On November 22, The Korea Times reported that BTS’s management company, Big Hit Entertainment, said that members RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook are completing military service procedures. Jungkook’s specific recording date is December, while the remaining three members have yet to make an announcement.
To overthrow BLACKPINK’s difficult position
In South Korea, all able-bodied men are required to serve in the military for approximately two years.
According to the Military Service Act, which was amended in 2020, the four members are allowed to postpone their military service until they are 30 years old. However, if they go in the same direction as Jin, J-Hope and SUGA, they give up their right to deferment to RM, Jimin, V and Jungkook will enlist in military service when notified by the military.
They are expected to be hired at the end of this year or early next year at the latest. This means BTS will be able to work as a group again by 2025, when all members are expected to have completed their military service.
The remaining BTS members are preparing to record.
Before BTS joined the army, they and BLACKPINK were the two “hegemonic” Kpops in the boy band and girl group space. Of course, among the girl groups there were IVE, Aespa, NewJeans and Le Sserafim who shared the “piece of the pie”, but none of them could overcome BLACKPINK’s enormous influence in the international market. .
Not only have they not been able to enter the Billboard Hot 100 as often as BLACKPINK, the aforementioned girl groups also cannot have as much buzz and recognition as the 4 YG girls in terms of brand ambassadors and event participation.
According to The Korea Times, BLACKPINK recently won King Charles III’s Order of Merit for Art Services during President Yoon Suk Yeol’s state visit to the United Kingdom.
During a special investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, the royal awarded the girl group the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in recognition of the K-pop group’s role in spreading the message of sustainability. environment to a global audience.
A week ago, BLACKPINK reached an important milestone in their career when they received an award at the 2023 Billboard Music Awards. According to the results announced on Billboard’s official website on November 20, BLACKPINK won the Top Kpop Touring Artist category, surpassing fellow contestants SUGA of BTS and TWICE.
This win marks them as the first girl group to win at the BBMAs since Destiny’s Child in 2005 and is the group’s next notable success in the global music industry.
So if BTS is absent for two years and no group can make a miracle in the international market and BLACKPINK continues to maintain group activities, they will become the hegemon of Kpop.
BLACKPINK finds itself in a situation that cannot be replaced by anyone.
Strong opponents want to conquer the throne
When it comes to boys’ groups, Seventeen and Stray Kids are the two groups with the most potential to follow in their seniors’ footsteps. While Seventeen is strong in digital music in the domestic market and in album success, Stray Kids is making a strong impression on international audiences.
Seventeen sold a total of 11 million albums from January to the end of September, according to Circle Chart data. Her tenth mini album made a significant contribution to this impressive sales – FML – appeared in April. This album has sold more than 6.27 million copies.
With the 11th album Seventeenth Heaven Upon their debut not long ago, the group achieved pre-order sales of 5.2 million copies – the highest in Kpop history.
Stray Kids’ song is at number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100 LALALALA. They are the second Kpop boy group to enter the Billboard Hot 100 after BTS. JYP’s boy band has a large fan base in Europe and America.
LALALALA in Stray Kids’ newly released album titled Rock star. This album also reached number one on the Billboard Hot 200, making Stray Kids one of two Kpop groups (along with BTS) to achieve this success with more than four albums.
Korea JoongAng Daily reported that Stary Kids is one of the Kpop artists dominating Billboard’s year-end charts, proving their global popularity this year. The list also includes Fifty Fifty, Jungkook, New Jeans, TXT, TWICE and ITZY.
Stray Kids is the leading group among 4th generation Kpop boy bands.
Billboard’s year-end charts summarize the successes of songs, albums and artists from November 2022 to October of this year.
Girl group Fifty Fifty ranked No. 44 on Billboard’s year-end Hot 100 Songs chart Cupidmaking it the first Kpop girl group to make it into the charts. BTS’s Jungkook ranked 82nd in the same chart Seven.
Meanwhile, Stray Kids’ third full album is featured on Billboard’s year-end Top 200 Albums chart 5 Stars Rank 82. Stray Kids is the highest ranked Kpop artist on the chart.
After Stray Kids, the boy band Tomorrow X Together landed at number 122 with their fifth EP The title chapter: Temptation. This is the third consecutive year the group has been included in the year-end rankings.
TXT or NCT, ENHYPEN are all famous boy bands with a large fan base in Kpop. Therefore, they are also expected to become global stars like their senior BTS counterparts.
Still, like a sheet Dailian It is said that most fourth-generation boy bands such as Stray Kids and TXT do not have high rankings on domestic music sites, although they have achieved good results on foreign iTunes charts.
In the past, it was common for singers to become famous in Korea and then move to Asian countries such as Japan, Europe and America. But in recent years, they initially gained attention abroad while not being all that popular in Korea.
With girl groups like New Jeans, IVE, aespa… they have not yet achieved a prominent position in the international music charts.
It shows that Kpop groups are currently in a situation where the men’s group is not famous in their home country and the women’s group is still unknown in the USA. No one has achieved as many records at home and abroad as BTS or BLACKPINK. Therefore, they still have a long way to go to achieve the same success as their seniors.
Given this situation, it is probably difficult for any group to defeat BLACKPINK and become the Kpop hegemon during BTS’s temporary hiatus.
