'Melon Effect' Billboard Chart K-Pop Artists Tripled Compared to One Year Ago

‘Billboard Global 200’ K-pop Average Rank 97 to 80
Number of Artists Nearly Tripled Compared to a Year Ago
‘Billboard Global Excl. US’ 20 Songs Charted

Kakao Entertainment announced on the 5th that "since the music platform Melon partnered with the US Billboard last month, the number of K-pop entries and their average rankings on the Billboard charts have increased, significantly contributing to the expansion of K-content's global influence." Melon's data has been reflected on three Billboard charts since the 5th of last month: the Korean regional chart ‘South Korea Songs’, the global chart covering over 200 countries including the US ‘Billboard Global 200’, and the global chart excluding the US ‘Billboard Global Excl. US’.

In the second week of June, 14 K-pop songs charted on the ‘Billboard Global 200’, up from 12 songs the previous week, including the newly entered Stray Kids' ‘Special (특)’. Notably, despite the increase of two songs, the average ranking of all K-pop songs rose from 97th place the previous week to 80th place. Another notable feature was the ‘reverse climbing’ of songs that had been released some time ago. IVE's ‘I AM’ surged from 82nd place the previous week to 47th place. Another IVE song, ‘Kitsch’, re-entered the chart at 187th place. Additionally, BLACKPINK's Jisoo's ‘Flower (꽃)’ (65th), SEVENTEEN's ‘Son Ogong (손오공)’ (90th), NewJeans' ‘OMG’ (93rd) and ‘Ditto’ (153rd) all reversed their downward trends and joined the reverse climb simultaneously.

On another global chart, the ‘Billboard Global Excl. US’, 20 K-pop songs charted in the last week of June. This is a 25% increase from 16 songs in the last week of May before Melon's partnership. The top five songs on Melon's weekly chart for the last week of June ? (G)I-DLE's ‘Queencard’, IVE's ‘I AM’, aespa's ‘Spicy’, LE SSERAFIM's ‘Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard's Wife’, and ‘UNFORGIVEN (feat. Nile Rodgers)’ ? ranked within the top 100 on the ‘Billboard Global Excl. US’ at 20th, 37th, 79th, 42nd, and 61st respectively during the same period.

The partnership between Melon and Billboard is expected to contribute not only to the sustained global success of K-pop but also to its diversification. In the last week of June last year, only four K-pop artists, including BTS, entered the ‘Billboard Global 200’, but by the last week of June this year, that number nearly tripled to 11. On the ‘Billboard Global Excl. US’, the number of artists increased from 8 in the last week of June last year to 12 in the last week of June this year.

Park Doo-wan, Head of Melon Strategy at Kakao Entertainment, said, “Through the partnership with Billboard, Melon's popular artists and songs have gained opportunities to be recognized not only domestically but also globally,” adding, “We will continue to establish ourselves as a leading music platform that accurately reflects music trends and promotes K-pop artists and music worldwide.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.