Blackpink's Jisoo, first solo 'ME' ranked '1st' on iTunes in 57 countries

Girl group Blackpink Jisoo hit the global charts with her first solo album 'ME', receiving favorable reviews from music fans around the world.

According to YG Entertainment on April 1, Jisoo's solo album title song 'FLOWER', which was released at 1 PM (Korean time) on the 31st of last month, ranked first on the iTunes Worldwide Song Chart. It shows an even distribution of popularity across countries including the United States, North and South America, Europe, Oceania, and Asia, and is the result of reaching the top spot in a total of 57 countries.

The repercussion on domestic music charts is also large. As soon as it was released, 'FLOWER' went straight to No. 1 on Naver Vibe and took the top spot on Melon, Genie, and Bugs' real-time charts. In particular, Melon, which is calculated by combining 24-hour usage and real-time users, has seen a rapid rise in ranking.

Interest in music videos is also hot. The music video for the title song 'FLOWER' exceeded 37 million views in just 20 hours after being released on YouTube, quickly becoming the 'No. 1 most viewed video in 24 hours'. Thanks to this, Blackpink's official YouTube channel also saw a rapid increase in the number of subscribers, exceeding 85.6 million.

Leading foreign media such as Billboard in the US, Rolling Stone in the UK, and NME also covered the news of Jisoo's solo debut. NME praised "'FLOWER' is a song that contains both elegance and creativity, modern elements and traditional beauty. It is definitely one of the best K-pop songs of the year," and Billboard pointed out Jisoo's vocal capabilities and said, "It is truly a song." “Jisoo is in full bloom. Soon, she will match the records set by Blackpink members,” he said, predicting good results.

Jisoo's surge in popularity across the globe was already predicted. His first solo album [ME] recorded more than 1.31 million pre-orders in just three weeks.

Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr