October Rookie Idol Group Brand Reputation Rankings Announced
The Korean Business Research Institute has revealed this month’s brand reputation rankings for rookie idol groups!
The rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer participation, media coverage, interaction, and community awareness indexes of various rookie idol groups, using big data collected from September 1 to October 1.
RESCENE held onto their spot at the top of the list with a brand reputation index of 8,057,217, marking a 8.04 percent increase in their score since September. High-ranking phrases in the group’s keyword analysis included “LOVE ATTACK,” “trot,” and “college festival,” while their highest-ranking related terms included “surpass,” “sold out,” and “root for.” RESCENE’s positivity-negativity analysis also revealed a score of 94.97 percent positive reactions.
CORTIS maintained their position at second place with a brand reputation index of 2,510,823, marking a 2.96 percent rise in their score since last month.
izna shot to third place after seeing a whopping 492.05 percent increase in their brand reputation index, bringing their total score to 1,374,000 for October.
Hearts2Hearts took fourth place with a brand reputation index of 1,174,877, while KiiiKiii came in at a close fifth with a score of 1,149,374.
NCT WISH, TXT, ENHYPEN, RIIZE, TWS, ZEROBASEONE, LE SSERAFIM, And More Earn RIAJ Double Platinum And Gold Certifications In Japan
The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) has announced its latest batch of official certifications!
This month, NCT WISH’s latest Japanese single album “YO-I-DON! / BOY MEETS GIRL” was certified double platinum for over 500,000 units shipped in Japan. According to the RIAJ’s certification thresholds, albums are certified gold at 100,000 units shipped, platinum at 250,000, and million at 1,000,000.
TXT’s new Japanese single album “Setsuna Hanabi,” ENHYPEN’s Korean mini album “THE SIN : BLISS,” RIIZE’s new Japanese single album “Sunburst,” TWS’s new Japanese single album “SODA SODA,” and NiziU’s Japanese EP “GOOD GIRL BUT NOT FOR YOU” were all certified platinum for over 250,000 units shipped in Japan each.
Meanwhile, ZEROBASEONE’s latest Japanese EP “KAIKILOVE,” LE SSERAFIM’s Korean album “PUREFLOW” pt.1, and ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s Korean mini album “UNBREAKABLE : 少年BEAST” were all certified gold for over 100,000 units shipped in Japan each.
Congratulations to all of the artists!
Watch TXT, RIIZE, and ZEROBASEONE in “Idol Festa Attack” on Viki below:
Watch Now
Or check out RIIZE’s variety show “BOSS RIIZE” below:
The winners for this year’s The Fact Music Awards has been announced!
On September 19, the ceremony for the 2026 The Fact Music Awards took place in Busan.
The four Daesang (grand prize) awards went to ATEEZ, NMIXX, RIIZE, and CORTIS. ATEEZ took home Icon of the Year along with Artist of the Year, while NMIXX took Sound of the Year and Artist of the Year, with member Sullyoon also snagging the FANSTAR MYSTAR award. RIIZE won Muse of the Year along with Artist of the Year, and CORTIS won three awards with Record of the Year, Artist of the Year, and Next Leader.
Check out the full list of winners below:
Icon of the Year: ATEEZ
Sound of the Year: NMIXX
Muse of the Year: RIIZE
Record of the Year: CORTIS
World Best Performer: TREASURE
Artist of the Year: ATEEZ, TREASURE, NMIXX, RIIZE, ILLIT, RESCENE, KiiiKiii, ALLDAY PROJECT, CORTIS, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, Yena
World Best Wave: EVAN
Global Hot Trend: tripleS, CLOSE YOUR EYES
Next Leader: CORTIS, ALPHA DRIVE ONE
Hottest: xikers, IDID
TMA Popularity Award: Lim Young Woong
Today’s Choice: RESCENE
Special Jury Award: Lim Young Woong
FANNSTAR CHOICE (Group): BTS FANNSTAR CHOICE (Solo): Lee Chan Won
Best Music (Spring): BTS Best Music (Summer): BTS Best Music (Autumn): PLAVE Best Music (Winter): Lee Chan Won
Global Hot Star Awards: PLAVE
FANNSTAR MYSTAR (Male): Jin FANNSTAR MYSTAR (Female): Sullyoon
Congratulations to all the winners!
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ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s Agency Warns Of Strong Legal Action Over Leak And Misuse Of Anxin’s Personal Information
ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s agency WAKEONE has warned of strong legal action against the unauthorized disclosure, dissemination, and misuse of the members’ personal information.
On September 18, WAKEONE released an official statement announcing that it had confirmed the unauthorized leak and dissemination of member Anxin’s personal information on social media, as well as its subsequent misuse.
