Chapter 93: Let's See

star who had just officially started promoting their second-week comeback.On June 11, Sistar made their official comeback with their second full-length album, "Give It To Me." The title track of the s..."Nice!"

Once people saw the screenshot and the rankings, the group chat instantly heated up. The previously anxious and uneasy atmosphere vanished immediately. As more people logged onto lon personally to see the list for themselves, various excited cheers began flooding each fan club group chat once again.

"Ooh! Ooh! We're out of breath!"

“I thought about this when I was watching v before, I said that the main song this time is good-sounding, it’s a song that can satisfy people just by listening to it without watching the stage and dance. The popularity of xo and stealing a group are similar. Our fans' size is originally larger than theirs. When the song is good-sounding and under high attention, it attracts enough passersby to listen, which is very normal.”

"Wow! Although there were speculations when lon collapsed earlier, I didn't expect it to actually surpass bigbang. And you see, this time it's a direct entry breaking the charts, and the curve is still going up!"

"That's how it should be! I just checked, most of the real-time charts on other music sources have us ranking first. It’s no surprise lon is doing well, EXO is just better at being a group!"

"It's actually quite a surprise, considering it's BIGBANG...So the chart performance is really this good, huh kkkk..."

It's truly exhilarating for all fans to see EXO achieve such a feat as topping most major music charts, including Melon, with their new release. This unexpected success brings an indescribable sense of joy and excitement.

Although they always seem to have the upper hand when arguing with .p online, and privately refer to Big Bang with dismissive sarcastic terms like "stealing a group" or "poisoning a group," it seems like they don't take them seriously at all.

But actually, old fans who have been around in the K-pop scene for a little while know that Big Bang, this former group and still current group, is really amazing. Their music chart performance on the peninsula is truly unmatched by any other male group. They're not like those other groups where just getting their title track on an annual chart is considered lucky.

Once fiercely competing with bigbang, SJ's presence here is simply incomparable. Their group and individual members' fame, as well as their music's audience reach, are on a completely different level. They truly are an extremely unique entity in the Korean music scene.

Especially Ai, who personally experienced the May competition, knew it best. No matter how much support and promotion there was when her song was released before, on May 1st when it was officially released, many fans stayed up all night refreshing the charts. Most fans were mobilized. However, at that time, she was still suppressed by the other party's two songs, remaining in second place for almost a whole month without any chance of reaching the top spot.

More than one million first-day streams for 《loser》, although not independent numbers, are already astonishing, and the extremely smooth curve of dominating the charts for nearly a month also demonstrates BIGBANG's massive fanbase. It's data that no matter how hard they try, they can't brush up on.

"" was the first to fall behind as a dance track, its sound source couldn't compare at all. And while "" has always been in third place, occasionally vying for second, its first-place data is noticeably lacking. The ranking difference isn't large, but there's actually quite a gap between the two.

"

Just like EXO's record-breaking sales are something BIGBANG can never achieve, .p you could say that even if your wallet was empty, you wouldn't be able to see the tail lights, let alone smell the exhaust fumes. However, BIGBANG's music is like a mountain, firmly pressing down on top of it all.

Many fans actually stopped thinking about competing with the other side in terms of music after May. Although they thought the title track was pretty good just now, they didn't think it could really beat BIGBANG and get first place.

To be honest, 《bangbangbang》 is actually a very good song. It has a unique and distinct style that really appeals to the audience here in the peninsula.

And now seeing this ranking, I can only say I'm overjoyed.

At this time, many AiLi were unrestrainedly venting their joy and even began to gleefully inquire about their opponents' situations:

"Hee hee hee, I've been bragging about stealing fans for so long. I locked down Rank 1 a half month early. The rest of the daily rankings, weekly rankings, and monthly crowns were all paid off and put on my head... Now I really want to see their expressions."

……

"... "

" Let me know if you'd like to translate any other text!

Quiet, speechless, gloomy.

Several fan clubs of the bigbang were noticeably subdued after seeing the first-day flop. The groups, which had previously been filled with confident and boastful messages, suddenly fell silent. Occasional comfort messages appeared, but their slow pace seemed to reflect the fans' disappointment.

They really didn't expect to be second on the first day without beating EXO, although being second is still a great achievement for other boy groups and fans would celebrate with banners. To .p though, coming in second after EXO means failure because their strongest point is music streaming.

