In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, here’s a look back at some of the major strides made by Asian artists in chart history, from the 1960s to the 2020s.
Psy performs onstage during KIIS FM’s 2012 Jingle Ball at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on December 3, 2012 in Los Angeles, California.
Christopher Polk/GI
While Asian artists have long been pioneers in modern music, a Billboard chart achievement can be career-defining, as both a reflection of individual commercial success and a symbol of further strides being made in global music. As the industry standard of measuring an artist’s mainstream influence, the Billboard charts have included superstars like BTS and BLACKPINK setting new standards for Asian artists in recent years — although the global rise of K-pop does not tell the full story of Asian music breaking through in North America. The first Hot 100 chart-topper by an Asian artist occurred decades earlier, and other artists made significant chart strides roughly a decade before K-pop fully boiled over into a mainstream phenomenon at the end of the 2010s.
Make no mistake: Asian artists still have an uphill battle when it comes to making noise on charts that dominantly feature songs and albums by Western musicians. Working to abide by music industry standards, transcend stereotypes and transmit genuine musical vision, the artists on this list broke down barriers in spite of setbacks and resistance. They’ve also caused waves of change by representing various Asian communities, including the AAPI community, showing the world all of the groundbreaking art (and big hits) that Asian performers can achieve.
In honor of AAPI Heritage Month in May, we’re highlighting 10 significant achievements by Asian artists in the history of the Billboard charts. Although this is hardly an exhaustive list featuring every notable chart achievement, these 10 stand out as momentous wins across sounds and styles. From CL’s solo debut to GOT7’s several World Albums W’s, these artists have helped pave the way for future generations of Asian and AAPI musicians.
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Kyu Sakamoto’s “Sukiyaki” tops the Hot 100 (1963)
The Billboard Hot 100 launched in August 1958, and almost every high-ranking song on the chart was sung in English in its first few years. Enter Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto’s romantic ballad “Sukiyaki,” the Anglo-Saxonized version of the original title “Ue O Muite Arukou,” meaning “I Look Up As I Walk.” The single hit the top of the chart in the summer of 1963 as the first non-European song to reached No. 1. “Sukiyaki” maintained its top spot for a total of three weeks, but its catchy melody and cultural importance lingered for decades — it was the only song by an Asian artist to top the Hot 100 until 2020.
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Wonder Girls’ “Nobody” is the first K-pop song to enter the Hot 100 (2009)
Although it’s hard to envision mainstream music without K-pop today, Wonder Girls marked the start of the sound’s global rise through an all-English version of their hit, “Nobody.” In 2009, their track made its way onto the Hot 100, and peaked at No. 76, introducing their shiny production and polished sound to new audiences — and helping to change the commercial fortunes of Korean music on a global scale.
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PSY’s “Gangnam Style” becomes the first top 10 smash by a South Korean artist (2012)
In 2012, PSY’s “Gangnam Style” exploded off of YouTube and impacted the pop charts with a seismic force that nobody could have predicted. The viral track permeated the mainstream through its grandiose hooks and the meme-worthy “horsey dance” choreography in its music video, which became the first of its kind to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. “Gangnam Style” spent a whopping 31 weeks on the Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 2 in October 2012 and enduring as PSY’s signature global hit — although he did score another Hot 100 top 10 hit, “Gentleman,” in 2013.
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CL gets “Lifted” as the first female South Korean solo artist on the Hot 100 (2016)
After debuting as 2NE1’s fearless leader, Chaelin Lee, aka CL, watched her first English-language independent single “Lifted” debut at No. 94 on the Hot 100 in 2016, making her the first female Korean soloist to reach the chart. The confident track paid homage to Wu-Tang Clan’s “Method Man” in its chorus and generally portrayed CL as a crossover star, with a music video shot in New York City and Method Man himself joining in on the fun in its visuals.
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Pikotaro’s “PPAP” hits the Hot 100 in less than a minute (literally) (2016)
Daimaou Kosaka, also known by his comedian alter ego Pikotaro, composed a silly song titled “PPAP,” short for “Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen,” and published it on his YouTube channel in August 2016. The novelty jingle is only 45 seconds long — but was discovered and morphed into an Internet sensation after Justin Bieber tweeted the song out as his “favorite video on the Internet” that September. “PPAP” reached the Hot 100 shortly after, peaking at No. 77 and staying on the listing for four weeks; it remained the shortest song in the chart’s history for a few years, until Kid Cudi’s 2020 track “Beautiful Trip” clocked in at a mere 37 seconds.
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BTS’s “Dynamite” makes history at No. 1 (2020)
While 2020 was a memorable year for several K-pop acts, BTS made it a record-setting one. After crashing the top 10 in years past, their infectious single “Dynamite” shot straight to No. 1 on the Hot 100 in September 2020, making BTS the first all South Korean musical act to ever top the chart. The superstar septet’s first all-English single spent 3 nonconsecutive weeks at the top, but “Dynamite” was only one piece of their huge chart year: before the end of 2020, BTS had also reached No. 1 as a guest on Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo’s “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat),” and again with their own single, “Life Goes On.”
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Rosé of BLACKPINK’s “On the Ground” becomes the highest-charting song by a Korean female soloist (2021)
Following the footsteps of CL as a member of a K-pop girl group to also chart on her own, BLACKPINK’s Rosé released her solo track “On the Ground” in 2021, featuring a buzzy melody that was clearly distinct from BLACKPINK’s usual sound. The track hit No. 70 on the Hot 100, making her debut song the highest-charting single by a Korean female soloist prior to the release of her solo project, R, in 2021.
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Joji’s “Glimpse of Us” scores the first top 10 debut for an Asian solo act on the Hot 100 (2022)
Joji’s career was building to a breakthrough hit by the time he released “Glimpse of Us” from his third record, Smithereens — and the emotional track promptly debuted at No. 10 in June 2022, climbing to a No. 8 peak a month later. Its early success can largely be attributed to TikTok, where users generated countless video clips to the chorus, although “Glimpse of Us” also found a sizable streaming audience apart from the app. His track marked the first debut of an Asian soloist in the top 10 of the Hot 100, and Joji is also only the second Japanese artist to reach the top 10, after Kyu Sakamoto in 1963.
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BLACKPINK scores the first Billboard 200 No. 1 for a K-pop girl group (2022)
BLACKPINK’s staying power has helped the quartet set several records across platforms, from being the first artist to hit 75 million subscribers on YouTube in June 2022 to being the first Asian act to headline Coachella in 2023. In September 2022, however, the group made history on the Billboard 200 albums chart when their second project Born Pink debuted at No. 1, making BLACKPINK the first K-pop girl group to top the chart. The upbeat “Hard to Love” and addictive “Pink Venom” on the record’s eight-song track list contributed to the album’s global success, and have since racked up hundreds of millions of streams.
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GOT7 sets the World Albums chart record among K-pop acts
With a whopping 19 entries on the World Albums chart, the multi-continental K-pop septet has stayed prolific and earned consistent appreciation from global listeners. Out of the 19, GOT7 has 15 top 10 projects and four chart-toppers, including their Got It? EP in 2014 and Flight Log: Turbulence in 2016. Although GOT7 left JYP Entertainment in 2021, their syncopated, snappy sound continues to be beloved by fans worldwide, and the group scored a top 10 debut with their self-titled project in 2022.
