Rookie group NewJeans, who made their debut last July, have become the fastest K-pop act to hit one billion streams on Spotify. They’ve done so in impressive fashion, setting the record at 219 days with only seven songs released.
The group, comprising Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein, beat the previous records held by BTS member Jungkook (409 days) and Blackpink’s Lisa (411 days).
The band made their debut with the track Attention and their most popular songs are Ditto (with 313.2 million streams) and OMG (312.4 million streams), according to the Guinness World Records website.
They’ve charted on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as other charts in countries such as the UK, Australia and Canada.
The South Korean group are reportedly set to release an album in the summer, according to Min Hee-jin, chief executive and head producer at Ador, the group's agency. In an interview with Billboard last month, she said that the quintet have recently finished recording their latest project.
According to the group’s website, NewJeans has a double meaning. The first refers to jeans being timeless pieces of clothing with each generation having its own style.
“Pop music, like clothing, is a part of culture that is inseparable from our everyday lives,” says Min. “Just as jeans have withstood the test of time and found popularity among many, regardless of their age and gender, NewJeans aspire to become an icon of generations — one you never grow tired of putting on.”
The other meaning is that NewJeans is a wordplay on “new genes” and the idea that the band will help usher in a new generation of K-pop musicians and fans, which they appear to be capable of doing.
