Saturday, July 25, 2026

KATSEYE brought in a very big favor for their new single. The HYBE and Geffen girl group, the multinational act assembled through the reality show 'Dream Academy,' released 'Animal' on July 24, 2026, an uptempo pop track co-written by Ed Sheeran (alongside Snow Patrol's Johnny McDaid and producers Blake Slatkin and Omer Fedi) with actor Demi Moore turning up for a cameo near the end of the video. The refrain, 'You move like an animal,' plays on the gap between outward calm and instinct, and the song lands as the lead-in to their third EP 'Wild,' due August 14 (via The Korea Herald).

Stray Kids are raiding the Y2K closet for their next one. The JYP octet unveiled teaser photos for their 10th EP 'This & That,' out August 7, 2026, styling the eight members in casual blue-tinged looks with a deliberately kitschy edge. The mini album runs eight tracks including the same-named lead single and the prerelease 'Run It,' with in-house producing trio 3Racha (Bang Chan, Changbin and Han) credited across the record (via The Korea Herald).

ALPHA DRIVE ONE set a date and did it with cinematic flair. The rookie boy group dropped a 'title sequence' style teaser announcing their comeback with 'UNBREAKABLE : 少年BEAST,' framing the release like the opening credits of an action film rather than a standard schedule poster (via Soompi).

Jennie is proving the solo lane is hers. The BLACKPINK member topped both YouTube and iTunes charts worldwide with 'Less than a Lover,' a global sweep that lands while her group's own catalog keeps breaking records (via Soompi).

Speaking of which, BLACKPINK just hit a number no K-pop group had reached before. 'DDU-DU DDU-DU' became the first music video by a K-pop group ever to cross 2.4 billion views on YouTube, extending the 2018 hit's reign as the genre's most-watched group video (via Soompi).

Cortis keep making a mockery of the rookie label. The HYBE group's second EP 'GreenGreen' passed 3 million cumulative copies in just 11 weeks, hitting roughly 3.1 million since its May 4 release and becoming a triple-million seller. Add the 2.15 million from debut EP 'Color Outside the Lines' and Cortis have moved more than 5.25 million albums inside 11 months of debuting, a pace that puts 'GreenGreen' alongside BTS's 'Arirang' among 2026's best sellers (via The Korea Herald).

Billboard's midyear scorecard leaned young. The publication named KiiiKiii's '404 (New Era)' its best K-pop song of 2026 so far and AKMU's fourth album 'Flowering' its best album, favoring rising acts like KiiiKiii, NMIXX and Cortis over the year's returning heavyweights, with veteran duo AKMU (12 years in) taking the album crown (via The Korea Herald).

The NewJeans watch is back on. The group posted their first group content in more than a year, five videos marking their fourth debut anniversary, and fans read it as the first sign of a return. Agency Ador poured cold water on the speculation, stating that no decision has been made about the group's future activities (via The Korea Herald).

TXT's Yeonjun keeps climbing as a soloist. His second solo EP 'No Labels: Part 02' debuted at No. 2 on Oricon's Weekly Combined Album Ranking, one rung above where his first EP landed, after selling more than 660,000 copies on release day alone. It closed the first week above 738,000, the biggest first week for any Korean solo album this year (via The Korea Herald).

Seventeen quietly added another YouTube milestone. 'Super,' the 2023 single from their EP 'FML,' crossed 300 million views, per Pledis Entertainment, becoming the group's second video to reach the mark after 'Don't Wanna Cry' (via The Korea Herald).

K-pop just sold more physical albums than ever, and it is not close. Album sales hit a record 49.5 million copies in the first half of 2026, per Hanteo Chart, beating the previous record of 46.2 million (set in the first half of 2023) and jumping 23.4 percent from last year's 40.1 million. Hanteo credits BTS's late-March return with 'Arirang,' which sold about 4.16 million copies in its first week, plus 14 different albums that each cleared a million in their opening week (via Korea JoongAng Daily).

The export numbers tell the same story in dollars. K-pop album exports reached a record $257.48 million in the first half of 2026, another all-time high driven largely by BTS's comeback, a reminder that the genre's physical-album boom is as much a trade story as a fan-culture one (via Korea JoongAng Daily).

YG is hunting for its next generation, everywhere. The agency behind BLACKPINK and TREASURE launched its first global audition in two years, running July through December 2026, opening in Beijing and traveling on to Chengdu, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tokyo, Osaka, the US, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Anyone born between 2008 and 2015 can try out in singing, rap, dance or visual categories (via The Korea Herald).

Riize turned a fan meeting run into a stadium-sized victory lap. SM Entertainment's boy group wrapped its 'RPG - Riize Playing Game' Japan fan meeting tour with six sold-out shows across Fukuoka, Tokyo and Hyogo, drawing roughly 50,000 fans in total. The game-concept events mixed dance and mission challenges with talk segments, and the group performed 'Kill Shot,' the ending theme for the anime 'Kill Blue,' live for the first time (via The Korea Herald).

Fifty Fifty are taking their comeback on the road. The 'Cupid' group will open its 'Still LoBubble' tour on August 1, 2026 in Seoul, then hit Tokyo on August 11 before heading to Manila in September for its first-ever fan concert tour, agency Attract announced. The set draws on June's fourth EP 'Imperfect-I'mperfect,' with the quartet performing as four while member Hana continues her time off since March for health reasons (via The Korea Herald).

BTS Army won its fight in Santiago. Chile approved BTS's concerts at Estadio Nacional for October 14, 16 and 17, 2026 after promoter DG Medios revised its production plans to protect the pitch, keeping cranes on the athletics track and installing a ventilated protective cover over the grass. The approval reverses an earlier rejection that had sparked fan demonstrations (via The Korea Herald).

Woodz is trading the stage for a bow and arrow. The singer-songwriter (real name Cho Seung-youn), a former Uniq member and 'Produce X 101' contestant, joined the cast of 'Nambeol,' a hard-boiled martial arts film set in the early Joseon era about nine warriors sailing to Tsushima to rescue captives taken by pirates. He plays a sharpshooting archer, alongside a marquee lineup of Lee Byung-hun, Go Youn-jung and Lee Do-hyun, in only his second film role (via The Korea Herald).

Seventeen's DK is lending his voice to a ghost story. The main vocalist contributes 'Stay With Me' as the second track on the soundtrack for tvN and Netflix series 'Spooky in Love,' about a ghost-seeing heiress and a prosecutor terrified of ghosts. The song opens on lyrical piano before building into an explosive rock number, releasing the day after the drama's premiere (via The Korea Herald).