Gaho's 'Start' music video from 'Itaewon Class' soundtrack surpasses 100M views

The poster for JTBC drama series ″Itaewon Class″ [JTBC]

The music video for singer Gaho’s “Start,” part of the original soundtrack for the hit JTBC series “Itaewon Class” (2020), surpassed 100 million views on YouTube, according to the soundtrack production company Vlending on Tuesday.

Vlending said the view count for the music video surpassed the 100 million mark as of Jan. 5.

The same music video was also uploaded on JTBC Drama’s official YouTube channel, which also separately garnered 10 million views.

This is the first original song from a K-drama soundtrack from the 2020s to hit that milestone. Before that, K-dramas “Descendants of the Sun” (2016), “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo” (2016) and “Goblin” (2016-17) all produced hits from their original soundtracks that have surpassed 100 million YouTube views.

“Start” was a theme song for Park Saeroyi, a lead character played by actor Park Seo-jun in “Itaewon Class.” The song topped local music streaming charts at the time.

Other songs from the soundtrack of “Itaewon Class” have also seen success. BTS member V’s “Sweet Night” is coming up on 90 million views on YouTube, Kim Feel’s “Someday, The Boy” garnered 35.8 million and Ha Hyun-woo’s “Diamond” 18.4 million.

“In today’s day of overflowing music releases, especially original soundtracks, we will strive to produce original soundtracks that can create a synergy effect with K-dramas like we did with ‘Itaewon Class,’” said an official from Vlending.

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]