And it's not just lon being suppressed, several charts have been suppressed.

The song quality is fine.

"Where's the unbeatable sound source you promised"

How's yg's music reputation

Where is our massive civilian pool

Where did it go

How could such an excellent song, "bangbangbang," be overshadowed by a mediocre title track from an idol group, even though it's a dance song

For a moment, many people fell silent and into deep thought, as if they had suddenly encountered an extremely difficult problem on an exam that they couldn't understand at all.

But no matter how one thinks about it, disappointment and anger are starting to brew in the hearts of many fans.

Including those who have been organizing fans to collect data, and well-known senior fans like Lin Chengxian are all like this.

After a while, it seemed like the emotions that had risen earlier reversed, and the group chat became lively again.

"Although Empty One didn't get the win, Empty Two is actually really amazing... Although being suppressed by the Ground Group was a bit frustrating... But if you look at the data, both songs aren't that different. We also just debuted and already broke records, our performance has been fantastic."

We all know that they have a large fanbase who are very active. The hype generated by competing with us attracted a lot of casual listeners to their music, and coupled with their relentless chart-topping efforts, it's understandable how they managed to outshine us for a while.

"When you can't win fair and square, you resort to cheating. These so-called 'fans' are truly pathetic, and the official Lon team should take action against this kind of behavior."

"The lead song is written by DiGuang again This guy is so annoying! He's the most irritating person in the whole band. This time, he even dyed his hair blue, looking like a parrot. All I can say is that s has no other work to do."

"Don't worry, our reputation and audience are right here. Everyone has heard , and the quality is considered excellent. I personally think it's even better than Loser in terms of style. So even though the initial explosion might not have surpassed them, we definitely won't lose in the long run. I estimate they'll be gone within a day."

"Indeed, relying solely on a sudden burst of popularity won't be enough. It still depends on public favor and staying power."

"fightg!"

Although it is indeed disappointing, after all, it's only the first day of the comeback and the performance. Bigbang's past incredible digital music records still give VIPs confidence. The long history of brilliant achievements still makes many people feel that this 'flop' was just stolen by a rival group.

After all, "bangbangbang" is really good. I estimate that in one or two days, the two title tracks of the two groups will return to their rightful place.

Wait and see!

……

Regardless of whether one is a fan of the two boy groups, basically anyone who frequents the Kpop scene will have some anticipation for their comebacks and competition. The crazy influx of views and clicks when the sound source was released at dawn directly proved this, with lon collapsing as evidence.

The next day, news and press releases flooded all major platforms. Almost every hot topic on the entertainment section was dominated by the two groups.

"EXO makes a hot comeback with two new songs, the title track "Boy With Luv" sweeps the top of major Korean music charts and ranks first on iTunes charts in 52 countries and regions including Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Philippines."

Melon: The simultaneous release of BigBang and EXO's songs caused the biggest music streaming site Melon to crash for two hours. The popularity of these top male groups is truly astonishing!

Suho Entertainment: Asian boy bands EXO and BIGBANG's simultaneous comeback ignited the entire music industry. EXO's title track 'Boy With Luv' topped seven charts, and its popularity in China is equally high. On July 31st alone, over 900,000 people pre-ordered their new song on Penguin Audio.

Behind the fierce competition between two major male idol groups lies the true sign of Kpop's growing strength and its sweeping conquest of Asia!

Besides the marketing drafts arranged by s and yg, with such high heat, major mainstream media would naturally not be absent. Almost any news related to kpop entertainment has published articles, with most placing it on the front page.

And such a large-scale report naturally attracted the attention of many ordinary listeners who did not know about this news beforehand, or who did not listen on time yesterday. This brought a wave of listening and popularity to several songs, while intense and passionate discussions were also seen everywhere.

"Ahhh, the song is so good, v is so handsome, yuan is so handsome, exo is amazing!"

"bangbangbangbangbangbang~~"

"I've listened to both groups' songs, whether it's 《boywithv》 or 《banbgbangbang》. Although they have their own distinct styles, they are both very good. These articles are right, Kpop is indeed getting better and better."

"Judging by the heat and music quality, EXO and BIGBANG are clearly several steps ahead of other boy groups. It feels like this year is particularly active for boy groups. Could we be entering a golden age for them"

“The song 《boywithv》 is really good. Even though I’m not usually into boy bands, I think it's pretty great. I haven't paid much attention to EXO before, but for them to be this popular, they must have something special about them. Also, off-topic question, who's the member with blue hair in V He's really handsome and stands out so much!”

