Blackpink

Blackpink is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa, and Rose. The group debuted on August 8, 2016, with their single Square One, which spawned "Whistle," their first number-one song in South Korea. The single also included "Boombayah," their first number one on Billboard World Digital Songs chart, which set the record as the most-viewed debut music video by a Korean act. With the group's commercial success in their first five months, they were hailed as the New Artist of the Year at the 31st Golden Disc Awards and the 26th Seoul Music Awards. Blackpink is the highest-charting female K-pop act on Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 55 with "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du", and on Billboard 200, peaking at number 40 with Square Up. They are the first and only K-pop girl group to enter and top Billboard's Emerging Artists chart. They are also the first female K-pop group to have four number-one singles on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales chart. At the time of its release, "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" set a record as the most-viewed Korean music video in 24 hours on YouTube. Blackpink became the first girl group that debuted under YG Entertainment in six years after 2NE1, with their debut single Square One, which was released on August 8, 2016. The first lead single, "Whistle," was produced by Teddy Park and Future Bounce and was written by Teddy Park, iKon's Kim Hanbin, and Bekuh BOOM. The second lead single, "Boombayah," was produced by Teddy Park and co-written by Bekuh BOOM. Its music video was directed by Seo Hyun-seung. The two title tracks charted at number one and two on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, and Blackpink are the fastest act to do so and the third Korean artist or group to hold the top two positions after label mates Psy and Big Bang. "Whistle" topped the digital, download, streaming, and mobile charts on Gaon in August 2016. They also reached number one on the weekly, popularity, music video, and K-pop music video charts of China's biggest music-streaming website QQ Music. Blackpink's first music show performance was aired on August 14, 2016 on SBS' Inkigayo. They won first place on Inkigayo 13 days after their debut, and broke the record for the shortest time for a girl group to win on a music program after debut. They wrapped up their promotions for Square One on September 11, 2016 with another win on Inkigayo. Blackpink released their second single album Square Two with the lead singles "Playing with Fire" and "Stay" on November 1, 2016. The songs were produced by Teddy Park with R.Tee and Seo Won Jin. They performed their comeback stage on Inkigayo on November 6 and on Mnet's M Countdown on November 10, 2016. "Playing with Fire" was their second single to hit number one on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. In South Korea, "Playing with Fire" peaked at number three while "Stay" managed to reach the tenth spot. Blackpink's commercial success in their first five months earned them several rookie awards at major Korean year-end music award shows, including the Asia Artist Awards, Melon Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, Seoul Music Awards, and Gaon Chart Music Awards. Additionally, Billboard named them one of the best new K-pop groups of 2016. On January 17, Blackpink named their fan club "Blink", a portmanteau of "Black" and "Pink". On June 22, The group released a digital single titled "As If It's Your Last". The song was described as a "mixed genre of music., a change of sound from their previous releases. The song debuted at number one on Billboard's World Digital Song chart dated June 22 after only one day of tracking, making it their third number one on the chart. Within 17 hours of its release, the music video for "As If It's Your Last" gained more than 11 million views on YouTube, becoming the fastest music video to exceed 10 million views by a K-pop group, which broke the record previously held by BTS' "Not Today" of 10 million views within 21 hours. Furthermore, the music video became the fourth most viewed online video in the first 24 hours by a Korean act, with more than 13.3 million views within 24 hours after release, following Psy's "Gentleman", BTS' "DNA", and BTS' "Mic Drop". It later on broke the record for the most liked music video by a Korean girl group on YouTube. On July 20, 2017, Blackpink held a showcase at Nippon Budokan in Tokyo. It had an attendance of more than 14,000 people and it was reported that around 200,000 people tried to get tickets for it. The group made their Japanese debut on August 30, 2017, with the release of their self-titled Japanese extended play. The group was ranked among YouTube's Global Top 25 Songs of the Summer for 2017, with their single "As If It's Your Last". In 2018, it was announced that Blackpink would be returning with a repackaged album titled Re:Blackpink. The album was released on March 28 and contained all of their previous songs, in both Japanese and Korean. On May 23, Blackpink revealed their official cheering light with their official colors called "Bl-Ping-Bong", which