ILLIT's debut EP 'Super Real Me' surpasses 500,000 sales

Rookie girl group ILLIT [BELIFT LAB]

Rookie girl group ILLIT’s debut EP, “Super Real Me,” has sold over 500,000 copies since its release on March 25, according to the group’s agency, Belift Lab, on Monday.

A total of 531,838 copies of the EP have been sold as of Friday, according to the music industry tracker, Hanteo Chart.

Belift Lab attributed the EP’s commercial success to the popularity of its lead track, “Magnetic.” The song landed on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the week of April 20, becoming the first debut track by a K-pop act to make the list, and has become viral on short-form video platforms such as TikTok and Instagram Reels.

This news emerges amid rumors of plagiarism surrounding the girl group's name during the conflict between girl group NewJeans' agency, ADOR, and HYBE.

Min Hee-jin, the producer of NewJeans and CEO of ADOR, has argued that the rookie girl group’s concept was plagiarized from NewJeans. Neither HYBE nor Belift Lab has made public statements on the matter yet.

ILLIT was formed through JTBC’s idol audition program, “R U Next?” (2023), and debuted under Belift Lab, a HYBE subsidiary, in March with “Super Real Me.” The group is scheduled to perform at multiple music festivals this summer, including the Rakuten Girls Award 2024 Spring/Summer, Kcon Japan 2024 and the Weverse Con Festival.

To find out more about ILLIT, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]