SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – JANUARY 31: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (SOUTH KOREA OUT) In this handout image … [+]
In just a few hours, Billboard will refresh all of its weekly charts (a day late due to the New Year’s holiday), and when the rankings are renewed, one of the most successful and beloved girl groups in the world will land their first-ever radio hit in the U.S.
Twice’s single “The Feels” is slated to debut on the Pop Airplay chart, Billboard’s ranking of the tunes that reach the largest audience at pop radio stations across the U.S. every week. According to the publication and chart company, the tune will debut at No. 40 on the tally, in last place. While it will sit in the lowest position, the fact that the cut is going to appear at all is incredibly important to not only the band, but to all acts from their home country.
When “The Feels” debuts, Twice will become just the third girl group from South Korea to reach the Pop Airplay chart. These are still early days for bands and soloists from the Asian nation in terms of landing radio hits in the U.S., and Twice is now in some truly esteemed company with their first major smash.
The first South Korean girl group to place on the Pop Airplay chart was Blackpink. The quartet’s single “Ice Cream,” which featured pop superstar Selena Gomez, worked its way to No. 21, and it eventually racked up eight frames on the tally. The cut was spun off as a hit from their debut full-length The Album in 2020, and it showed that the band could win notoriously fickle pop radio listeners over when performing largely in English.
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Last year, Loona joined Blackpink in this feat, becoming the second South Korean girl group to hit the Pop Airplay chart. The 12-member vocal troupe’s single “Star” lived on the ranking for as long as Blackpink’s “Ice Cream,” but it didn’t surge quite as high. The tune climbed to No. 31, and stopped there.
“The Feels” is easily Twice’s most successful single in America. The track, which was written and recorded originally in English, was released in October 2021, and after its first frame of availability it blasted onto the Hot 100 at No. 83. The title quickly became the band’s first placement on that tally, which has also proved to be difficult to reach for most K-pop acts.
