Blackpink make history as first K-pop group to top Spotify's global weekly chart twice
SEOUL - Blackpink have made K-pop history once again, becoming the first K-pop group to top Spotify's Global Weekly Top Songs chart twice, with their
latest single Jump reinforcing the quartet's status as a global pop powerhouse.
According to YG Entertainment on July 19, Jump reached No. 1 on the global weekly chart dated on July 17, following their previous chart-topper Shut Down from their 2022 studio album Born Pink.
Blackpink now hold the record for both the first and the most No. 1 entries on the chart by any K-pop group.
The song's streaming performance was equally notable.
Jump garnered 44,759,923 streams in just one week - the biggest debut for any track released in 2025 so far.
A week earlier, the group set a new milestone by becoming the K-pop act with the most No. 1 songs on the chart, holding the top position for six consecutive days.
Blackpink's success is not limited to Spotify.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Business $1.1 billion allocated to three fund managers to boost Singapore stock market: MAS
Singapore Risk of flash floods in parts of central and eastern Singapore: PUB
Singapore Malaysia-bound motorists urged to avoid Tuas Second Link on July 23 due to chemical spill exercise
Singapore Trial of new dengue vaccine begins recruitment for child participants in Singapore
Singapore Mandai Wildlife Group group CEO Mike Barclay to retire; Bennett Neo named as successor
Singapore Fresh charge for woman who harassed nurse during pandemic, created ruckus at lion dance competition
Singapore Witness stand not arena for humiliation in sex offence cases, judge reminds lawyers
Asia Japan PM Ishiba under siege after ruling coalition loses Upper House majority
On the UK Official Singles Chart released on July 18, Jump debuted at No. 18 — the group's highest ranking to date and their ninth overall appearance on the chart.
The song's music video, released on July 11, also made a powerful impact online. It was the most-viewed YouTube video worldwide within 24 hours of release and has topped YouTube's Global Daily Top Music Videos chart for seven consecutive days.
Meanwhile, Blackpink are currently on their Blackpink World Tour, which spans 16 cities and 31 shows.
After opening in Goyang, South Korea, and performing in Los Angeles, the group are set to take the stage in stadiums across Chicago, Toronto, New York, Paris, Milan, Barcelona, London, Kaohsiung, Bangkok, Jakarta, Bulacan,
Singapore , Tokyo and Hong Kong. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
8 hours ago
- Straits Times
NDP 2025: How Benjamin Kheng is whisked from Marina Bay to Padang in 10 minutes by boat, buggy
Find out what's new on ST website and app. SINGAPORE – Just before 8pm on Aug 9, singer Benjamin Kheng would have just finished performing the National Day Parade (NDP) 2024 theme song Not Alone on a floating stage in Marina Bay, near Merlion Park. About 10 minutes later, he will enter the Padang for the 2025 show's finale, after traversing 800m over water, on wheels and by foot. Lieutenant-Colonel Shahreel Rajaratnam, 36, bay show management chairman, said that after Kheng performs a duet with singer Rahimah Rahim, who will be at the Padang, the singer will hop onto a small navy sea boat that will whisk him off to Queen Elizabeth Walk. From there, Kheng – who has a manually-activated flotation device incorporated into his costume for the bay performance – boards a buggy that is a short jog away, and appears at the Padang in time for NDP 2025's finale. Bringing Kheng to the Padang shows that he's 'not alone', LTC Shahreel said, and this closes the narrative arc of the show, where he 'returns home' to be with other performers at the Padang. Among them will be Kit Chan, who will sing Home – NDP 1998's theme – in the 2025 show's fourth and final act. While there is much to coordinate in the bay for NDP 2025, said LTC Shahreel, getting Kheng back to the Padang is the most exciting task, because there are many moving parts. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Woman taken to hospital after car falls into sinkhole on Tanjong Katong Road Singapore Students hide vapes in underwear, toilet roll holders: S'pore schools grapple with vaping scourge Singapore 'I've tried everything': Mum helpless as son's Kpod addiction spirals out of control Singapore Almost half of planned 30,000 HDB flats in Tengah to be completed by end-2025: Chee Hong Tat Singapore From libraries to living rooms: How reading habits take root in underserved S'pore children Asia Thai-Cambodia clashes spread along frontier as death toll rises Asia Thousands rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur for resignation of PM Anwar 'Ben is popular. He's a hit with the crowd,' the infantry officer added. 'When people around the bay see him, cameras go crazy, people start screaming. So it's always exciting for us – the team working on this.' Chan, 52, said she thought her parade appearance at NDP 2015 would be her last. But she was convinced to return when NDP's music director Sydney Tan let her listen to 2025's theme Here We Are, written by Charlie Lim. Kit Chan and Charlie Lim performing Here We Are during the NDP 2025 preview at the Padang on July 26. ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG 'I really liked it, and Charlie also is one of my favourite singer-songwriters from Singapore. So definitely it was easy to say yes,' said Chan, who will also perform Here We Are with Lim in the show's first act. Songs come and go, but Home feels special, as it has become 'owned by the people', she added. 'I may have given birth to it, but it totally belongs to everyone, every Singaporean, and you get the same feeling wherever I perform it, anywhere in the world where there is a Singaporean audience – it's always just a very different feeling, and it's a very joyful feeling.' The audience can also look forward to works by artists with disabilities, adapted into the designs of eight floats – four at the Padang and four floating in the bay. One land float was based on Busy In Spring by mouth painter Aaron Yeo, which features a bee buzzing around in a bed of flowers. A float inspired by mouth painter Aaron Yeo's work Busy In Spring. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Viewers may not notice the fuzziness of a bee atop the float, but set and props designer Quck Zhong Yi made it a point to include details from the artwork, such as the insect's hairs. At a show production tour for the media on July 25, Mr Quck, 45, said that after choosing the eight works, designers studied how to turn the two-dimensional pieces into three-dimensional objects, before running a workshop with the original artists to get their feedback. 'We missed it out, but Aaron told us that his bee was painted with very fine strokes to imitate the fuzziness of the hairs of the bee,' said Mr Quck, an architect. 'With that in mind, we tweaked the design of the props and made sure that the bee is really as fuzzy as he wanted it to be.' Despite the NDP stage at the Padang being around for only about two months, the creative team also took pains to make sure it blends in well with the city's roofscape, said Mr Quck. As such, a colour scheme that centred on terracotta orange was chosen, matching roof tiles on nearby buildings such as the former Supreme Court and Singapore Cricket Club. The NDP 2025 stage at the Padang, seen against other tiled roof buildings in the Civic District. PHOTO: NDP 2025 EXCO Mr Quck noted that inclusiveness was the main consideration in the design of NDP 2025's stage – the fourth he has designed for an NDP. 'We really wanted the audience to feel like they are part of the show,' he said, adding that this was why stages abutting the audience stands were built, to bring performers right in front of those watching at the Padang. Inclusiveness was the main consideration in the design of NDP 2025's stage. ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI LTC Derek Tay, 36, the Padang show management chairman, said a team of about 200 people – mostly full-time national servicemen – operate the show's large props and help to coordinate performers' movements. He noted that the show's third and penultimate act requires the most coordination. A technical rehearsal of the show's third act on July 25. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG This includes Kheng and Rahimah's duet, and the release of large balls into the stands while long cloth strips are unfurled from the stands towards the central stage. Ensuring all goes according to plan is a team that includes Ms Petrina Dawn Tan, 36, the show segment's technical cue caller, who gives cues for elements such as lighting, sound, music and videos. (From left) NDP 2025 set and props designer Quck Zhongyi; Padang show management chairman, Lieutenant-Colonel Derek Tay; technical cue caller Petrina Dawn Tan; and bay show management chairman, LTC Shahreel Rajaratnam. ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG Everything is planned to the second, said Ms Tan, and callers have just seconds to rectify any changes. 'If there is a mistake, as callers, we have to be quick to recover,' she said, adding that she works with a show caller to make contingency plans. 'We have to make a decision in the span of five seconds – otherwise it becomes awkward,' said Ms Tan. From a control room at the Padang where she will sit on Aug 9, callers cue action not just for the show's main stage, but also across Marina Bay. LTC Shahreel said this includes drummers at Marina Bay Sands and One Marina Boulevard, building projections and a water-based stage and floats. Referring to the 'expanded canvas' for NDP 2025 that includes the Padang and Marina Bay, LTC Shahreel said: 'Every element is designed to reach both locations, creating one seamless, singular experience for all, regardless of where you're at.'
Straits Times
12 hours ago
- Straits Times
Book review: The First Fools makes Singapore's 10 ‘founding fathers' flesh and blood again
Find out what's new on ST website and app. The First Fools: B-Sides Of Lee Kuan Yew's A-Team explores the colourful lives of Singapore's "founding fathers" such as Mr Lee Kuan Yew (second from right), Mr S. Rajaratnam (second from left), Dr Toh Chin Chye (centre, in black spectacles) and Mr Jek Yeun Thong (in black pants). In primary school, this reviewer came into possession of a yellowed sheet of laminated paper, on which the headshots of Singapore's 10 'founding fathers' were arranged haphazardly. They stared, their expression somewhere between stoic and emotionless; meeting their eyes, one was wont to feel nothing too.
