2NE1's K-Pop Hit 'I Am the Best' Gains Spins at U.S. Radio Stations

[hippodameia.livejournal.com]

New York and Boston stations have adopted the Korean banger into their playlists.

2NE1's "I Am the Best" continues making impressions in America as it begins picking up spins on stateside radio.

In the week ending Oct. 19, the electronic/hip-hop hybrid single was played 24 times on WBMP New York and 14 times on WODS Boston. Both stations published accompanying articles on their respective websites about the band and "I Am the Best," with WODS Boston telling readers to listen for the song on air.

The airplay comes just two weeks after "I Am the Best" earned its best sales week yet in America (6,000 copies sold, according to Nielsen SoundScan) and topping Billboard's World Digital Songs chart -- a first for a Korean act other than PSY. "Best" is currently at No. 2 on the chart after selling 3,000 copies in the week ending Oct. 12. The single pushed another 3,000 the prior week.

"Best" originally began its upward climb after being used in a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet laptop ad, doing what any good sync should do and helping its accompanying music grow past its ad-watching audience.

The radio play of a non-English song, other than PSY, is particularly exciting for K-pop fans not to mention general world music fans. It's also a major win for 2NE1 given the quartet's strong appeal in the United States: The group featured on will.i.am's #willpower album, was Korea's first female act to hold stadium shows in America and just last week member CL announced plans to push a solo career stateside with Scooter Braun.

Stay tuned to Billboard's K-Town column for more 2NE1 chart moves.

Source: Billboard, 2NE1 (YouTube)

Just wait until we start hearing this stuff in malls and supermarkets. My friends all poke fun at my weird foreign hobby, but when this stuff gets on all the airwaves, I'LL BE READY HOHOHO

Comments

[tempestdance.livejournal.com]

teddy raking in the dough woo

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

hang on, they did stadium shows in the us? stadiums?

i could see it getting a lot of plays in clubs

[luminousbodies.livejournal.com]

lmao no they played at prudential and nokia. hardly stadiums. prudential is pretty big tho. i saw jyj there and they couldn't fill half. :/

[taylorniw.livejournal.com]

the kpop fandom is so desperate. 38 total times wooo

[http://users.livejournal.com/_clochette_/]

lol mte

[nekokonneko.livejournal.com]

lol yeah 38 plays on two stations is basically damning with faint praise

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

The excitement is that it got played AT ALL on US radio that many times.

[bubblechii.livejournal.com]

+1

I legit flipped with excitement when I heard Gangnam Style on the radio for the first time.

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

That's 38 more times than any other KPOP act.

[4minutesluts.livejournal.com]

psy tho

[chanxchan015.livejournal.com]

Lmao the microsoft commercial came on during sunday's episode of the walking dead and I started singing it and my mom and uncle gave me the craziest look. But yaaaaas teddy get that dough and yaaaaas 2ne1 get that recognition.

[boiinks2.livejournal.com]

I did the exact same thing. My mom and stepdad were so confused.

[theemii.livejournal.com]

God that song is just so bad (and the mv is embarrassing as hell) I do not get why people like it..

[http://users.livejournal.com/_clochette_/]

payola vibes...

[donglover.livejournal.com]

this is quite the opposite of payola lol

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

i think it'd have a lot more spins if it were payola lmao

[madielou.livejournal.com]

it'll probably gain more recognition but other than that i don't see it being the next gangnam style in terms of popularity

[donglover.livejournal.com]

sleeper smash!

they need a radio deal tho :(

[uledy.livejournal.com]

that hype machine on overdrive. this is one of those times where less is more and being specific has the opposite intended effect....

[hippodameia.livejournal.com]

Totally. I do wonder if Americans might respond differently to 2NE1 than they did to Psy, though. Maybe take them more seriously? Really, though, it's hard for me to see kpop as being anything more than a foreign novelty in the U.S.

[epona.livejournal.com]

did anyone else hear crayon pop on tonight's episode of selfie tho

[waves-of-light.livejournal.com]

Yeah it was cute!

[obviousgirl.livejournal.com]

lol yes. At first I didn't recognize it till it got to the chorus and sadly the first time I've heard that song.

