Monster Rookie WINNER’s records of the last month
[OSEN=김사라 기자] YG’s new boy group WINNER is rewriting the history of newbie artists in the music world. Since their appearance on “WIN: WHO IS NEXT” a year ago, they are certainly moving forward very quickly.
Since releasing their album “2014 S/S” on August 12, the title tracks “EMPTY” and “COLOR RING” have become the top on charts. Apart from sweeping away rankings, they are lining up charts with several songs, which is quite rare for newbie artists.
And their sensation is still on after one month. For more than 2 weeks “EMPTY” stayed at the very top on many charts, and it still ranks within the top 10. It temporarily yielded its position when new songs poured in, but it climbed back the charts since. “EMPTY” is not an upbeat summer song or a love song—it is a medium tempo sentimental song that is incredibly well received by the general public. Their lyrical melody and rapping have become a strong identity for the group.
The song topped 7 music charts including Melon and Olleh in the first week of release, and topped Gaon’s streaming chart 2 weeks in a row. The album ranked #1 on Hanteo Chart on Aug 28 as well. It topped Billboard’s International World Album. It is a huge surprise that a brand new group would achieve such incredible accomplishments.
Its M/V also hit 3 million views in just 15 days. Now it surpassed 4 million and is heading to reach 5 million. “COLOR RING” also swiftly hit 2 million views.
Their popularity goes beyond online charts to music programs on TV. They received triple crowns on Mnet’s M Countdown on Aug 21, KBS 2TV’s Music Bank on 22, SBS’s Inkigayo on 24. They rewrote the history in just the first week of their debut, while receiving another trophy on Inkigayo for 2 weeks in a row.
It is no wonder that expectations for the group are growing. YG’s YANG HYUN SUK once commented, “Unlike other YG artists who were held back from branching out to other fields of career, WINNER will be allowed to participate in different fields. WINNER members are talented in other fields as well, apart from music. KANG SENGYOON can act while others can appear on variety shows.” So it seems like WINNER’s future is wide open, as they already achieved enormous success in music.
On Sept 10, WINNER will move on to Japan to release “2014 S/S – Japan Collection” and will kick off their Japan Tour.
2014. 9. 7.
