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      Jason Aldean’s ‘Try That in a Small Town’ Hits No. 1

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      The country star’s song, now a culture war battleground, is his first all-genre chart topper. The K-pop group NewJeans’ new album edged out the “Barbie” soundtrack on the Billboard 200.Last week, Jason Aldean’s song “Try That in a Small Town,” which the country star portrays as a paean to neighborly values but critics have described as a call to racist vigilantism, opened at No. 2 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, after its music video became a culture war battleground.Now the song has ascended to the peak, becoming the first No. 1 single on Billboard’s all-genre singles chart in Aldean’s nearly two-decade career as a top Nashville hitmaker.Just two weeks ago, before the controversy began, the song was posting minimal numbers. But in its most recent week out, it garnered 31 million streams, sold 175,000 copies and reached a radio audience of nine million people in the United States, according to the tracking service Luminate.As the song has stirred debate, tweaks have been made to its music video, which early on was pulled without explanation by Country Music Television but remains available on YouTube. Last week, a new version appeared, six seconds shorter than the original and scrubbed of news clips showing Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.Aldean has denied that “Try That” is “a pro-lynching song,” or that race plays any part in the song’s lyrics. “These references are not only meritless, but dangerous,” he wrote on social media.On the album chart, the K-pop group NewJeans beat the “Barbie” soundtrack in a photo finish.“Get Up,” a six-track EP by NewJeans, a quintet that is part of the newest wave of K-pop acts, opens at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with the equivalent of 126,500 sales in the United States, according to Luminate. “Barbie: The Album,” featuring Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith, Billie Eilish and other artists, was credited with 126,000. (The service’s publicly reported figures are rounded.)The results were delayed by several days, with Billboard saying only that there was a “processing issue” in combing through the data.The breakdown of the two albums’ “equivalent” numbers — which are determined by comparing sales, streams and track downloads — illustrates the various ways music is consumed these days, and how different formats can affect the charts.“Get Up,” like many K-pop releases, came out in a variety of collectible CD packages. Of its 126,500 equivalents, 101,000 copies were sold as complete albums, with 99 percent of that on CD, according to Billboard; songs from it were also streamed 34 million times.“Barbie: The Album,” on the other hand, sold 53,000 copies as a complete package — 33,000 on vinyl — and had 94 million streams.The arrival of NewJeans and “Barbie” sent last week’s top album, Taylor Swift’s “Speak Now (Taylor’s Version),” to No. 4, while Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing at a Time” falls to No. 3, the first time in 21 weeks that it has dipped lower than second place. Also this week, “Génesis,” by the Mexican songwriter Peso Pluma, is No. 5. More

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      Stray Kids Reach No. 1 (Again) With CD Sales, Not Streams

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      An array of collectible CD packages sent the K-pop octet to the top of the Billboard 200, while new releases by Jelly Roll, Enhypen and Foo Fighters open in the Top 10.For 12 straight weeks recently, the country star Morgan Wallen dominated the Billboard album chart, but others are now breaking through. Last week, Taylor Swift returned to the top with deluxe versions of her latest album, “Midnights,” and this week the K-pop group Stray Kids scores its third No. 1 album in 15 months with “Five-Star.”A barrage of collectible CD releases — 18 in all — sent the eight-member Stray Kids to No. 1. “Five-Star,” with 12 tracks sung mostly in Korean, opens with the equivalent of 249,500 sales in the United States, 231,000 of those on CD, according to the tracking service Luminate.The album was also credited with nearly 20 million streams. To put that number in perspective, on last week’s singles chart Wallen had 33 million clicks for his No. 1 song “Last Night” — just one of the 36 tracks on his album, “One Thing at a Time,” which holds at No. 2 this week. (Swift’s “Midnights” falls four spots to No. 5.)The success of Wallen, Swift and Stray Kids is also notable in that all three share the same record label: Republic Records, a division of the giant Universal Music Group. Counting releases by those artists and another in February by the K-pop group Tomorrow X Together, Republic has now held the No. 1 spot for 15 of the 23 weeks of the year so far.A clutch of new releases are in the Top 10. In third place is “Whitsitt Chapel” by Jelly Roll, the face-tattooed rapper-turned-country singer who has become the toast of Nashville. Enhypen, another K-pop act, lands at No. 4 with “Dark Blood.”The soundtrack to “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” by the star hip-hop producer Metro Boomin — with guest appearances by Offset, ASAP Rocky, Future, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Wayne, 21 Savage and many others — opens at No. 7. And Foo Fighters’ “But Here We Are,” the band’s first since the death of its drummer Taylor Hawkins last year, starts at No. 8. More

