On August 8, YG Entertainment debuted their newest K-pop girl group, Black Pink (sometimes stylized as BLACKPINK). Consisting of four members — Jisoo, Jennie, Rose, and Lisa — their debut was a huge deal in the K-pop community because it has been seven years since YG Entertainment debuted K-pop girl group 2NE1. Not only that, the formation of Black Pink went through a lot. Originally, Black Pink had more members but after some revision, we are now given the final lineup we see today.
It should also be noted that Black Pink was riding on a train of pre-debut hype. Numerous teasers, which included pictures and a dance video, enticed the K-pop community. However, it wasn’t known when Black Pink would debut. Some speculated YG Entertainment was purposely pushing Black Pink’s debut back to coincide with the comeback of a K-pop girl group signed under SM Entertainment, Red Velvet , to possibly start a rivalry. Eventually, we were given a concrete debut date through more teaser pictures.
It has been one week since Black Pink made their debut, and it is safe to say they dominated. Here are four reasons why the new K-pop girl group created under the YG Entertainment label dominated their debut week.
1. BLACKPINK Music Videos Have Been Viewed Over 26 Million Times On YouTube In One Week
Usually, debuting K-pop groups put all of their hard work into making one song catchy enough for the K-pop community to notice. For Twice, it was “Like OHH-AHH.” For NCT 127, it was “Fire Truck.” For 2NE1, it was “Fire.” As a matter of fact, 2NE1’s space version music video for “Fire” was the most-watched debut music video for a K-pop girl group on YouTube until Twice dethroned them.
For Black Pink, they went above and beyond the call with not one, but two debut songs with music videos. According to Yang Hyun Suk, the CEO of YG Entertainment, he wants all of Black Pink’s songs to be treated as if they were featured songs and not just one. Apparently, Hyun Suk’s tactic is working, as Black Pink’s music videos have a total of over 26 million views on their official YouTube page .
Right now, “Whistle” is sitting at over 12 million views, while “Boombayah” is sitting at over 14 million views. The fact that there are over 26 million views for both shows just how popular Black Pink is. Usually, the ratio is $1 USD for every 25 views, which means Black Pink and YG Entertainment possibly made a killing with over $1 million USD in one week.
2. BLACKPINK Achieved An All-Kill, A Rarity For Debuting K-Pop Groups
Three days after their debut, it was reported that Black Pink achieved what is known in the Korean music industry as an All-Kill. That means one of Black Pink’s songs ranked No. 1 on all of the Korean music charts excluding the iChart’s weekly and real-time charts. That means they had to be No. 1 on Melon, Mnet, Bugs, olleh, Soribada, Genie, Naver, and Monkey3 music charts. According to Hello K-Pop , Black Pink achieved this monumental All-Kill with “Whistle.”
The last K-pop girl group to achieve an All-Kill was Sistar with their song “I Like That.” However, the higher honor is to achieve a Perfect All-Kill. This means a song by Korean music artist or artists needs to be No. 1 on both iChart charts as well as the other music charts. Only 11 Korean musical acts have achieved the honor, including GFriend with “Rough,” Suzy (of Miss A) and Baekhyun (of EXO) with “Dream,” and Twice with “Cheer Up.”
3. BLACKPINK Achieves A Perfect All-Kill Five Days After Their All-Kill
It should not be a surprise that Black Pink achieved a Perfect All-Kill just five days after their All-Kill. The Perfect All-Kill was for their song “Whistle.” As mentioned, “Whistle” was only No. 1 among Melon, Mnet, Bugs, olleh, Soribada, Genie, Naver, and Monkey3 charts, but for iChart, their weekly ranking at the time was No. 29, while their real-time ranking was No. 4. On Sunday, the last day of the week, Black Pink became the 12th Korean musical act, right behind Sistar with “I Like That,” to achieve a Perfect All-Kill , as reported by AllKpop .
4. BLACKPINK’s Perfect All-Kill Song “Whistle” Was Played During The 2016 Olympics
The fact that the debut song of a K-pop group lacking the establishment earned through years of post-debut work played at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro is huge. It took some dedicated Black Pink fans watching the 2016 Olympics to notice the familiar whistling tune from “Whistle” to realize the 2016 Olympics were playing Black Pink.
[VIDEO] #BLACKPINK ‘s WHISTLE was played during the Olympic Women’s Volleyball match! (cr: LaliceDaily) pic.twitter.com/Y9SZutLuGu
— GLOBAL BLACKPINK (@GlobalBlackPink) August 13, 2016
As seen in the attached Twitter video above by Lalice Daily through GLOBAL BLACKPINK , “Whistle” was played near the end of the first set between Russia and Japan in which Russia was up 23 to 12. This circumstance proves that K-pop is becoming far more prominent internationally. A similar situation happened when “Dope” by BTS and “Nalina” by Block B were played during an NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals last year.
Right now, Black Pink is participating in music competition shows and climbing the ranks to earn their first win. Black Pink already made their stage debut on Inkigayo , performing both “Whistle” and “Boombayah.” It will only be a matter of time before they take home their first trophy.
[Image via YG Entertainment]