THE KOREA ECONOMIC DAILY, GLOBAL EDITION

Blackpink Rosé's single APT. has debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, according to the music magazine Billboard on Tuesday.

With the title, a collaboration with American singer and songwriter Bruno Mars, Rosé became the first female K-pop artist and the fifth K-pop singer to reach the top 10 of the weekly chart after BTS and Psy.

Last year, Jimin and Jungkook of the boy group BTS joined the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, with their solo singles Like Crazy and Seven, respectively.

Rosé’s APT. is neck-and-neck with Billie Eilish's Birds of a Feather (ranked third) and Sabrina Carpenter's Espresso (ranked fifth) on the charts. It nudged out Taste, another title from Carpenter, in ninth place. 

Pop music critics said Rosé’s successful solo debut demonstrated K-pop's ascent to become a mainstream music genre beyond a fandom-based culture. 

The song, a pre-release of Rosé’s first solo album Rosie, features cheerful and catchy sounds from the popular Korean drinking game APT, the Korean acronym for apartment.

The Billboard Hot 100 ranks songs, based on online streaming, radio airplay and download data. It is the music industry's standard record chart.

APT. also debuted at No. 1 on Billboard Global 200 singles charts. Its music video is on track for 200 million views.

The title also ranked at the top of the Spotify Charts in the US,  iTunes song charts in 40 countries and China's QQ Music streaming platform.

"It would have been difficult [for Rosé] to get high scores on radio airplay as a non-native American singer," said pop music critic Choi Young-kyun. "It's impressive in that she set a milestone on a singles chart as a female solo artist."

APT. used part of a modified verse from Mickey, a No. 1 title on Billboard Hot 100 in 1982, sung by American singer Toni Basil. Mickey is also catchy and easy to sing along to.

"APT. is like a chant song with a simple structure and a rhythm easy to repeat,” said pop music artist Kim Do-hun.

"The collaboration with Bruno Mars and his label Atlantic Records' production created synergy."

Thanks to the spectacular performance of Rosé’s APT., shares in its streaming platform YG Plus Inc. have skyrocketed 142.16% since its Oct. 18 release.

Meanwhile, Blackpink JENNIE’s single Mantra charted this week’s Billboard Global 200 at No. 5. It marked the first song by a female K-pop soloist to remain on the chart’s top 10 for several weeks in a row.

The girl group's label YG Entertainment Inc. is expected to turn to the black in 2025, according to analysts.

Write to Da Eun Choi at max@hankyung.com
 


Yeonhee Kim edited this article.