K-pop girl group BLACKPINK have dominated the charts with their newest full-length album, BORN PINK. The quartet made history by earning the top spot on the Billboard 200 albums chart with 102,000 units sold. This hasn’t been achieved by an all-girl group since 2008 when Danity Kane topped the charts with their album Welcome to the Dollhouse. After two weeks, the four BLACKPINK members: Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa, continue to maintain their commanding presence in the global and Korean music industries through jaw-dropping numbers.
The Receipts
BLACKPINK ended an extensive two-year drought after the release of their first full-length album, THE ALBUM, in October 2020. BORN PINK has proven to be one of the most highly anticipated albums of the year, making BLACKPINK the first K-pop female group to surpass two million stock pre-orders. THE ALBUM previously held the record with over one million pre-orders, exhibiting the quartet’s long-standing demand in the industry.
Hanteo Chart reported 1,542,950 BORN PINK copies sold within the first week of its release, doubling the amount of first-week sales with THE ALBUM. Circle Chart, which accounts for stock sales by retailers in its total, reported 2.1 million copies sold after tracking for only two days, declaring BLACKPINK as the only K-pop girl group to ever achieve two million album sales.
The Pink Wave
BORN PINK’s historic reign on domestic and global charts continues, nearing the end of its second week as the album’s latest title tracks, “Pink Venom” and “Shut Down,” claimed the number one spot on the Global 200 and the Global Excl. U.S. charts for the week of September 26. The group also made their debut at number one on the UK Official Albums Chart on September 23, making them the first Korean girl group to do so. Overall, BLACKPINK entered an astounding total of eight Billboard charts this week and claimed the top spot in four of them, including Billboard 200, Top Album Sales, Top Current Album Sales, and Tastemaker Albums.
BLACKPINK’s title track “Pink Venom,” released on August 19, has surpassed an incredible total of 200 million Spotify streams as of September 29, with “Shut Down” following at 73 million in only 14 days. “Shut Down” has spent two consecutive weeks at number one on South Korea Apple Music Daily Top 100 as of October 1. The group surpassed eight billion streams across all credits on September 30, making them the first and only Korean female act to achieve this.
“Pink Venom” became the fastest K-pop music video so far this year to reach 200 million views on YouTube less than eight days after its release. The music video for “Shut Down” gained 50 million views in its first 24 hours, making it the second most-watched music video on its first day. “Shut Down” earned a total of 143 million views and eight million likes as of September 30, with “Pink Venom” leading the way at 352 million total views and 13.7 million likes.
Born Pink, Bleed Pink
With four music show wins already under their belt, a live performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, and appearances at Paris Fashion Week by Rosé and Jisoo, the girls have had a packed but rewarding schedule. BLACKPINK will be in your area in the coming months displaying powerful performances on their BORN PINK World Tour with a total of 26 dates in 15 locations across South Korea, North America, and Europe. Follow BLACKPINK on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube for the latest updates.
Want more BLACKPINK? Catch all the references you might have missed in their “Shut Down” music video here!