Weekly K-Pop Music Chart 2014 – August Week 5

A rookie artist is taking our chart and the Kpop world by storm this week! YG Entertainment’s prized new male group WINNER impressively scores their first No. 1 song on their debut hit “Empty.” Amazingly, WINNER did it in just two weeks as “Empty” moves up from No. 12 last week.  The song won on SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank, and M!Countdown last week.

Just like their labelmate senior BIGBANG, WINNER is a five member male group consists of Kang Seung Yoon (former Super Star K2 contestant and debuted solo last year), Lee Seung Hoon, Song Min Ho, Nam Tae Hyun, and Kim Jin Woo. The five members were chosen from YG’s “WIN: Who Is Next” competition.

“Empty” is one of the title tracks from WINNER’s debut album, “2014 S/S.” It is a hip-hop style R&B ballad song about one’s emptiness after separation. Member Song Min Ho participated in penning the lyrics of this song. WINNER’s unique vocal are impressive for a rookie artist.

Not only did WINNER takes the No. 1 spot on our chart, but their other title song “Color Ring” also moved up four spots to No. 9 this week. It is the first time in our chart history for a debut artist to have two songs simultaneously in the top 10. “Color Ring” has a guitar sound and catchy hook. Member Kang Seung Yoon participated in writing this song alongside members Song Min Ho and Lee Seung Hoon. It is about a guy whose ex-girlfriend won’t answer his calls so he only hears the ring back tone.

The last time a rookie artist hit No. 1 on our chart with their debut song was miss A back in 2010 with “Bad Girl Good Girl.” The last time a rookie male group’s first song becomes our chart topper was also back in 2010 when CNBlue did it with “Loner.”

Congratulations to WINNER!

Besides the double take from WINNER, we have one other new song in the top 10 this week. Moving up eight spots to No. 6 is Secret’s latest hit “I’m In Love.” It is the title song of their new mini-album “Secret Summer.” It has retro style melody and brass sound. The lyrics are about a girl deeply in love.

About the Soompi Music Chart:

Soompi Music Chart is unlike any other music chart or television ranking. It takes into account rankings by various major music charts in Korea as well as the hottest trending artists on Soompi, making it a unique chart that reflects what’s going on in K-Pop not only in Korea but around the world. Our chart is composed of the following sources:

GAON Music Chart – 25%
Various Internet charts (Olleh, Bugs, Melon, Soribada, Genie) – 15%
Soompi Airplay – 15%
TV Music Show charts (SBS Inkigayo, KBS Music Bank, MBC Music Core, MNet M!Countdown) – 45%