BLACKPINK Becomes Highest-Charting K-Pop Girl Group In America With 'Square Up' & 'Ddu-Du Ddu-Du'

This year has proven to be a great one for Korean music on American music charts, and the latest Billboard chart update marks a milestone. On the charts dated June 30, BLACKPINK makes history as the highest-charting K-pop girl group ever on both the Hot 100 and Billboard 200 charts: their single “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” hit No. 55 on the former and their EP Square Up debuted at No. 40 on the latter.

It is the first time a Korean girl group has landed on the Hot 100 chart since 2009, when Wonder Girls’ English-version of “Nobody” peaked at No. 76. Square Up is similarly now the highest-ranked album by a Korean girl group of all-time on the Billboard chart, surpassing 2NE1's 2014 record; their last album Crush peaked at No. 61.

According to Billboard, the hip-pop tune, with its heavy beats and bright synths, makes debuts on the Hot 100 with 12.4 million U.S. streams and 7,000 downloads sold in the tracking week ending June 21, according to Nielsen Music. This also landed them at No. 30 on the Streaming Songs chart, making BLACKPINK the first Korean girl group to ever do so. Meanwhile, the EP broke into the top 50 of the Billboard 200 with 14,000 equivalent album units, which also made Square Up the quartet’s first No. 1 on the World Albums chart.  

Released on June 15, “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” has proven to be immensely popular throughout the globe. Its music video was the fastest by a Korean girl group to reach 50 and then 100 million views on YouTube, and it is the first song by a K-pop girl group to break into the Top 100 of the UK’s Official Singles Chart, where it debuted at No. 78 on the chart dated June 22. "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" was one of four tracks on Square Up, along with the anthemic "Forever Young," the breezy "Really" and the playful "See U Later." 

The interest in BLACKPINK’s return, which came a year after last June’s “As If It’s Your Last” release, saw six of the group’s songs rank on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart. Not only did “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” top that chart and the three other songs off of Square Up break into the Top 15, “As If It’s Your Last” re-entered at No. 10 and “Boombahya” returned to No. 19.

As one of K-pop’s most prominent rookie girl groups, BLACKPINK is the definition of quality over quantity. Though they have a sizable followingthroughout the globe, the foursome has only nine songs to their name ever since their debut in 2016 with the release of their first singles “Boombayah” and “Whistle.” Since then, they’ve released five singles and two EPs, Square Up and last year’s Blackpink, which featured Japanese versions of five of their songs.

BLACKPINK now joins BTS as the highest-ranked Korean all-female and all-male teams, respectively, on American music charts. The girl group's success comes just a month after popular septet’ Love Yourself: Tear album became the first-ever Korean album to top the Billboard 200, and their track "Fake Love" appeared at No. 10 on the Hot 100 chart.