In response, the agency strongly urged those responsible to immediately cease such activities and warned that the agency would take all available legal measures with zero tolerance toward acts that violate its artists’ privacy and rights.
Read WAKEONE’s official statement below:
Hello. This is WAKEONE.
We have recently confirmed that member ANXIN’s personal information has been leaked and disseminated without authorization on social media platforms and that such information has since been misused.
Disclosing or disseminating an artist’s personal information without their consent is a serious violation of the artist’s privacy and rights. In particular, using or impersonating the artist with leaked personal information, including identification documents, may cause further harm not only to the artist but also to third parties. We therefore ask that you immediately cease disseminating such information or using, modifying, or misusing it in any form.
We are continuously collecting relevant posts and materials and are working with SHIN & KIM LLC to review and pursue the necessary legal action. Upon confirming such acts, we will take all available legal measures against the sharing or redistribution of personal information, as well as alteration, unauthorized use, or misuse of such information. We will also take firm action, with zero tolerance, against any conduct that infringes upon the artist’s rights and interests.
If you come across any related posts, please refrain from sharing or reposting them to prevent further circulation. Instead, please send us the relevant URLs and materials through our reporting channel. (wakeone_protect@wake-one.com)
WAKEONE will continue to closely monitor the situation and take appropriate action to protect the privacy and rights of our artists.
Stray Kids, SHINee’s Taemin, NCT 127, MONSTA X, RESCENE, And More Top Circle Monthly And Weekly Charts
Circle Chart has revealed its latest monthly and weekly chart rankings!
Monthly Album Chart
Stray Kids topped the physical album chart for August with their new mini album “THIS & THAT,” which claimed two of the top five spots. The regular version of the EP debuted at No. 1 on the monthly chart, while the FANS version charted separately at No. 5.
ENHYPEN’s new mini album “THE SIN : BLISS” debuted at No. 2, while ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s mini album “UNBREAKABLE : 少年BEAST” entered the chart at No. 3.
Finally, NCT 127’s new studio album “BLINGY” entered the monthly chart at No. 4.
Weekly Album Chart
MONSTA X topped the weekly album chart with their new mini album “The Phase,” while CORTIS’s “GREENGREEN” climbed back up to No. 2.
82MAJOR’s new single album “HEAT” debuted at No. 3, with NCT 127’s “BLINGY” staying strong at No. 4.
Finally, SHINee’s Taemin’s new solo EP “PHASE 1 : Soft Violence” entered the chart at No. 5.
Monthly Download Chart
NCT 127 topped the digital download chart for August with their new title track “Blingy,” which debuted at No. 1.
ENHYPEN’s “Bloody Paradise” entered the monthly chart at No. 2, Stray Kids’ “This & That” at No. 3, BIGBANG’s “BiiiG” at No. 4, and ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s “BORN DIRE” at No. 5.
Weekly Download Chart
Taemin achieved a double crown on this week’s charts with his new solo title track “FLOAT,” which topped both the overall digital chart and the digital download chart.
MONSTA X’s new title track “MAGIC” debuted at No. 2 on the digital download chart, followed by BLACKPINK’s Jisoo’s “CLICK” at No. 3, Girls’ Generation-HRS’s “Skibidi” at No. 4, and PLAVE’s “Flame” (featuring milet) at No. 5.
Monthly Digital Chart + Streaming Chart
RESCENE earned a double crown on the Circle charts for August with their belatedly viral 2024 hit “LOVE ATTACK,” which topped both the overall digital chart and the streaming chart this month.
The top five songs on the overall digital chart and the streaming chart were exactly the same for August: “LOVE ATTACK” took No. 1 on both charts, followed by CORTIS’s “REDRED” at No. 2, I.O.I’s “Suddenly” at No. 3, aespa’s “LEMONADE” at No. 4, and RESCENE’s remake of “Pretty Girl” at No. 5.
Weekly Digital Chart
Taemin’s new title track “FLOAT” debuted at No. 1 on this week’s overall digital chart, trailed by RESCENE’s “LOVE ATTACK” at No. 2, CORTIS’s “REDRED” at No. 3, BIGBANG’s “BiiiG” at No. 4, and I.O.I’s “Suddenly” at No. 5.
Weekly Streaming Chart
RESCENE’s “LOVE ATTACK” remained No. 1 on this week’s streaming chart, followed by CORTIS’s “REDRED” at No. 2, I.O.I’s “Suddenly” at No. 3, BIGBANG’s “BiiiG” at No. 4, and aespa’s “LEMONADE” at No. 5.
Monthly Global K-Pop Chart
HUNTR/X’s “Golden” (from the soundtrack of the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters”) continued its reign at No. 1 on the monthly global K-pop chart, while BTS’s “SWIM” maintained its position at No. 2.
