New Trend To Rank High In Digital K-pop Music Charts, 'Be Different'

In the past couple months the digital K-Pop charts have displayed a wide variety of artists and styles in the top ten.

Lately it has not been the mega idol groups who have dominated the charts as in the past, and 2PM's failure to shoot to the top with their recent comeback is a perfect example of this new trend.

JYP Entertainment's beastly idols released "Comeback When You Hear This Song" May 5 and it barely made a blip on the charts in the first couple days.

A couple weeks ago, veteran artist Cho Yong Pil made headlines when his first release in a decade, "Bounce," dominated number one spots across the board, ousting Psy's "Gentleman" from its place for the preceding few days.

Earlier in the week Queen of K-Pop, Lee Hyori got herself an all-kill in the digital charts with her latest release "Miss Korea," a song with a retro feel to it, a style that is very different from her singles of the past.

While Lee Hyori, Psy and Cho Yong Pil are old hats in the music business, unconventional rookie groups, indie singers, and audition show contestants have also been performing well in the charts as of late.

Even before they were the named the season two winners of KpopStar, brother-sister duo Akdong Musician were consistently seen in the charts (even in the top ten of Billboard's K-Pop Hot 100) with their uniquely catchy original songs.

SuperstarK3 runner-up Busker Busker has also been seen frequently in digital charts. Less we forget miss Lee Hi, the season one KpopStar runner-up, who seems to make it directly to the top spot each time she releases a new single.

One thing the digital charts seem to be reflecting is that the typical idols are no longer the trend.

Across the internet fans are expressing their appreciation for the variety in the K-Pop digital charts.

Netizens responded to a Star News article touting the vast array of music currently hitting the digital charts with resounding applause.

"This is how it should be. I want to listen to a diverse range of music like now," said one post. Another read, "Seems like things are finally working the way it should on the charts."

When perusing the real-time digital charts these days, it is nice to be able to hear a variety of genres and styles from all sorts of different musicians. "The charts definitely are a lot more fun to listen to," commented another netizen. "It's not just one genre or artist dominating it, but a variety of genres and ages all highly ranked so there's the fun of picking and choosing what you like."

What ever way you look at it, the diversification of K-Pop is turning out to be a pretty positive thing and the digital charts appear to be the level playing ground for everyone to have the opportunity to be heard.   

Tags
2PM
Lee Hyori
cho yong pil
Psy
akdong musician
Busker Busker
Lee Hi
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