was co-designed by the members. On June 15, the group released their debut EP titled Square Up. The single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" debuted at number 17 on the Official Trending Chart in the United Kingdom, making them the first female K-pop group to enter the chart since its launch in 2016. The single also debuted as the highest-charting Hot 100 hit ever by an all-female K-pop act, opening at number 55 with 12.4 million U.S. streams and 7,000 downloads sold in the tracking week ending June 21, 2018, according to Nielsen Music. The only other all-female K-pop group with a Hot 100 hit to its credit is Wonder Girls, who scored one entry with "Nobody" in 2009, the track debuted and peaked at number 76. "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" also debuted at number 39 on the US Streaming Songs tally, where Blackpink became the first K-pop girl group to chart a title. The single also sat atop Billboard World Digital Songs, making it the group's fourth number one hit on the chart. Square Up also brought the group their first entry and the highest-charting to date by an all-female K-pop group on the US Billboard 200, debuting at number 40 with 14,000 album-equivalent units, surpassing label mate 2NE1's 2014 record with their last album Crush which peaked at number 61. The EP also topped the Billboard World Albums chart. In South Korea, Square Up debuted at number one on Gaon Albums Chart. The single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" peaked at number one on the Digital, Download, Streaming and Mobile charts on Gaon in its second week, while "Forever Young" also managed to peak under top five. YouTube's official tally saw the music video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" garner a total of 36.2 million views within 24 hours after its release and became the most viewed online video in the first 24 hours by a Korean act and second most watched music video of all time, surpassing lable-mate Psy's "Gentleman" and behind only Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do". On July 7, the final stop of the tour was added for December 24 at Kyocera Dome Osaka as a Christmas gift to their fans, which made them the first overseas girl-group to perform at a domed stadium in Japan, after having debut for only a year and four months. They embarked on their first concert tour of Japan titled "Blackpink Arena Tour 2018" in Osaka on July 24-25. On September 12, it was announced that the group would hold their first ever concert in Seoul titled "Blackpink 2018 Tour [In Your Area] Seoul x BC Card" at Olympic Gymnastics Arena. Within three weeks of debut, Blackpink placed second behind Exo for brand reputation based on a study by The Korea Reputation Research Institute in August 2016. Another study targeting girl groups revealed that the group's brand influence had already surpassed that of Girls' Generation and Twice for September. The chief of the reputations research lab described the feat as a "first". In May 2017, Blackpink became ambassadors for Incheon Main Customs. The group has endorsed and collaborated with several high-end brands including Puma, Reebok, Louis Vuitton, Dior Cosmetics, Moonshot, St. Scott London, Shibuya 109, Tokyo Girls Collection x CECIL McBEE, Lotte Trevi sparkling water, and Sprite Korea. In July 28, 2018 the group ranked first for brand reputation based on analysis by The Korea Reputation Research Institute, outranking the likes of BTS, Wanna One and Twice. Their debut single Square One contains two tracks, "Boombayah" and "Whistle", which hit number one and two on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart respectively, and they are by far the fastest act to do so. "Whistle" topped the digital, download, streaming, and mobile charts on Gaon in August 2016, earning Blackpink the Best of Next Artist and Best Music Video awards at the Mnet Asian Music Awards and the Best New Artist award at the Melon Music Awards. Their debut EP titled Square Up contained four tracks, including the singles "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" and "Forever Young", the single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" debuted at number 17 on the Official Trending Chart in the United Kingdom. The single also debuted at number 55 on Billboard Hot 100 where they became, by far, the highest-charting K-pop girl-group ever. "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" also debuted at number 39 on the US Streaming Songs tally, where Blackpink became the first K-pop girl group to chart a title. The single also sat atop Billboard World Digital Songs, making it the group's fourth number one hit on the chart. Square Up also brought the group their first entry and the highest-charting to date by an all-female K-pop group on the US Billboard 200, debuting at number 40. The EP also topped the Billboard World Albums chart and debuted at number one on Gaon Albums Chart. The single "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" peaked at number one on the Digital, Download, Streaming and Mobile charts on Gaon in the last week of June 2018, while "Forever Young" also managed to peak under top five.