Today in K-Pop

K-pop megastar BTS' upcoming full-length album will be titled "Arirang," named after Korea's most famous folk song, the group's label BigHit Music said Friday. "Arirang" is scheduled to be out March 20 as the group's fifth studio album and first since the 2022 anthology album "Proof." The new record will include 14 tracks. BigHit said the album captures BTS' identity as a group that began in Korea, along with "the longing and deep love that lie within their hearts." The label described the word "Arirang" as a symbolic expression of the emotions the group seeks to portray. "As BTS prepares for its long-awaited return, it naturally looked back on its roots, beginnings and inner stories," BigHit said in a statement, adding that the album explores universal emotions expected to resonate globally. After the release, BTS is set to embark on a world tour April 9, starting at Goyang Sports Complex near Seoul. The tour will span 34 cities and 79 shows — the largest in K-pop history — and will feature a 360-degree stage design.

BTS

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK has earned a gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for its 2025 digital single "Jump." The RIAA said on its website on Thursday (U.S. time) that "Jump" has surpassed 500,000 units, the threshold required for gold certification, as of Dec. 11. The association awards gold for 500,000 units, platinum for 1 million, multi-platinum for 2 million and diamond for 10 million units. Certified units are counted based on physical and digital album sales, downloads, and audio and video streams. The track has also been certified platinum by the Canadian music industry and single platinum in France. It received gold certifications in Australia, Belgium and New Zealand. Released last July, "Jump" has exceeded 470 million streams on Spotify and stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 weeks. The K-pop quartet is set to release its third EP "Deadline" on Feb. 27, marking its first full-group comeback in three years and five months since its second studio album "Born Pink" in September 2022.

BLACKPINK

Blackpink earned gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America with “Jump,” the organization announced Thursday in the US. The foursome dropped "Jump" as a digital single in July. It debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 at No. 28 and spent ten weeks on the chart, the longest run for the group. It also ranked atop Billboard’s Global 200 and Global excl. US. Blackpink is set to roll out its third EP “Deadline” on Feb. 27, its first full group effort in almost 3 1/2 years. Its pre

JennieBLACKPINK

SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- K-pop girl group BLACKPINK has earned a gold certific...

BLACKPINK

Hwasa of Mamamoo will have her first solo stand-alone show in Seoul on Jan. 17-18, her agency P Nation said Friday. The singer announced “Mi Casa” with a poster in which sheappears draped in a maroon tulle dress. She has been enjoying the success of her digital single “Good Goodbye,” which was released in October. She co-wrote the melody and lyrics of the song, which nabbed four trophies from television music chart shows. It also topped Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales Chart, a first for the

Mamamoo

TWS ranked No. 2 on Oricon’s annual rookie ranking, the highest spot for an international artist, agency Pledis Entertainment said Friday. According to Oricon’s Annual Ranking 2025 of top artists by sales, the boy group generated approximately 1.07 billion yen ($ 6.75 million) in revenue. The six-piece act put out its debut physical single in Japan, “Nice to See You Again,” in July. The album topped Oricon’s Weekly and Weekly Combined Rankings, after recording the highest first-week sales for an

TWS

NewJeans exceeded 900 million plays on Spotify for the first time with its 2023 hit song “OMG,” agency Ador said Friday. “OMG” is the title track of the physical single that was the group's first entry on Billboard’s Hot 100, barely six months after their debut. The upbeat hip-hop R&B tune charted six weeks on the main singles chart, peaking at No. 74. Along with the B-side track “Ditto,” “OMG” swept all domestic music charts as well. The “OMG” music video garnered 300 million views on YouTube,

NewJeans

SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- K-pop boy group Enhypen is launching a new chapter of...

ENHYPEN

After ending last year with three grand prizes at year-end music awards, Enhypen is returning with a tightly structured seventh EP that reinforces what the group sees as its defining strength — long-form storytelling rooted in a vampire narrative that the group has carried since debut. “The Sin: Vanish,” set for release Friday, ends a seven-month break for the group. The album is not simply a collection of songs, but a fully realized conceptual work in which narrative, lyrics and instrumentation

ENHYPEN

Korea's exports of K-pop albums exceeded $300 million for the first time last year, customs data showed Friday, underscoring the genre's continued strength overseas despite weakening domestic sales. According to the Korea Customs Service, overseas shipments of K-pop albums reached a record high of $301.7 million in 2025, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier. Japan remained the biggest market with $80.6 million, followed by China with $69.7 million and the United States with $64 million. While exports to Japan fell 10.2 percent from the previous year, shipments to China jumped 16.6 percent, allowing Beijing to reclaim its position as the No. 2 market for the first time since 2022, ahead of the U.S. Taiwan, Germany, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Canada, France and Poland were also among the top 10 importers of K-pop albums. Despite the record export value, data from music sales tracker Circle Chart showed that overall K-pop album sales, including both domestic and overseas markets, fell for a second consecutive year to around 93.5 million copies in 2025, down from about 120 million in 2023. Anal

SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's exports of K-pop albums exceeded US$300...

Six years after debuting through "I-LAND," a global audition program that put competitors' fate in the hands of viewers around the world, K-pop boy band ENHYPEN finds itself at a turning point. What began as a survival show experiment has grown into a tightly bonded team with its own mythology, international reach and a string of milestones, including a sweep of major year-end awards in 2025. That growth feeds directly into the group's seventh mini album, "THE SIN : VANISH," set for release Friday. The record continues ENHYPEN's long-running "vampire narrative" through a story of forbidden love between a vampire and a human. "For us, every comeback means trying something new," Jay said during an interview with The Korea Times at a small cafe in Mapo District, Seoul, Wednesday. "This time, from the prerelease promotions to the way the album is structured as a story, we really tried to make everything feel fresh." At the center of "THE SIN : VANISH" is its title track "Knife," a hip-hop-driven song built on trap beats and sharp synths that frame a message of resolve. While familiar to the

JayENHYPEN

SEOUL, Jan. 16 (Yonhap) -- K-pop megastar BTS' upcoming full-length album will b...

BTS