ATEEZ’s “BAD” jumped to No. 3 for August, followed by BLACKPINK’s Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” at No. 4 and CORTIS’s “REDRED” at No. 5.
Weekly Global K-Pop Chart
The top four songs on the weekly global K-pop chart were the same as the monthly chart: HUNTR/X’s “Golden” came in at No. 1, BTS’s “SWIM” at No. 2, ATEEZ’s “BAD” at No. 3, and Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” at No. 4.
Finally, BLACKPINK’s Jennie’s new solo single “FALLEN ANGEL” shot to No. 5 for the week.
Monthly Social Chart
BTS held onto their spot at No. 1 on the social chart for August, trailed by ILLIT at No. 2, BABYMONSTER at No. 3, and BLACKPINK at No. 4.
Finally, ATEEZ jumped to No. 5 on this month’s chart.
Weekly Social Chart
ILLIT maintained their position at No. 1 on the weekly social chart, with BTS holding steady at No. 2.
Jisoo shot to No. 3 for the week, followed by ATEEZ at No. 4 and BLACKPINK at No. 5.
Congratulations to all of the artists!
Watch NCT 127’s Johnny in his recent variety show “ALL or NOTHING” on Viki below:
Get ready for this year’s Melon Music Awards (MMA2026)!
On September 16, The 18th Melon Music Awards announced its first lineup of artists consisting of PLAVE, RIIZE, NCT WISH, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, and LNGSHOT.
The key theme of this year’s awards ceremony is “Connect,” with the main slogan set as “K-POP CONNECT: The New Pulse.”
Melon Music Awards 2026 will be held November 14 and 15 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. Stay tuned for updates!
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September Boy Group Brand Reputation Rankings Announced
The Korean Business Research Institute has revealed this month’s brand reputation rankings for male idol groups!
The rankings were determined through an analysis of the consumer participation, media coverage, interaction, and community indexes of various boy groups, using big data collected from August 12 to September 12.
BTS continued their reign at the top of the list with a brand reputation index of 6,633,651 for September. High-ranking phrases in the group’s keyword analysis included “ARIRANG,” “ARMY,” and “North American tour,” while their highest-ranking related terms included “record,” “sold out,” and “long run.” BTS’s positivity-negativity analysis also revealed a score of 93.91 percent positive reactions.
BIGBANG jumped to second place after seeing a 103.60 percent increase in their brand reputation index since last month, bringing their total score to 4,162,542 for September.
ATEEZ came in at a close third with a brand reputation index of 3,980,128, marking a 48.59 percent increase in their score since August.
CORTIS took fourth place with a brand reputation index of 3,655,034, marking a 45.45 percent rise in their score since last month.
Finally, SEVENTEEN rounded out the top five with a brand reputation index of 3,529,483, marking a 65.74 percent increase in their score since August.
Check out the top 30 for this month below!
BTS
BIGBANG
ATEEZ
CORTIS
SEVENTEEN
Stray Kids
TVXQ
NCT
EXO
SHINee
ENHYPEN
INFINITE
TWS
Wanna One
RIIZE
Super Junior
MONSTA X
TXT
BOYNEXTDOOR
BTOB
ASTRO
ALPHA DRIVE ONE
IDID
ZEROBASEONE
XLOV
HIGHLIGHT
TREASURE
THE BOYZ
2PM
Shinhwa
Watch BTS’s docu-series “BREAK THE SILENCE” on Viki below:
Watch Now
And check out SEVENTEEN’s variety show “NANA TOUR with SEVENTEEN” below!
NCT 127, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, RESCENE, ILLIT, And More Top Circle Weekly Charts
Circle Chart has revealed its chart rankings for the week of August 23 to 29!
NCT 127 achieved a double crown on this week’s charts, topping both the overall digital chart and the digital download chart with their new title track “Blingy.”
Album Chart
ALPHA DRIVE ONE topped this week’s physical album chart with their new mini album “UNBREAKABLE : 少年BEAST,” which debuted at No. 1.
Meanwhile, NCT 127’s new studio album “BLINGY” entered the chart at No. 2.
NEXZ’s new mini album “SAUCIN’” debuted at No. 3, while ENHYPEN’s “THE SIN : BLISS” stayed strong at No. 4.
Finally, TUIDE’s debut EP “TUNE & PLAY” entered the chart at No. 5.
Download Chart
NCT 127’s “Blingy” debuted at No. 1 on this week’s digital download chart, while ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s new title track “BORN DIRE” debuted at No. 2.
aespa’s Winter’s new solo single “Speed of Summer” entered the chart at No. 3, trailed by ENHYPEN’s latest title track “Bloody Paradise” at No. 4.
Finally, NEXZ’s new title track “SAUCIN’” debuted at No. 5 on this week’s chart.