}

Let me state upfront that I'm not a fan of either group. They've been around for so long and have never participated before...I've listened to both groups' songs this time, and what satisfies me the most is that the quality of the songs is excellent. You can tell V put a lot of effort into it. There isn't a situation where one song is a hit while the others are terrible, with a huge disparity and no suspense whatsoever. This kind of intense competition where both sides are strong is truly exhilarating.

Besides fans of each idol boasting and promoting their own idol's achievements, many genuine passersby also shared their opinions. What surprised them the most was that the quality of both EXO and BIGBANG's comeback this time was exceptionally high, especially the two title tracks "boywithluv" and "bangbangbang". Within a day of release, both songs already had a large number of dedicated fans.

Moreover, it's also difficult to say that each other's songs are trash because the quality is undeniable. Blindly criticizing is something only die-hard fans and haters would do. You can only say you dislike the style of their songs.

On all major music charts, 《boywithv》 sits at number one. This is true for both real-time and daily charts. However, 《bangbangbang》 is hot on its heels.

However, despite the fierce competition and near-universal attention, what disappointed .p was that even after almost a day of releasing the song, 《bangbangbang》 had yet to surpass EXO in terms of real-time and daily chart rankings.

And, the gap seems to still be a little bit wide

……

"These two groups are really going crazy! It's only the second day, and we just went out for dinner. So many restaurants we passed had already been playing those two songs, especially at that bibimbap place we ate at. They kept looping 'ohyyy' on repeat. The owner is pretty funny, like it's a good song but you don't have to play it on repeat all day! My head is still filled with the melody..."

Several female trainees had just returned to the practice room after going out for dinner together. As soon as they arrived, Park Ji-hyo couldn't help but complain and vent her frustrations.

It's already June 2nd, and the heat surrounding the two groups and two songs yesterday hasn't diminished. After a day of brewing, it has even increased noticeably. At least for the few people in 《sixteen》 these past two days have been filled with the shadow of 'ohyyy'.

Even in the practice room, people are learning this dance; it's everywhere you go. People even hum the tune unconsciously during meals or when they return to their dormitories.

Isn't it a little too hot

“I guess the boss or staff are big fans of xo,” Yu Dingyan speculated as he walked beside her, glancing at Lin Naeyeon who had been silent since hearing ‘ohyyy’ in the restaurant earlier. She hadn't spoken much, but she visibly twitched her mouth when she heard this.”

I don't know if this sister secretly watched v privately these two days...

"Honestly, I've never seen anything like this before. All over the internet it's just news about their comeback, nothing about any other groups..."

Remembering the various reports I saw these two days and the incredible heat I felt, a few people couldn't help but sigh. Park Ji-hyo sat there flipping through her phone, flipping for a while before she managed to dig up a 'Shee achieved first place on last week's popularity song chart' news in a corner.

This already has a decent amount of exposure. Other groups that made a comeback during the same period, besides their own company buying press releases, haven't even had any news reports.

Even if it were bought content, it was completely drowned out in the massive amount of messages from the two groups.

Even news about EXO just returning to Seoul and airport photos were trending.

When Song Minying mentioned this, Zhou Tzuyu, who was sitting beside her, suddenly paused her hand because she had just clicked on a news article titled "EXO concludes its Xia Guo concert tour and returns to Incheon International Airport today" and was quietly looking at the pictures of Park Chanyeol taken at the airport that had been uploaded not long ago.

There are several photos taken from different angles. In the pictures, he is wearing a light gray baseball cap and a mask, walking his head down towards the airport exit. Although he is just wearing a simple white short sleeve shirt with jeans, he looks very comfortable.

At least Zhou Tzuyu herself likes him dressing like this.

And the "gui" tag on Chi Jingyuan's short sleeve is quite noticeable.

When you compare them like this, GOT7's seniors really...

I don't know who was so clueless to blurt that out, but maybe they realized something because before they could finish, they stopped and shut their mouth.

After all, it's not appropriate to say such things about seniors from your own company. If it gets out, you might even get disciplined by the company.

And the few people next to her also glanced at the girl who spoke with strange eyes.

