A recent Korean media article has sparked backlash after highlighting aespa‘s performance on a newly launched chart while comparing the girl group to BTS.
The piece reported that aespa became the first act to top Melon’s new “Global K-Chart,” a ranking created in partnership with Melon, China’s Tencent Music Entertainment, and Japan’s LINE MUSIC. According to the chart’s first-ever results, aespa ranked No. 1 in the daily, weekly, and monthly rankings following the release of their second full-length album, LEMONADE.
The headline quickly caught attention for emphasizing that aespa had surpassed BTS. BTS ranked No. 2 on the chart despite maintaining strong performance across the three platforms included in the ranking.
However, many fans on X were unhappy with both the headline and the chart itself. Some questioned why the ranking was being presented as a “global” chart when it only combines data from South Korea, China, and Japan.
They’re launching a chart that combines Korea, China, and Japan as a global chart. SM is really trying hard to inflate it when their flops can't even sell tours https://t.co/YXDOP29HC8
— elv (@hoolignyvanill) June 1, 2026
Everyone knows why they create this chart. calling global chart while only focusing china, sk, Japan. They should name it as East asian kpop chart.if u call global atleast add other top music markets like USA, uk, France etc.
— Anjas Km (@Ashilkumarkm) June 1, 2026
Others accused the media of pushing a narrative by focusing heavily on aespa overtaking BTS rather than discussing the chart’s launch more broadly.
They are already pushing the narrative they started the so called global k-chart for https://t.co/UUe3qrh8ye
— َ (@urmisope) June 1, 2026
BTS has been holding the #1 position for so long they only went #2 bcs of new release but did kmedia release any article when BTS broke many other records??
Now that their group surpassed them for 2 mins they are going nuts over it
— َ (@urmisope) June 1, 2026
Several fans also claimed that BTS has topped numerous charts and broken major records over the years, yet received little attention from Korean media outlets.
they really learned nothing from superm lmao. what’s funny is that the first headline that came out after they launched this “global” chart was basically about a chart that’s only china, japan and korea 😭 it’s all about creating narratives in the end https://t.co/X5kohrH6UB pic.twitter.com/YeAhDmAdqD
— ★ (@bluenlips) June 1, 2026
What are your thoughts? Is the framing of aespa’s achievement wrong, and is the new chart curated to help them make headlines? Or is it fair? Let us know your opinion in the comments section of our social media posts!
