'Still Life': BIGBANG prove they're 'King of K-pop' as reunion song tops major charts
BIGBANG was pretty much one of the biggest K-pop groups in the 2010s to the point that everyone had dubbed them as ‘King of K-pop’. They had several iconic hits like ‘Bang Bang Bang’ and ‘Fantastic Baby’. They continued to be relevant despite being on a 5-year hiatus as they were invited to Coachella, new idols went on to cite them as role models and covered their songs while movies like Pixar’s ‘Turning Red’ shared they were inspired by the K-pop group for their characters.
And so, it was no surprise when K-pop Twitter exploded as BIGBANG announced their reunion. They had been on a hiatus since 2017 as their military era began. We got one farewell song in 2018 but that was it. However, on April 5, the K-pop group finally came back with the single ‘Still Life’. And it is also bittersweet since while they are not disbanding, member T.O.P shared that he would not be participating in any more BIGBANG activities for a long time since he wanted to focus on his solo career.
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‘Still Life’ the most-heard song in South Korea in last 24 hours
But no matter the future, fans were happy that had BIGBANG had reunited and dropped new music after such a long hiatus. The group also proved their continued influence in the music industry as ‘Still Life’ became an immediate success despite having no promotions. The single made an ‘all-kill’ which means that it topped all major South Korean music charts like MelOn, Genie, Bugs, Vibe and FLO.
‘Still Life’ also went on to break the record of having the most unique listeners on MelOn since their new chart reform as it replaced IU’s ‘Strawberry Moon’ with 906k listeners in the first 24 hours of its release. The BIGBANG single also got 13 real-time all-kills as it topped real-time charts of all major Korean charts like MelOn, FLO, Bugs and Genie. The song also did well on international charts as it topped the Worldwide iTunes Song Chart.
BIGBANG enters international charts
‘Still Life’ went on to also get #1 on iTunes in 33 countries while their past hits like ‘Flower Road’, ‘Lies’ and ‘Haru Haru’ also re-entered charts. The music video for ‘Still Life’ also racked up 20 million views in just a day as fans missed BIGBANG. And while Spotify wasn’t as big during BIGBANG’s time, the group has gone on to chart for the first time on Spotify’s ‘Global Daily Chart’ with over 920k streams. 'Still Life' also topped Spotify’s ‘Top 50’ in South Korea despite the music platform not being that popular in the country. It also entered the Spotify charts of 13 other regions like Canada, Japan and Singapore.