K-pop: the 10 hits that keep playing on iTunes Mexico

The success that K-pop has achieved over the past decade is indisputable: every day you see hangul (Korean alphabet) words dominating the global twitter trendsits representatives add millions of views each time they publish a music video on YouTube, they are nominated for very relevant awards such as the grammys and they are at the top of the most important charts like those of Billboard or iTunes.

With their perfectly coordinated choreographies, their catchy songs and the mixture of genres and styles that compose them, it is to be expected that many streaming platforms will be interested in measuring the impact of the Korean musical wave and make lists like Top iTunes K-Pop Songs.

Based on the number of downloads or digital purchases made through the Apple system, the iTunes K-pop chart is available to view daily in at least 39 countries, including Mexico, so it’s a tally worth the effort. Worth checking to find out. favorite singles of the moment and not be left behind by trends.

Here are the top 10 K-pop songs from iTunes Mexico:

1. Smoke Sprite (with RM)
Artista: So! YoON!

2. Vagabond
Artist: Kai

3. Promise
Artist: Jimin

4. christmas love
Artist: Jimin

5. Wildflower (with 조유진)
Artist: RM

6. Errr day
Artist: Youngjae

7. Idol
Artist: BTS

8. Party Photo Remix
Artist: Jang Wooyoung

9. Like it’s your last
Artist: BLACKPINK

ten.The astronaut

Artist: Jin

Modern K-pop (from English “Korean pop”) has its origins in the 90s with the debut of popular group Seo Taiji and Boys in 1992 known for incorporating western music styles such as rap, hip-hop, rock, jazz, electronic and techno into their songs.

This trio, made up of Seo Taiji, Yang Hyun-suk and Lee Junodebuted on a talent show on MBC with the song Nan Arayo, surprising the jury, who gave them the lowest marks. However, the success this single received on radio and TV was overwhelming, leading to more songs in this style being released and more artists opting into it.

It wasn’t until 1995 that producer Lee Soo Man founded one of the companies that remains a “heavyweight” in the music industry to this day, S&M Entertainment; while former Seo Taiji & Boys member Yang Hyun Suk created YG Entertainment (nineteen ninety-six); followed by JYP Entertainment (1997), created by singer Park Jin Young.

These three companies were long called the “Big 3” ‒until the success BTS achieved thanks to BigHit Entertainment (now known as Hybe Labels)‒ and were dedicated to teaching early generation idols, in order to satisfy Korean audiences’ demand to see younger artists.

In this way, the HOT group was one of the first to debut in the industry, followed by others who made up the famous “first generation of K-pop” like Sechs Kies, SES, Fin.KL, NRG, Baby VOX, Diva, Shinhwa and god

By the start of the new millennium, some of the idol groups that had debuted were inactive while others like Baby Vox were having success in various parts of Asia, an example of which was their song Coincidence, which was promoted at the 2003 FIFA World Cup and topped the Chinese music charts.

At the same time, other artists who went solo also marked a turning point: Boathe first Korean singer to lead the Oricon chart in Japan, an equivalent of the Billboard chart but Asian and in which artists from other countries rarely manage to enter and Rainan actor and singer who performed in front of 40,000 people in Beijing.

Later I’ll make the call “second generation of K-pop”still in the hands of groups made up of young figures such as TVXQ (started in 2003), SS501 (2005), Super Junior (2005), BIGBANG (2006), as well as girl groups like Wonder Girls (2007), Girls generation (2007) and KARA (2007).

In 2008, South Korea already dominated the entertainment market in Asia with an annual growth rate of more than 10% in the exports of its musical and television products with K-dramas, even representing 68% of the music market in Japan, ahead of China (11.2%) and the United States (2.1%).

Later, other bands like SHINee or INFINITYthe latter who managed to obtain the record of being the first to top the Billboard Emerging Artists chart in 2014 with his song Last Romeo; 2PM, EXO, 2IN1, until you reach the third generation of K-pop where new groups such as BTS, Seventeen, GOT7, Twice, Red Velvet, BLACKPINK, MAMAMOO, among othersso far fourth generation which are everyone who debuted between 2017 and 2018 like Stray Kids, ITZY, Ateez, Astro and more.

It should be mentioned that a watershed that should be considered is Rapper PSY’s Gangnam Stylea song that not only managed to break unimaginable records on music platforms such as Youtubebut it also traveled the world and showed that language was no barrier to success in highly competitive countries like American industry.

To this day, the relay of the greatest representatives of K-pop is held by the group BTS ‒integrated by Suga, RM, Jin, Jimin, J-Hope, V and Jungkook‒, who in addition to dominating the music industry in South Korea and consolidating their notoriety in the rest of the world, were named “Asia’s trend leader” by The Economist and “Artists of the year” by TIME magazine, through his Grammy Award Nominations and his 10 Billboard Awards.