Straits Times
14 hours ago
- Straits Times
Sorry, not sorry: How China's nationalistic netizens played into Malaysian rapper Namewee's hands
Find out what's new on ST website and app. Namewee is boycotted on the mainland for his 'anti-China stance', after his songs mocked the country's leader and nationalistic netizens. HONG KONG – If a picture speaks a thousand words, a removed picture shouts out even more. Controversial Malaysian rapper Namewee on July 21 took down photos he had earlier posted on Facebook of himself with actor Eric Tsang and singer Kenny Bee. This came after the two veteran Hong Kong celebrities issued formal apologies for their appearance alongside the rapper, for which they caught flak from Chinese netizens. Namewee is boycotted on the mainland for his 'anti-China stance', after his songs mocked the country's leader and nationalistic netizens. In a fresh Facebook post on the same day the pictures were taken down, Namewee shared his latest song, Letter of Apology . He cited the lyrics: 'I'm now ready to admit my mistakes/ Although it's just a small issue/ I'm willing to bow down and admit that I'm weak/ And reflect on all my foolish mistakes.' It was a master stroke: In an instant, he generated free, large-scale publicity for his most recent work, simultaneously putting on display the absurdity of the nationalistic outcry over the photos and the motivation for the artistes' apologies as implied in his new song. Namewee's initial post on July 19 had seemed innocuous enough. It was just pictures of the celebrities smiling for the camera, with his message in Chinese stating merely 'wishing you a successful performance tonight', ahead of a concert taking place that night in Genting, Malaysia. It looked and read like an innocent post from any other delighted supporter of Tsang and Bee who had been lucky enough to meet their idols in person. But it was the Chinese netizens' outrage over the post, and the pandering apologies it immediately elicited from the Hong Kong artistes who quickly sought to distance themselves from the rapper, that made it news. And Namewee cleverly capitalised on that to draw attention to his latest song, which – coincidentally or not – touches on a similar topic and had until now gone largely unnoticed elsewhere, especially on the mainland where his works are banned. With one innocuous post, and then its removal, the singer channelled outcry against him into publicity for his latest satire. The official music video for Letter of Apology shows the rapper at a press conference –speaking in mainland-accented Chinese – stating his desire to 'clarify matters' before breaking down in mock tears, bowing in apparent repentance, and crooning his 'apology' to his audience. A description – in Chinese – of the song on his official YouTube channel reads: 'After (issuing) the letter of apology, you will be propelled to fame and riches, arriving at the zenith of your lifetime… Only after writing my letter of apology, will I achieve prosperity! ' The song satirises the self-criticism and self-censorship demanded by China's hypersensitive, ultranationalistic keyboard warriors from those public figures who inadvertently offend the lucrative mainland market they cater to. Its lyrics also hint at the sense of self that some celebrities sacrifice to stay on the right side of their Chinese audiences, with one stanza stating: 'Can you accept/ That I can now only voicelessly await my fate/ No more need to wonder/ If I can still call this life my own.' Taiwan-based Hong Kong political commentator Sang Pu said he found Namewee's self-censorship of the photos and his subsequent post sharing his music video a 'brilliant' move. 'Namewee's deletion of the pictures caused them to be more widely circulated,' Mr Sang told The Straits Times. 'The photos resulted in the apologies from Eric Tsang and Kenny Bee, which then allowed Namewee to publicly juxtapose the two artistes' letters of repentance against the scenario depicted in his song.' 'From this, we can see how sharp-witted and humorous Namewee is,' he added. Muar-born Namewee, 42, also known as Wee Meng Chee or Huang Mingzhi, made his name producing songs that poke fun at sensitive political issues . He has been blacklisted in China since 2021, after the release of his ballad single Fragile, which contains barbed references to President Xi Jinping and issues including the country's tight censorship . In 2023, Namewee revealed that he was banned from performing in Hong Kong as well. Tsang's July 21 apology on Weibo, while not directly naming Namewee, expressed regret over the 'unintentional mistake' of having taken a photo with 'a certain person' whose background he had been 'unaware of'. 'As a Chinese citizen, I've always been committed to safeguarding our country's dignity and national sentiment,' Tsang wrote in Chinese. 'If I had known (his background), I would never have had any contact with him.' Bee issued an almost-identical apology on his own Weibo account. Tsang, 72, who has been in the show business since the 1980s, is general manager of Hong Kong's biggest television broadcaster TVB, which is expanding significantly in mainland China. Bee, also 72, was lead vocalist of Hong Kong 1970s pop group The Wynners and has in recent years taken on several minor acting gigs produced in mainland China. The two artistes' grovelling apologies are just the latest illustration of the pressures that celebrities can face even when they are not major players in the mainland market. But their eagerness to clarify the matter could also be linked in part to the additional spectre of a national security law over Hong Kong society. Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after mass anti-government protests in 2019 and early 2020. Hong Kong subsequently introduced its own such legislation in 2024. The emphasis on national security in the city since then has resulted in its people increasingly policing their opinions made in public. Under Hong Kong law, sedition can also cover anything that incites 'hatred, contempt, dissatisfaction or disaffection' with the authorities. While it is clear that Tsang and Bee have not contravened any law, appearing to be aligned with Namewee whose work mocks China – however tenuous the link – could still potentially cause a rift not just with their mainland business partners and supporters, but also among those in Hong Kong. Ultimately, though, the artistes' main motivation for their apology is essentially 'greed', according to Mr Sang. 'The reason (Tsang and Bee) allowed themselves to be controlled by their entertainment companies and to publish the formal apologies scripted for them, is because of the money they still hope to make off their mainland audiences,' he said. 'This is a choice they must make: Would they prefer to eat standing (by their own principles), or do they want to eat on their knees (at the mercy of others).'
