2020 Year in Review: The K-Pop Boom

Published: Thursday 31st Dec 2020 by Rashad

Whether penciled in history books for reasons good, bad, ugly, and/or everything in between, 2020 brought with it some of entertainment’s most memorable moments.

Now, as the year draws to a close, That Grape Juice is reflecting on our favorite moments that rocked – and to some degree maybe even reshaped – the Urban and Pop cultural landscape as we know it.

Next, we’ll look at how K-Pop exploded onto American shores:

‘Dynamite,’ as sung by Korean septet BTS, would certainly be a fitting way to describe how K-Pop exploded onto the Billboard 200 and Hot 100 in 2020.

The genre’s popularity has been bubbling for the last few years, but it was finally realized like never before this year.

A charge led by BTS, the group performed at almost every major award show of the year.  What’s more, they became the first K-Pop group in Hot 100 history to debut at #1 (a feat they repeated), own three #1 singles, and debut two albums atop the Billboard 200.

Elsewhere, other groups like SuperM, TXT, and BlackPink also enjoyed historic successes over the last 12 months.

See highlights below:

Read:  BTS Set YouTube Viewership Record

BTS Score New YouTube Record With ‘Dynamite’

Read:  BTS Become First K-Pop Group to Hit #1 on the Hot 100

Hot 100: BTS Bump Cardi B & Megan Thee Stallion’s #WAP From #1 With Biggest First-Week Sales of the Year

Read:  BTS Owned Two of the Country’s Top-Selling Songs in One Week

Hot 100: BTS Boasts This Week’s Top TWO Best-Selling Songs

 

Read:  BTS Debut atop Hot 100 Again!

Hot 100: BTS Debuts at #1 with ‘Life Goes On’

Read:  BTS Debut atop Billboard 200 Again!

Final Numbers Are In: BTS’ ‘BE’ Blasts to #1 On Billboard 200 With Sales Of…

Read:  BLACKPINK Become Highest Charting Female K-Pop Group Ever (Billboard 200)

BLACKPINK Makes History With Highest First-Week Sales for a Girl Group in Over 12 Years

Read:  BlackPink Earn First Hot 100 Top 20 Hit for a Female K-Pop Group

Chart Check [Hot 100]: ‘Ice Cream’ Is Now BlackPink’s First Top 20 Hit

Read:  BLACKPINK Makes History As First Female K-Pop Group to Earn a Top 40 Hit

Chart Check [Hot 100]: BLACKPINK Make History With ‘How You Like That’ Top 40 Debut

[photo sources:  Getty Images/Instagram/AP Images]

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  1. Incognito December 31, 2020

    It’s impressive how they blew up like that, when you think that years ago nobody knew about them outside their territory and now they are selling/streaming more than any superstar around the globe 😱 i’m shocked by the amount of views on YouTube everytime. I remember when I was listening to K-pop artists like BoA when I was 14 yo (20 years already!) I would have never thought I would see this today!

    • 🍭marilyn monh-O-E🍭(💫Perfectly Splendid✨) December 31, 2020

      Talking about BoA. It’s sad she didn’t blow up in US. I enjoyed her self titled debut English album. Eat u up is a banger, looks what’s talking was written by Britney Spears💋💋I’m feeling all songs except girl on top. Meanwhile her k pop & j pop songs are catchy too.

      • 🍭marilyn monh-O-E🍭(💫Perfectly Splendid✨) December 31, 2020

        * I mean it was written for Britney but she rejected it

    • Incognito December 31, 2020

      Ooooh that’s so pleasant to read 😀😀😀

      ABSOLUTELY ! The album was a gem, so many great songs like “Did It For Love” featuring Sean Garrett, “Look Who’s Talking” which was rejected by Britney you are right! “Touched” was one of my favorite 🤩 I was hoping for a single release but as you said, she didn’t suceed break into USA 😪 I was so sad because I follow her since her first album.

      I feel you on “Girls On Top”, the song was an english cover of the korean album of the same name. “Scream” is also a cover from a german girlband that I love too called “Monrose”, if you don’t know them you should try 😍 they released fantastic songs like “Shame”, “Hot Summer”, “Strickly Physical”, “Hit n Run”, “This Is Me”, “Like a Lady”, etc… the last album “Ladylike” is pure gold, if you can listen to “Catwalk V.O.G.U.E” 😍

      Did you know that Dangerous” by Amerie sampled BoA feat. Yutaka Furukawa’s “Lose Your Mind”?

      BoA is SO underrated today… she released so many albums, like around 20 ones and she’s not even 40 yo 😱 her last songs like “Shattered” in live version (You can find on YouTube) is AMAZING and I don’t even talk about the singles “Camo” and “One Shot Two Shot” 😎 GEMS 💎

      That’s clearly one of my favorite asian singer 💖 I was into Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi too but BoA stays the one 🥇🏆

  2. 🍭marilyn monh-O-E🍭(💫Perfectly Splendid✨) December 31, 2020

    Asian girls looks like asian boys without wigs 💁🏽‍♀️💁🏽‍♀️👨🏽‍🦲👨🏽‍🦲👨🏽‍🦲

  3. eliza April 24, 2021

    hello

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