How does Got7 compare to those two boy bands You wouldn't be their crazy fan, or a hater, would you

There's a huge difference in class, they're not even in the same race.

"Before, baba also said he was optimistic about Big Bang, saying EXO's sound sources didn't work out… But looking at the current situation, ''s performance is better, even surpassing them in sound sources."

"That's clearly... never mind."

“This time EXO and Big Bang’s results are both so great, they’ve broken all sorts of records in just a day or two…” Yedam said as he searched for an Alyx War Report sticker to read.

- Landed at #1 (2 hours of network paralysis), topped the daily chart.

"The 24-hour independent listenership reached 910,000, a first in boy group history."

"Lon broke 6 times genie broke 3 times."

"24-hour YouTube views surpass 16 million..."

Sitting on the van heading back to Seoul city center, Ji-sung saw this message on his phone and blinked. He casually asked the members next to him, "How many views did Big Bang have on YouTube"

Because of the concert in Shanghai on May 30th and 31st, they weren't at the Peninsula for the previous two days. They were originally supposed to return on the 1st, but due to a last-minute addition to their domestic schedule, they were delayed by one day, so they only set off on the 2nd and just got off the plane.

Although they aren't here right now, they could feel the incredible buzz surrounding their return. The moment they stepped out of the airport, the deafening screams from the massive crowd of fans took everyone by surprise. The throngs of reporters, armed with cameras and microphones, who had been waiting for hours also created a sense of overwhelming amazement.

Just walked out of security, and all these blinding flashlights came swarming in instantly, engulfing the crowd and staff. If it weren't for my assistant and manager being so helpful, just getting out would have been a real struggle.

This kind of situation has actually been seen many times before, but the point is that today is only the second day after his return.

After getting into the nanny car, Ji Jingyuan naturally took out his phone to check the dynamics and results of their performance on the peninsula over the past two and a half days. After flipping through it for a while, he clicked on a post with a high number of replies and likes published by a user named Ai Li, titled "l" performance report.

These fans have collected incredibly detailed data on various achievements, even more meticulous than what S company has. They have rankings from all over the world for every category, including some niche ones. Many of these statistics are even unknown to Li Jingyuan and his team themselves.

And seeing these self-praising posts really makes me feel a sense of schadenfreude.

"I just saw it, about four million."

"Go Woo Shi Hwan, who was sitting behind them, blurted out after hearing this. Then he craned his neck to glance over and said knowingly, “You also saw that battle report post, right Our first-day YouTube clicks are the highest among all male groups now. Among all artists, only PSY's 'Gentleman' has more than us, with 36 million on the first day. That’s really outrageous…”

"The gap is quite significant, isn't it" Chi Jingyuan nodded and continued reading.

I don't know if he's talking about EXO and PSY, or EXO and BIGBANG...

"The U.S. iTunes sales reached 18,000 and ranked ninth" It was obvious that this battle report post was very popular, as it wasn't just Chi Jingyuan who was looking at it at this moment. Jin Junmian, beside him, also suddenly read out a line, his tone full of surprise:

"This much It's higher than last time's "Spring Day," I feel like our popularity in Europe and America is getting higher and higher."

"This high Which post, I'll go take a look too."

He said that, which immediately also aroused the interest of several other members who hadn't seen it before, and they reached for their phones to check it out.

Since last year's mini album, EXO has gained some recognition in Europe and America. Although they aren't hugely popular, they have garnered a relatively stable fanbase. This trend is particularly evident in their recent comebacks. From the first "e" to now, every song release sees a noticeable increase in iTunes sales in the US market. Notably, "Spring Day" sold over 10,000 copies on its first day, indicating a steady improvement in their performance.

Unlike other regions where iTunes chart topping might not be a big deal, US iTunes sales still carry significant weight. This data also holds considerable influence in the b-list ranking.

The "b榜" refers to the Billboard chart, which is the most authoritative music chart in the American and European pop music scene. This chart has many different rankings, and the one that receives the most attention is the Hot 100.

After a moment, as if something had come to his mind, Kim Jun-myeon's eyes lit up and he blurted out:

"So, do we have a chance to hit the Hot 100 this week"

First published on the Traditional Chinese Novel Networkm Ji-yeon also expressed her great fondness for "Our Blues": “'Our Blues,' which directly depicts the joys, sorrows and anger of office workers, ranks far ahead of other popular programs. It has held...