BLACKPINK

Mixing glossy girl group glamour with gritty trap swagger, K-pop superstars Blackpink emerged in 2016 with debut single "Boombayah" and quickly became the biggest Korean female act to gain crossover success in the US. The group was assembled by record company and talent agency YG Entertainment, whose executives were looking for a girl group to replace the defunct 2NE1 and crack the international market. Using the company's trainee program to find future stars, YG selected a line-up of diverse singers hailing for Bangkok, Seoul, and as far afield as Auckland, New Zealand. Blackpink's members first appeared together in a series of advertising campaigns before their debut single was released as a double A-side consisting of "Boombayah" and "Whistle." "Whistle" went on to top the Korean charts and "As If It's Your Last" helped them become stars in Japan, and they quickly found themselves with a worldwide army of fans endearingly called 'blinks.' Singing and rapping in both Korean and English, Blackpink's sound was introduced to the US and UK markets with 2018's "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du," which quickly notched up over 620 million views on YouTube (the most ever by a K-pop act) and was named "Video of the Year" by Rolling Stone magazine. The reggaeton-electro fusion of 2018's "Forever Young" was another popular success, and the group appeared on Dua Lipa's single "Kiss and Make-Up" and performed at Coachella that same year. The following May, Blackpink teamed up with Lady Gaga for dance-pop hit "Sour Candy," which was featured on Gaga's sixth studio album Chromatica. Blackpink worked with a number of producers for their first Korean studio album, 2020's The Album, and secured their place at the top table of global pop stardom with guest spots from Cardi B and Selena Gomez on "Bet You Wanna" and "Ice Cream," respectively. The hit video for album track "How You Like That" set a record as one of the most-viewed music videos within the first 24 hours of release, and Blackpink also became the first Korean act to have three music videos each accumulate one billion views on YouTube. The success continued with 2022's Born Pink, which sold more than 2 million copies in South Korea during its first two days of availability. The album rocketed to Number 1 in South Korea, Canada, Portugal, the US, and the UK, becoming the first release by a K-pop female act to top the UK chart.