 1.54 million copies of “2 Baddies” in the first week, which was its agency SM Entertainment’s best first-week sales ever: even higher than past megahits by the agency’s senior boy groups like Super Junior’s “Sorry Sorry” (2009) and Exo’s “Growl” (2013). However, in terms of actual popularity among the public, it is difficult to call “2 Baddies” a hit.

Boy band NCT 127's album "2 Baddies," which dropped on Sept. 16, sold over 1.54 million copies. The lead track "2 Baddies" is at No. 93 on Melon Chart as of Oct. 11. [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

“Nowadays, boy bands put all their focus on CD sales and the international market,” one K-pop industry insider said. “Even boy bands that are hardly known from within Korea announce global tours because there is a bigger demand abroad. Concert gigs and CD sales are enough to cover for their relatively unsuccessful streaming chart performances.”

“As K-pop has been expanding globally, there have been positive results like internationally-minded content productions and a super boom in physical CD sales,” said Circle Chart head researcher Kim Jin-woo. “However, compared to the past, we are seeing fewer hit songs that gain popularity among multiple age groups in Korea.”

BY HWANG JEE-YOUNG [kjdculture@joongang.co.kr]