YG Entertainment‘s Big Bang and 2NE1 have both topped the iTunes charts in Japan.
On March 29th, Big Bang and 2NE1 respectively ranked 1st and 2nd on the Japan iTunes Album chart, additionally KARA placed 4th with ‘Speed Up / Girls Power‘.
Ahead of this achievement, Big Bang secured the #2 and 2NE1 the #4 position on the Oricon Daily Album chart for March 28th.
It goes without saying that fierce competition exists on the Korean music charts. There is a new song seizing the #1 spot with each day, and different charts rank the same songs differently.But of the many competitors, there are two names that continue to maintain their status on the charts, and they are none other than idol group Big Bang, and legendary singer Lee Seung Chul.Even an entire month after releasing new albums, these two artists still rank high on the charts, and this sort of outcome was almost expected by fans and music professionals alike.Lee Seung Chul managed to stay popular on the charts for 40 days after releasing his new ‘Feast of the Gods‘ OST, “Did You Forget“, on the 17th of last month. And as of March 27th at 6:00PM KST, “Did You Forget” ranked #5 on charts such as Melon, Mnet, and more. When it comes to the call-back ringtone download charts, he is way ahead of most of the popular idol groups out there today, and the Youtube video for the track has already passed the 750,000 hit-mark.
JYP Entertainment's president Park Jinyoung has praised Yang Hyunsuk of YG Entertainment for Big Bang's "Bad Boy"He showed interest in idol group YG Entertainment's Big Bang's "Bad Boy" while talking in SBS' "Kpop Star."
Yang Hyunsuk told Star News that "Park Jinyoung asked me who made "Bad Boy" because he thinks its the best song from the past year. I was happy to hear this from such an influential producer."
5 member group Big Bang has become a hot topic in both Korea and Japan recently. Big Bang is taking the concept of "from Asia to the World" and is releasing their album on the coming 28th. The album is going to have Japanese versions of the songs from the Korean fifth mini album, as well as 2 additional new songs.
Big Bang is very busy considering they are promoting in Korea while starting their Japanese promotions. It is said they will be visiting Thailand as well, amidst their programs and interviews happening in Japan.
Big Bang will be putting on an extravagant performance for the famous R&B Hip Hop Festival in Japan called the "2012 Spring Groove." This event will also feature 2NE1, LMFAO, David Guetta, and more worldwide stars.
Translator's Note: This is a piece of writing, or more like a series of memos, that I found in Myoungseok Kang’s blog (Kang is the editor of 10asia Magazine). I thought it was interesting so I wanted to share with other overseas fans too.1. Blue doesn’t seem very appropriate for the streets. It is neither fast nor striking enough to overcome the noise on the street. ‘Bad Boy’ is a similar case. Nevertheless, ‘Fantastic Baby’, which has a fast tempo, will probably be the most suitable for the streets out of the tracks. In other words, the tracks are not catchy enough for everyone to sing along like IU’s ‘Good Day’. Was this risk necessary for Big Bang?
After experiencing hardships, Big Bang has returned - bigger and better.
Big Bang marked its return after a year on February 29 with the release of its new mini album Alive. After becoming one of the leaders of the Hallyu last year, a series of setbacks from Daesung’s car accident to G-Dragon’s marijuana scandal put a halt to the group’s activities and brought the group’s existence into danger.But returning as a much more mature group, Big Bang made all its tracks off of the new mini album title tracks and found success on the music charts and even ended up on America’s Grammy Awards homepage and on Billboard to prove it was Korea’s representative idol group.
BIGBANG fans are nominated for "Best Fan" on MTV Italy's 2012 TRL (Total Request Live) Awards. The TRL Awards were established in 2006 to celebrate the most popular artists and music videos in Italy. Winners will be announced in Florence, Italy on May 5, Saturday.
HOW TO VOTE:
Three songs, three music videos with 30 million views- that′s Big Bang.As of March 22 1 pm (KST), Big Bang’s three tracks Blue, Bad Boy and Fantastic Baby from its mini album Alive has been viewed more than 30 million times in total on YouTube! The breakdown by song reveals Blue, released on February 21, was viewed fifteen million times, Bad Boy, released on February 28, was viewed eight million times and Fantastic Baby, released on March 6, was viewed ten million times, reflecting the global popularity of not only the group’s songs but their respective videos as well.
