South Korean K-pop group NewJeans hits the Billboard Hot 100 (dated Jan. 21) for the first time, as “Ditto” debuts at No. 96.
The song, released Dec. 19 via ADOR/Geffen/Interscope Records, enters on the strength of 5.1 million U.S. streams (up 62%) in the Jan. 6-12 tracking week, according to Luminate. It concurrently ranks at No. 5 on the Billboard Global Excl. U.S. chart (after hitting No. 4 a week earlier) and No. 9 on the Billboard Global 200 (after reaching No. 8). The song became the act’s first of two top 10s on the tallies – “OMG” becomes its second on each chart this week. “Ditto” also ranks at No. 7 on World Digital Song Sales (after rising to No. 4 two weeks earlier).
TikTok has been a big factor in the song’s growing popularity, as the track has been used in nearly 300,000 clips on the platform to date. (TikTok does not currently contribute directly to Billboard’s charts.)
NewJeans are not just newcomers to Billboard’s charts, but to the music scene entirely. The group was founded by Min Hee-jin, CEO of ADOR (a newly created subsidiary under the HYBE labels umbrella), through BigHit Entertainment. The act released its first single, “Attention,” on July 22. The track debuted on Global Excl. U.S. (Aug. 13) at No. 174 and surged to a No. 34 high two weeks later. Concurrent with the song’s chart arrival, the group’s debut four-track EP NWJNS arrived at No. 22 on Heatseekers Albums, before hitting No. 9 two weeks later. The EP also reaches a new No. 10 best on this week’s World Albums chart.
After “Attention,” the group has charted four more songs on Global Excl. U.S., with “Cookie” (No. 198 peak in August) and “Hype Boy” (No. 32, September) preceding its two top 10s.
The five-piece group comprises Danielle, Haerin, Hanni, Hyein and Minji. Minji co-wrote “Ditto” with Hongchul Cho, Yiva Dimberg, Oohyo and 250. 250 (real name Hohyung Lee) also produced the track solo. He’s previously produced songs for BTS, E SENS, iTZY and NCT 127.
NewJeans additionally climb 7-4 on the latest Emerging Artists chart, reaching the top five in its ninth week on the survey.