[cooliosa.livejournal.com]

i don't even watch that show but i need to see this

[jeliza]

I don't know how long the video will stay up, but: http://crayonpop.me/crayon-pops-bar-bar-bar-played-on-abcs-selfie/

I <3 John Cho.

Re: YO BUT WHAT ABT JOHN FUCKING CHO AND KAREN GILLAN DANCING TO THE QUEENS CRAYON POP HUH

[loveshatori.livejournal.com]

I was watching the show and was soo surprised. Like it kinda blew my mind a little

[undeniablysarah.livejournal.com]

If it gets big I can't wait to laugh at people who called me crazy for liking kpop

[oppameansit.livejournal.com]

i hope this goes somewhere

i know we hate bringing it up, but the only reason psy got popular in the us is because he was a funny fat man in a suit jumping around - people who are into kpop knew who he was and the kind of artist he was, but let's be real, in the us, it was because he was seen as a clown

a group like 2ne1, if they were able to really break through (which is unlikely, US doesn't care about girl group and cares even less about asian artists, and even less than that about asian artists who can't speak fluent unaccented english), it would at least show an image that breaks some of the stereotypes about east asian women

basically i hope this doesn't end in humiliation

[extraenchanted.livejournal.com]

this basically. psy's success (if we call it a success) was not because of his music, but because of the image perceived by a western audience. if 2ne1 achieves that kind of success with IATB, i wonder if part of the reason would be because they're east asian women singing a hip-pop song -- and we all know how the west exoticizes asian women.

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

Yep. KPOP fans are always complaining about groups that break into America because they're "not good representation". A song as amazing as IATB is easily the best representation KPOP can have in America.

[setsuna16.livejournal.com]

If it works and gets 2NE1 and other Korean acts to get their foot in the door, most excellent.

But I ain't holding my breath.

[angela-derp-otp.livejournal.com]

idk if you guys know how this works, but for a non English or Spanish song with no radio deal and not an actual radio promotion but more like a side effect of an ad, 38 plays in two radio stations is not a small number. We are talking about an average of at least 4 plays per day.

idrc about 2ne1 tho, just throwing that out there lol.

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

Exactly. It's not being played because it's being pushed, it's being played because people heard the song on TV, like it, and are requesting it.

[cooliosa.livejournal.com]

i remember laughing my ass off the first time i ever heard iatb now look at me

[atopworld.livejournal.com]

This commercial plays in Central America and my uncle was jamming to it when it came on. Had to hide my laughter.

[darkpeppermints.livejournal.com]

Everytime it comes on during the ad, my mom, my sister and I all get up and start singing and dancing. 2NE1 4 ever.

[shining-lore.livejournal.com]

MTE

Dear haters:

[shining-lore.livejournal.com]

(http://imgur.com/4ck89)

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

Interesting that this is regarded as an accomplishment when the radio industry is slowly dying (I was a COMM major and most of my peers were laid off when the stations they worked for folded). I think the number of views for the video is much more impressive and the internet is free LOL

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

The fact that it's being played despite the industry dying makes it even more impressive.

[e-bone (from livejournal.com)]

I don't see how, since the industry is dying b/c people AREN'T listening to the radio as much as they were in the past (internet radio is booming). From a marketing standpoint it doesn't make sense for them to seek radio attention (seeing labels pay to have their music played X amount of times per hour as someone already noted)

[scheisse.livejournal.com]

Lmao at fans of other groups being so angry and dismissive about this. 'I Am The Best' is easily one of the best songs from the past decade so it's a great representation of how great KPOP can be when it comes to Americans who aren't familiar with the genre.

[dapo322.livejournal.com]

I listen to 92.3 FM (WBMP) and it was the 1st song i heard in the car today.

Thing is they are playing an edited version. They have a silent bleep on Naega so it's playing "--jeil jal naga" instead "Naega jeil jal naga". I assume they are afraid people will confuse it with the n-word.

[edanz-castle.livejournal.com]

LOL that is crazy. Reminds me of this video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_jWTrRguzU

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed

[hellociara.livejournal.com]

Woot! Get that airtime ladies! <3