Jennie finally breaks into U.S. radio charts for the first time with K-pop… second-ever No. 1

Jennie, the “K-pop iron wall” breaker, casts a spell over U.S. radio listeners

The once-tough barriers to entering America’s radio charts finally collapsed. BLACKPINK member “Jennie” has taken the top spot on “Billboard”’s radio chart—an enduring challenge for K-pop artists—shaking up the global pop landscape.

On the 27th (local time), U.S. business heavyweight Forbes reported that “Jennie” and “Tame Impala”, a world-renowned artist from Australia, teamed up on “Dracula”, which captured weekly No. 1 on “Adult Pop Airplay”.

“Adult Pop Airplay”, introduced in 1996, is an indicator that precisely converts the number of times songs are aired on major U.S. radio stations targeting adults into chart totals. Up to now, despite many K-pop hit songs landing in the top ranks of “Hot 100” or “Billboard 200,” K-pop has struggled especially on radio charts. Unlike digital track and album sales figures, radio airplay counts cannot be pushed through by the cohesion of any single fandom alone; they require broad mainstream support across the entire United States.

This latest No. 1 is the second biggest achievement in history following “Golden,” the theme song from Netflix’s animated film “K-pop Demon Hunters.” Analyses widely suggest that the addition of “Jennie” dramatically boosted the song’s mass cultural impact.

The original “Dracula” first appeared last October as “Tame Impala”’s solo track. After that, this year’s February saw the release of a remix version that adds “Jennie”’s signature vocals. The track then swept global short-form platforms, completing a dramatic chart comeback legend.

The current frenzy around this song does not stay confined to a single chart. It is taking No. 1 across as many as seven categories—“Pop Airplay,” “Hot Rock & Alternative Songs,” “Hot Rock Songs,” “Hot Alternative Songs,” “Hot Dance/Electronic Songs,” and “Dance Streaming Songs”—spreading the “Jennie” boom across North America.