Billboard Korea Launches New Global and Domestic Charts Reflecting K-Music

Billboard Korea and Billboard are introducing two new charts designed to more precisely capture the trends and global influence of K-Music.

On the 3rd, Billboard Korea announced, “We have officially launched the ‘Billboard Korea Global K-Songs’ and ‘Billboard K-Pop 100’ charts, which comprehensively reflect K-Music on both global and domestic levels.”

This marks the first time Billboard is officially compiling data to show how K-Music is being consumed in the global music market.

The two new charts are part of Billboard’s K-Music project in Korea, under Penske Media Corporation (PMC). They have been developed through close collaboration between Billboard’s U.S. headquarters and Billboard Korea, balancing expertise from the global chart system with the unique characteristics and realities of the Korean music ecosystem.

The ‘Billboard Korea Global K-Songs’ chart is a global songs chart that officially showcases the popularity of K-Music worldwide, based on actual streaming and sales data from Korea and around the globe. This allows for a clear view of how K-Music is spreading in international markets.

The ‘Billboard K-Pop 100’ focuses on the most popular songs within Korea, regardless of language, providing an intuitive look at what music is currently most loved by the Korean public.

Both charts utilize official data, including streaming usage and music sales figures from major global and domestic music platforms. Billboard aims to provide an objective and highly reliable standard for both fans and the industry, with the goal of establishing transparent indicators for the K-Music market.

While the ‘Billboard Hot 100’ and ‘Billboard 200’ from the U.S. headquarters serve as the core of the global chart system, Billboard Korea’s new charts expand this framework, offering a concentrated reflection of K-Music’s international growth and influence.

With this launch, global K-Music fans can now compare and understand how Korean music is being received worldwide and which songs are most supported domestically, all within a single system. This is expected to function as a ‘common language’ connecting artists, labels, and fan communities, going beyond simple rankings.

Silvio Pietroluongo, Executive Vice President of Charts & Data Partnerships at Billboard, stated, “We are delighted to reintroduce the new ‘Billboard K-Pop 100,’ which will comprehensively showcase a broader range of songs and artists to Korean music fans. The global influence of Korean music has already been widely recognized, and the newly launched ‘Billboard Korea Global K-Songs’ chart will officially highlight the top-performing K-Music tracks worldwide each week.”

Billboard and Billboard Korea plan to use these two charts as a starting point for a variety of future business ventures and collaborations centered around K-Music. Through differentiated projects such as storytelling content based on the charts, partnerships with artists and brands, and live events, they aim to deliver the unique value and potential of Korean music to fans around the world in a more dynamic way.

Both charts will be updated weekly, and the latest rankings can be found on the Billboard Korea website as well as the U.S. Billboard website.

Lee Da-gyeom

This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.