Unexpected Group Surpasses aespa, (G)I-DLE, And NewJeans

The dark horse of K-Pop is back and making history again!

On August 21 (KST), the fifth-generation virtual idol group PLAVE suddenly dominated Melon‘s TOP100 chart by snapping up seven out of the Top 10 spots.

Within the first hour of its release, PLAVE’s new single, “Pump Up The Volume!” claimed the No.1 spot, surpassing aespa‘s “Supernova,” (G)I-DLE‘s “Klaxon,” and NewJeans‘ “How Sweet.”

As if this wasn’t impressive enough, PLAVE also became the first boy group to take the No.1 spot on the TOP100 this year. They are now only one of two boy groups (PLAVE and SEVENTEEN) to chart a new song in the TOP100’s Top 10 within the first 24 hours.

Fans are celebrating PLAVE’s chart achievements…

Most streamed 5th generation groups on Melon:

#1 #PLAVE — 1.04B
#2 #ZEROBASEONE — 315.1M
#3 #RIIZE — 245.6M
#4 #TWS — 104M
#5 #QWER — 93.2M
#6 #BOYNEXTDOOR — 88.9M ▲
#7 #ILLIT — 82.1M
#8 #KissOfLife — 76.3M
#9 #tripleS — 43.1M
#10 #BABYMONSTER — 41.8M pic.twitter.com/U4kTFMGBiE

— FIFTH GEN CHARTS (@forfifthgen) July 30, 2024

https://t.co/wqKwMEOwgx pic.twitter.com/4OTfTzjrE3

— nans 🫐 PUMP UP THE VOLUME, PLAVE! (@nanjun_) August 20, 2024

…and pointing out just how difficult it was for PLAVE to achieve their latest one.

From a news article:
After Melon (music streaming platform) reformed the system "lining up songs" (from the same artist) has become even harder than before. Looking at how Plave has topped charts amidst these conditions, netizens have been saying +[continued] pic.twitter.com/fHXleGDITB

— 뵥쯍아만두🌻 (@moolmandulassgo) August 21, 2024

This isn’t the first time PLAVE has taken people by surprise by doing things that no virtual idols have done before. Back in March, PLAVE–who won full points for pre-broadcast voting and live voting–beat two strong contenders, LE SSERAFIM and BIBI, to win first place on Music Core.