KATSEYE breaks into Spotify's global top 10
HYBE-Geffen Records' global girl group KATSEYE reached a personal best on Spotify's Weekly Top Songs Global chart, where the new single "Animal" debuted at No. 9 for the tracking period of July 24-30. The song simultaneously entered the U.S.-specific Spotify weekly chart at No. 8, both career highs for the group. "Animal" also climbed to No. 16 on the UK Official Singles Top 100 dated July 31-August 6, according to the group's label. The group headlined the first day of the "Hunterland Music Festival" in Iowa on July 31, performing 14 songs across roughly 56 minutes.
BTS member Jimin's solo track crosses 2.5 billion Spotify streams
BTS member Jimin's solo single "Who" surpassed 2.5 billion streams on Spotify, his agency Big Hit Music announced on Saturday. The title cut from his second solo album "Muse," released in July 2024, is the first of Jimin's solo releases to cross the threshold. Reporting from The Korea Herald places the song on the Billboard Hot 100 for 33 weeks and atop the Billboard Global 200 and Global Excl. US charts for two weeks; it also debuted at No. 4 on the UK Official Singles Chart. "Who" was Spotify's most-streamed K-pop song worldwide in 2024 and won K-pop Song of the Year at the 2025 iHeartRadio Music Awards. (A separate syndicated account, BOLNETWORK, reported a different Hot 100 trajectory, saying the song debuted at No. 14 before climbing to No. 12.)
Cortis sustains a 14-week Spotify global chart presence
The Big Hit Music boy group Cortis continued a long-running placement on Spotify with title track "REDRED" holding No. 162 on the Weekly Top Songs Global chart and No. 195 on the daily chart dated July 30. The track has appeared on the weekly ranking for 14 consecutive weeks and on the daily ranking for 100 consecutive days, while topping Spotify's Weekly Top Songs Korea for a 14th straight week (July 24-30). Cortis's second mini-album "GREENGREEN" debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 in May.
Cortis and KATSEYE named to Billboard's 21 Under 21
Cortis and KATSEYE were both included in Billboard's 2026 "21 Under 21" list, making them the only K-pop acts on this year's roster, according to The Herald Business. Billboard announced the annual ranking via its website on July 31 (local time). Cortis — Martin, James, Juhoon, Sunghyun and Geonho — is the only K-pop boy group included this year, while KATSEYE earned a spot for the second consecutive year. (STARNEWS reported the announcement date as August 31 in apparent error; other accounts and The Herald Business report indicate July 31.) Cortis also released a surprise digital single "MOTION," a collaboration with Southern hip-hop artist Juicy J, on July 31.
Major labels unveil proposed rules to keep AI music off charts
Universal Music Group, Sony Music and Warner Music Group have jointly proposed chart-eligibility criteria that would require AI-generated recordings to meet a "substantially human made" standard, use lawfully authorized generative AI services, hold rights to any training data, and carry clear consumer labels on downstream services such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music, according to industry coverage. The IFPI, the international umbrella organization for the recording industry, has backed the proposal, though executives at Sony Music, UMG and Mom+Pop Music have not specified what "substantially human made" means in practice. No charting organization has yet committed to implementing the rules.
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