Barely two months into the year, and the K-pop industry is already counting wins. Here鈥檚 a rundown of every exciting record-breaking thing that鈥檚 happened so far. What did we miss?
BLACKPINK is the first Asian act to headline Coachella
BLACKPINK made history in 2019 as the festival’s first female K-pop performers, an indication that a tide was shifting and interest in K-pop was skyrocketing in the west. Now, they鈥檝e been welcomed back. This time, as headliners.
7 out of the 10 bestselling albums in the US
According to released by Luminate and Billboard last week, seven out of the 10 best-selling CD albums in the United States in 2022 were by K-pop artists 鈥 BTS, Tomorrow X Together, Stray Kids, TWICE, Stray Kids, Enhypen and NCT 127. BTS’s Proof was number one, of course.
Pachinko wins critics choice award for best foreign language series
Apple TV+’s Korean drama series Pachinko bagged the best foreign language series award at the Critics Choice Awards 2023. It was nominated alongside strong shows like Extraordinary Attorney Woo, 1899, Borgen, Garcia!, The Kingdom Exodus, Kleo, My Brilliant Friend and Tehran. 聽
Late actor, Kang鈥檚 final movie tops Netflix鈥檚 global film charts
Jung E starring the late actress, Kang Soo-yeon in her final performance, for four days in a row.
TWICE is the first Korean winner of Billboard Women in Music Award聽
TWICE, a K-pop girl group, is the first Korean act to receive a Billboard Women in Music Award. The awards recognise the most influential female musicians, creators, producers and executives in the music business in a particular year. TWICE was on January 30.
BIGBANG鈥檚 Taeyang and BTS鈥檚 Jimin鈥檚 new digital single
on the 13th of January by singers from two different generations of K-pop. Any true stan will know how much of a big deal this is.
TXT announces ACT: SWEET MIRAGE world tour
A comeback and a tour; TXT is keeping their fans fed this year. On Tuesday (January 17), BIGHIT announced the countries they鈥檒l tour in the first leg. Africa wasn鈥檛 included, but 鈥渕ore to come鈥 was, so maybe there鈥檚 hope?
Lee Young Ji wins Show Me The Money
Yongi is the first woman to win the contest and went home with over 鈧100 million ($80k or 鈧36.5 million). Former winners of the show are Punchnello, Bobby of iKON and LOCO.
