Weekly K-Pop Music Chart 2014 – January Week 1

Happy New Year to all our readers! 

We are starting the 10^th year of our Soompi Weekly Music Chart.  At the start of every year, we review our existing chart sources and make necessary adjustments to keep it more updated.  There are three changes this year:

1. Air Monitor (15%) is no longer a source since they have switched to a paid service.
2. We have combined all TV Network music show rankings into a single score of 45%, adding the 15% previously from Air Monitor.  This includes SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank, MBC Music Core, and MNet M!Countdown.  The main reason to combine the music show scores is that the overall result won’t be affected as much when one or more of the shows did not air or their charts not updated due to a special episode in a particular week.
3. We have added Genie as an internet chart source to go along with Olleh, Melon, Bugs, and Soribada.  Internet chart sources still account for 15% of the total scores.

Back to this week’s chart, we are seeing a lot of Christmas and winter related theme songs.  That includes our top two songs this week.  Debuting directly to the top spot is the collaboration from Jellyfish entertainment artists: Sung Si Kyung, Park Hyo Shin, Seo In Guk, VIXX, and Yeo Dong Saeng (“Little Sister”).  Together they formed Jelly Christmas.  Their song “Winter Confession” is perhaps the most popular collaboration in Kpop this past Christmas.  This song is ranked very high on all chart sources, and it becomes the first song to debut at No. 1 on our chart in more than six years.  Last song that did it was Big Bang’s “Last Greeting” on the last week of 2007.  “Winter Confession” is a retro style synth-pop song, and it perfectly suits the heartwarming lyrics.

Holding on to the second spot is EXO’s “Miracles In December.”  The song probably would have been No. 1 last week if we did not have a break.  This week, it is 31 points behind “Winter Confession.”  Still, “Miracles In December” capped off a great year for EXO in 2013, in which we see them rising amazingly from rookie to a top male group.

There are three other new songs in the top 10 this week.  Debuting at No. 7 and with the highest potential to become our next No. 1 song is IU’s “Friday.”  This self written and composed song by IU is coming from her repackaged third album “Modern Times – Epilogue.”  It is a mid-tempo jazz style acoustic ballad that is very different from IU’s style.  The song features Jang Yi Jung of HISTORY and the two artists have great chemistry on this lovely song.

R&B quartet Brown Eyed Soul is back in the top 10 with their latest hit “You.”  This is the title song from the group’s 10^th anniversary single “Thank You Soul.”  It is an R&B ballad in which Brown Eyed Soul members all showcase their unique vocal strengths in this song.  This week “You” debuts at No. 9.

Moving up 13 spots to No. 10 is Secret’s latest hit “I Do I Do.”  It is coming from their third single album “Gift From Secret.”  As the title implies, it is a holiday gift from Secret to their fans.  “I Do I Do” has swing jazz beat and orchestral sounds perfect for the holiday season.  The lyrics are about a girl confessing to her boyfriend saying, “I Do I Do.”

Last but not least, have you voted on our 2013 Soompi Awards yet?  Please show support to your favorite artists.  Voting can be done either our our website or on your mobile phone.  The deadline is January 14.  We encourage your participation.

About the Soompi Music Chart:

Soompi Music Chart is unlike any other music charts or television rankings. It takes into account rankings by various major music charts in Korea and airplay of each song, making it an unbiased and objective tally of what’s going on in the world of K-pop. Our chart is composed of the following sources:

GAON Music Chart – 20%
Various Internet charts (Olleh, Bugs, Melon, Soribada, Genie) – 15%
Billboard Korea – 20% 
TV Music Show charts (SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank, MBC Music Core, MNet M!Countdown)  – 45%