4 K-Pop Pre-Releases That Out-Charted The Actual Comeback
Pre-release singles have become a popular promotional strategy in recent years, with artists and labels choosing to release a single and then follow it with a mini or studio album in the next weeks.
Starship Entertainment‘s IVE did so just a few days ago and they’ve been getting massive attention after the song was widely liked by the public. “Kitsch” reached #1 on multiple Korean streaming platforms, confirming that pre-release singles are very effective. Though sometimes, people love these singles so much, they even outperform the actual comebacks as well!
1. BLACKPINK’s “Pink Venom”
The YG Entertainment girl group released “Pink Venom” in August 2022, as a promotional single for their second studio album, Born Pink, which would come later that year, in September. The title track for the album was “Shut Down” which performed great commercially, though “Pink Venom” was still able to out-chart it.
The pre-release single reached a peak of #3 on South Korea’s Monthly Circle chart and #2 on the Weekly Circle chart. Meanwhile, “Shut Down” was able to peak at #5 on the monthly chart and #3 on the weekly chart.
2. BLACKPINK’s “How You Like That”
The public seems to really love BLACKPINK’s pre-releases, as “How You Like That,” released in June 2020, is another single of theirs that out-charted the actual title track of the album. “Lovesick Girls” was the title track of The Album, released in October of that year.
“Lovesick Girls” was able to peak at #3 on South Korea’s Monthly Circle chart and #2 on the country’s Weekly Circle chart. On the other hand, “How You Like That” surpassed these peaks, reaching #1 on both the Monthly and Weekly Circle charts.
3. Newjeans’ “Ditto”
K-Pop sensation Newjeans is now popular for their promotional strategy of always releasing their songs as singles. This leaves plenty of time for each of their tracks to shine, but it also keeps up the hype and attention around their comebacks high at all times.
The most recent example of an out-performing pre-release single came with “Ditto” which was released in December of last year. The song served as the first single from OMG the group’s first single album who had the track of the same serving as the title track. “Ditto” was able to reach #1 on both the Monthly and Weekly Circle charts, whereas “OMG” peaked at #2 on the Monthly chart.
4. Mamamoo’s “DINGGA”
MAMAMOO makes their first appearance on this list with their 2020 hit single “Dingga.” The track was used as a way to promote the group’s 10th mini album Travel, released a few weeks after, which had the song “Aya” serve as its title track.
“Dingga” peaked at #7 on South Korea’s Monthly Circle chart as well as the weekly ranking. On the other hand, “Aya” was only able to reach #42 on the Monthly Circle chart and #37 on the weekly chart.
