BLACKPINK Rosé's ‘APT.’ hits #8 on Billboard Hot 100

On Tuesday, Rosé, a member of the Korean girl group BLACKPINK, entered the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, the main ranking chart for singles, at #8 with her single APT. featuring legendary Bruno Mars. This marks the highest ranking ever achieved by a Korean female pop singer. APT., a pre-release from Rosé 's first solo full-length album titled Rosie, due in December, accomplished the ranking just 11 days after its first release on October 18.

Rosé posted on her social media, exclaiming what was happening and saying that it was insane. She thanked her fan bases No.1 (Rosé fandom) and BLINK (BLACKPINK fandom). Bruno Mars also celebrated the success on his social media saying he is incredibly glad for Rosé.

APT. topped the Billboard 'Global' chart, which excludes the U.S., indicating that the song is even more popular globally, excluding the U.S. On Friday, APT. entered the U.K.'s Official Singles Chart Top 100 #4, marking success on both major global music charts. The song's music video recorded 180 million views on the same day and is expected to reach the 200-million mark. Rosé’s APT. even sparked renewed interest in the 1982 song “Apartment” sung by Korea's old pop singer Yoon Soo-il.

Some point out that APT reminds people of PSY's Gangnam Style in 2012. The title APT., which is pronounced as Apateu, a Korean way of saying the apartment building, is made in a very similar way to Gangnam Style, where Gangnam is a unique Korean district name. “APT. is a song suited for singing along together and well captures Korea's subculture with addictive melody and humor in it,” music critic Park Seong-seo said.


이호재 기자 hoho@donga.com