Move over BTS, Blackpink are the new K-pop act making history in the US
- Girl group Blackpink made chart history by landing their new EP Kill This Love at No. 24 on the US Billboard 200 chart with 19,000 album units
- They also became first female K-pop performers to play at Coachella
BTS aren’t the only K-pop group breaking records in the United States.
If American listeners aren’t acquainted with Blackpink by now, that’s likely to change. With the group conquering US charts faster than any female K-pop act in history, Blackpink have the potential to become one of the country’s biggest groups, full stop.
Blackpink’s big week included a performance at Coachella last Friday, simulcast on a billboard in Times Square. The first female K-pop performers to play the festival, the group earned coveted second-line billing on the poster that splashed their name higher than Kacey Musgraves, Ella Mai and several other of the day’s names who were likely more familiar to US listeners.
On Monday, they made Billboard chart history by landing their new EP Kill This Love at No. 24 on the Billboard 200 chart with 19,000 album units; their single of the same name came in at No. 41 on the Hot 100, the highest-charting debut ever by a K-pop girl group.
Blackpink’s US momentum, in which they burst onto the scene in seemingly the blink of an eye – though the group have been around since 2016 – is a fortuitous combination of industry support, changing listening habits and the group’s own special sauce.