Overall Digital Chart
NCT 127’s “Blingy,” which also debuted at No. 1 on this week’s overall digital chart, was the only new release in the top five.
RESCENE’s “LOVE ATTACK” took No. 2 for the week, followed by BIGBANG’s “BiiiG” at No. 3, CORTIS’s “REDRED” at No. 4, and I.O.I’s “Suddenly” at No. 5.
Streaming Chart
RESCENE’s “LOVE ATTACK” continued its reign at No. 1 on the streaming chart this week, with CORTIS’s “REDRED” also holding onto its spot at No. 2.
BIGBANG’s “BiiiG” jumped 15 ranks to No. 3 this week, with I.O.I’s “Suddenly” and aespa’s “LEMONADE” rounding out the top five at No. 4 and No. 5 respectively.
Global K-Pop Chart
The top four songs on this week’s global K-pop chart were exactly the same as last week, with HUNTR/X’s “Golden” (from the “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack) defending its position at No. 1.
ATEEZ’s “BAD” held steady at No. 2, followed by BTS’s “SWIM” at No. 3 and BLACKPINK’s Rosé and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” at No. 4.
Finally, ENHYPEN’s “Bloody Paradise” jumped 30 ranks to take No. 5 for the week.
Social Chart 3.0
ILLIT topped this week’s social chart, followed by BTS at No. 2 and aespa at No. 3.
ATEEZ rose to No. 4 on this week’s chart, with Stray Kids climbing to No. 5.
Congratulations to all of the artists who made this week’s charts!
Watch NCT 127’s Johnny in his currently airing variety show “ALL or NOTHING” on Viki below:
Watch Now
Or watch ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s survival show “BOYS II PLANET” below:
Watch: BIGBANG Takes 1st Win For “BiiiG” On “Inkigayo”; Performances By MONSTA X, Chungha, And More
BIGBANG has won their first music show trophy for their new single “BiiiG”!
On the September 6 episode of SBS’s “Inkigayo,” the candidates for first place were BIGBANG’s “BiiiG,” ATEEZ’s “BAD,” and ALPHA DRIVE ONE’s “BORN DIRE.” BIGBANG ultimately took the win with a total of 5,351 points.
Congratulations to BIGBANG! Watch a clip of the winner announcement below:
Performers on today’s show included MONSTA X, Chungha, SHINee’s Taemin, NCT 127, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, Kwon Eun Bi, SEVENTEEN’s Dino, NCT’s Ten, NEXZ, 82MAJOR, TUIDE, ASC2NT, TUNEXX, ODD YOUTH, ICHILLIN’ J, TNX, TEMPEST’s Hanbin, iii, AEN, Joosiq, and NINA.
The 2026 SPOTV K-Pop Awards was a star-studded event!
On September 6, the 2026 SPOTV K-Pop Awards took place at KINTEX in Ilsan. The SPOTV K-Pop Awards aims to carry on the legacy of the Circle Chart Music Awards by combining objective evaluations based on Circle Chart data with global voting by fans all around the world.
This year’s Best Song of the Year went to KiiiKiii, while the Best Artist of the Year went to AKMU, and the Best Album of the Year went to BTS. AND2BLE snagged two group awards with Best New Artist and Artist of the Year (Bonsang) as well as three individual awards.
Check out the full list of winners below:
Next Generation: CLOSE YOUR EYES, IDID
Global New Wave: cosmosy, POW, xikers
Global Connect: RESCENE, MODYSSEY, 82MAJOR
Best New Artist: ALPHA DRIVE ONE, AND2BLE
Best Genre – Rock/Indie Artist: Hanroro
Best Genre – Trot Female Artist: Jeon Yu Jin
Best Genre – Trot Male Artist: Seongri
BIGC X coogoong GLOBAL FAN CHOICE K-POP: Nana (UNIS) BIGC X coogoong GLOBAL FAN CHOICE TROT: Lee Chan Won BIGC X coogoong GLOBAL FAN CHOICE BAND: DAY6 BIGC X coogoong GLOBAL FAN CHOICE OST: Zhang Hao (AND2BLE) BIGC X coogoong GLOBAL FAN CHOICE iCONIC: Zhang Hao (AND2BLE) BIGC X coogoong GLOBAL FAN CHOICE Best Spotlight: Ricky (AND2BLE)
Best Female Group: KISS OF LIFE
Best Male Group: KickFlip
Artist of the Year (Bonsang): AKMU, BTS, NCT WISH, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, AND2BLE, KiiiKiii, KISS OF LIFE
SPOTV Ground Performance: KickFlip
SPOTV Ambassador: RESCENE
Best Creative Producer: YH Entertainment’s Jung Hae Chang
