Weekly Charts: July 10-16

Summer’s in full swing, but the charts sure aren’t. In the past four weeks, we’ve seen minimal fluctuations among the chart toppers, with the same handful of songs solidly occupying the top half of the rankings. Though kudos for solid performances by the hereby-released songs, I am in dire need of that one summer jam to tide me over in this sweltering heat. This week’s rankings marked the attempts of Red Velvet and ZICO to provide us with the latest bops.

Stuck at the Top

Gloomy vibes of a regretful failed love can only last me so long, but to Koreans, it can last for three weeks with no signs of slowing down. Reigning queen Heize must be excited to be celebrating her third consecutive week at the top of the MelOn and Mnet charts with her title track, “You, Clouds, Rain” with her second title track, “You Don’t Know,” trailing not too far behind at the third spot.  

Luckily, the K-pop gods have heard my pleas and given me a reprieve via “Red Flavor” by Red Velvet, a song that is the embodiment of sunshine, and claimed the second rank on MelOn and Mnet, as well as the top on Bugs. It is from their latest representative album The Red Summer, and if there is one thing Red Velvet hopes to impress upon the public, it is their ability to work all sorts of concepts while maintaining their vocal quality and hard-hitting choreography. Although the song isn’t the most innovative tune to ever grace our ears, it is quite the splash of refreshing, easy-breezy melody that we need to cool off with. Any time you hear this song (or the whole album, really), you will get swept off to a beach to sip on coconuts and watch the sunset. Well timed, Red Velvet. Well timed!    

Sitting comfortably in the top half of charts are girl groups BLACKPINK and MAMAMOO with their respective title tracks, “As If It’s Your Last” and “Yes I Am” at 4th place and 5th place. BLACKPINK truly enjoyed a surge of popularity with their bass-thumping, carefree bop. Despite the song literally being an offer to be a summer fling, the song has demonstrated that it’s here to last longer than a fling for the fourth consecutive week.

Boy Power

ZICO has released his second mini-album, TELEVISION, and the songs are already making their impressive way to the top of the charts two at a time. “Artist” and “Anti (feat. G.Soul)” come in at the bottom of the top 10, at 8th and 9th place. The aptly-named title track “Artist” reflects ZICO’s musical maturity by being a balanced mix of sounds reminiscent of the early days of Block B coupled with the retro groove that is currently trending hard across the Korean R&B and hip-hop genres. Laid-back yet self-assured, the song allows the public to enjoy a retro tune without feeling dated.

“Anti” is the gem of the mini-album. In a rare moment of self-reflection to the point of raw self-beration, ZICO creates a beautiful hook (sung with hauntingly beautiful vocals by G.Soul) without sounding too sombre and plodding, and the public is showing due adoration for the introspective track. This will only be the beginning of ZICO’s presence at the top of the charts, as the release of this mini-album intentionally coincides with the broadcast of Mnet’s mega summer blockbuster Show Me the Money 6. You definitely can expect to see their soundtracks soon.       

Will we continue to see Heize dominate first? Will girl groups continue their reign? Let us know in the comments below.