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BLACKPINK, BTS, Momoland Have Most-Viewed K-Pop Videos Released In 2018 On YouTube

This article is more than 5 years old.

YG Entertainment

New music videos from BLACKPINK, BTS and Momoland had some of the biggest years on YouTube in 2018 , the video streaming site has confirmed.

This year has been a major one for K-pop on YouTube, with records being broken seemingly every other week. Whether it was BTS’ “Fake Love” having one of the best 24-hour debuts of the year on the site or BLACKPINK becoming the fastest K-pop group to reach 500 million views for “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du,” the count ticker was clicking away on K-pop videos in 2018.

Earlier this week, YouTube unveiled its most-viewed K-pop videos on the site in 2018, and BLACKPINK's "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" and BTS' "Fake Love" came out on top of a list that included two other videos from BTS, a trio from girl group TWICE, and one each from Momoland, iKON and Red Velvet. However, regarding K-pop music videos released in 2018, a YouTube rep revealed that the list slightly differs, with one each of BTS and TWICE’s music videos, “Mic Drop (Remix)” and “Heart Shaker” respectively, dropping from the ranking as they were released last year. But, in a show of stable viewing trends and a sense of consistence among interest in K-pop, there weren’t any new names added to the list. Instead, the music videos for Momoland’s “Baam,” their second viral hit of the year, and Jennie of BLACKPINK’s “Solo” moved into the top 10 ranking.  

Regardless of whether it’s a ranking looking at the most-viewed K-pop music videos in 2018 or those released in 2018, one thing is clear: these six acts, two of which – BLACKPINK and BTS– saw multiple songs rank on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart this year, have sizable global followings and interest in their releases.

Through Jan. 1, 2018 and Dec. 19, the top 10 most-viewed K-pop videos released in 2018 accumulated well over 2 billion views combined on YouTube. BTS, Momoland, TWICE and BLACKPINK, by association with Jennie, dominated K-pop views in 2018 as each act had a pair of the most-viewed new music videos released this year, while iKON and Red Velvet each saw one hit rank.

While most of the acts included on the list are some of the most popular in K-pop, Momoland had a breakout year this year after "Bboom Bboom" ignited interest in the group upon its infectious release in January. They followed it up with June's "Baam," which solidified their place as one of the Korean music world's biggest viral trends of 2018. The pair of music videos combined accumulated over 424 million views.

In general, 2018 saw non-English language music videos rise prominently on Youtube: earlier this month Variety reported that six of the top 10 music videos on YouTube, regardless of release year, were those for Spanish-language songs.  

The most-viewed K-pop music videos released in 2018 on YouTube are as follows:

  1. BLACKPINK’s “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” - 554,647,286 views garnered through Jan. 1, 2018 and Dec. 19, 2018.
  2. BTS’ “Fake Love” - 403,809,389 views
  3. BTS’ “IDOL” - 303,893,944 views
  4. MOMOLAND’s “BBoom BBoom” - 295,236,167 views
  5. TWICE’s "What is Love?" - 232,258,946 views
  6. iKON’s “Love Scenario” - 229,333,861 views
  7. Red Velvet’s “Bad Boy” - 172,866,352 views
  8. TWICE’s "Dance The Night Away" - 140,085,017 views
  9. MOMOLAND’s “Baam” - 129,468,900 views
  10. JENNIE (BLACKPINK)’s “Solo” - 124,527,987 views