Happy Anniversary, Blackpink: A Breakdown of Their Major Chart Accomplishments After 1 Year
Has it really only been one year? In the case of Blackpink, it's almost mind blowing given how much the K-pop girl group has already accomplished on the charts so far. To celebrate the one-year mark from their show-stopping debut on Aug. 7, 2016 with the double singles "Bumbaya" and "Whistle" to today, let's break down the remarkable first year of achievements from Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé and Lisa.
Blackpink's Bubbling Moment: Perhaps one of Blackpink's most impressive accomplishments and a major indicator of their promise stateside is their most recent performance of "As If It's Your Last." Not only was it their third single to debut at No. 1 on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart (more on that later), but it became their first song to crack the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. For the chart dated July 15, 2017, "As If It's Your Last" sold more than 5,000 downloads to debut at No. 13 on Billboard's Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, which acts as an extension of the 25 songs that have yet to enter on the definitive Hot 100 singles chart and are just below the top 100 slots. Like the main Hot 100 chart, rankings are based on sales, radio airplay and streaming data.
Remarkably, Blackpink surpassed BTS -- who has promoted and toured extensively in America compared to Blackpink who has yet to make a stateside appearance -- and the boy band's February single "Spring Day" topped out at No. 15 on Bubbling Under. For a little bit of chart-comparison history, fellow K-pop acts CL and the Wonder Girls have charted songs on the Hot 100, but did so with English tracks. When it comes to Korean-language songs, PSY has sent multiple entries to the Hot 100 after a decade in the business and BTS finally broke into Bubbling Under after four years together. Blackpink doing so less than one year into their careers indicates exciting things for their upcoming releases.
Leading No. 1 Ladies: As previously mentioned, Blackpink has scored three No. 1s on the World Digital Song Sales chart thanks to 2016's "Bumbaya" and "Playing With Fire," along with this year's "As If It's Your Last." That total not only makes them lead among female K-pop acts (2NE1 is the only other female act with multiple chart-toppers), but they're just one more No. 1 until they tie with both PSY and BTS, who both have four, to lead among all K-pop acts.
Super-Strong Sales: In addition to their aforementioned hits, Blackpink has also released two other singles "Whistle" and "Stay" (which were released simultaneously alongside "Bumbaya" and "Playing With Fire," respectively). Among just those five singles, the group have sold a total of 113,000 digital song downloads in the U.S., through Aug. 3, according to Nielsen Music. On average, that equals the outfit selling almost 10,000 singles a week.
You can also get a feel for their huge song sales as they were the only female act to land on Billboard's year-end World Digital Songs Artists chart in 2016. The ranking tallies acts' song sales throughout year with Blackpink coming in No. 5 for the year, only behind BTS, EXO and PSY (at Nos. 2, 3 and 4, respectively).
They Can Move Albums Too: The release of "Playing With Fire" and "Stay" were coupled into an EP titled Square Two, which combined "Bumbaya," "Whistle" and an acoustic version of "Whistle" for a five-track record. To date, that late-2016 release has moved 7,000 copies despite half the tracks being previously heard. The numbers indicate there could be success and interest for a longer project from the group.
Social Girls: To date, Blackpink has the best performance on Billboard's Social 50 chart among K-pop females too. The only other acts to have charted higher than the ladies are sensations like PSY, BTS, BIGBANG, GOT7 and Seventeen. Social 50 ranks the most active artists on leading social networking sites with artists' popularity being determined blending their weekly additions of followers along with artist page views and weekly song plays.
Here's to an even bigger year to the Blackpink ladies. We'll be eagerly awaiting you on the charts.