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      K-Pop Stars BTS Will Release a Book Telling Their Own Story in July

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      The announcement by their U.S. publisher, Flatiron Books, came after days of frantic speculation by their fervent fans.The K-pop juggernaut BTS will release an oral history of the group in South Korea and the United States on July 9, its U.S. publisher, Flatiron Books, said on Thursday.The book, “Beyond The Story: 10-Year Record of BTS,” was written by the journalist Myeongseok Kang and members of the group, and it will be published in South Korea by Big Hit Music.The news confirms intense fan speculation over several days that Flatiron would publish a nonfiction title about a pop culture phenomenon this summer. The rumor spread once booksellers in the United States noticed last weekend that a mystery title with a July 9 release date was coming. It had an initial print run of one million copies and required booksellers to sign an affidavit to stock copies on publication day.Fans searched for clues of who the mystery author might be, zeroing in at first on Taylor Swift and citing her frequent use of the number 13 as evidence. (The book’s original announcement was slated for June 13.) Swift had also highlighted the date July 9 in her most recent album announcement.But June 13 and July 9 are also significant dates in the BTS community. The group debuted on the first date, and BTS’s passionate fan base, Army — which stands for Adorable Representative M.C. for Youth — was founded on the second. The book’s release will coincide with the fan group’s 10th anniversary.As speculations mounted, preorders drove the still-untitled book up best-seller lists at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.The English translation of the book was led by Anton Hur, in collaboration with Clare Richards and Slin Jung. The U.S. edition will be 544 pages and contain exclusive photographs, according to Flatiron, and will have a first printing of one million copies.The group’s powerful, very online fandom has become famous worldwide, known for supporting the group by buying multiple versions of each physical release and running intricately coordinated social media campaigns. Devotees also assist each other by translating BTS content into English and other languages and providing robust fan communities.It is difficult to overstate BTS’s influence, in music and beyond. Last year, the seven members of the group — RM, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook — visited the White House to speak against anti-Asian American hate crimes.Since 2013, BTS has released nine albums and six EPs and helped K-pop become a dominant global force. In 2018, the group became the first K-pop act to hit No. 1 on Billboard’s album chart with “Love Yourself: Tear,” a feat it repeated twice in 2019 with “Love Yourself: Answer” and “Map of the Soul: Persona” — matching a record set by the Beatles.In June 2022, after yet another No. 1 album — the three-disc compilation “Proof” — BTS released a video on social media announcing it was going on hiatus so its members could focus on solo creative projects. “I should be writing about what I’m feeling and the stories I want to tell,” Suga said, “but I’m just forcefully squeezing out words because I need to satisfy someone.” The clip drew more than 16 million views in two days. In October of last year, the group’s label confirmed that its members would enlist in South Korea’s military as required by law. Some of them already have.The hiatus was devastating news not only for BTS’s fervent fan base, but also for the entertainment business. The day after the news broke, the stock price for Hybe, the South Korean entertainment company behind the group, dropped 28 percent, which shaved $1.7 billion off its market value. As the group’s popularity has grown, it has become a pillar of South Korea’s economy, contributing $3.5 billion annually by 2020, according to the Hyundai Research Institute.Many fans say that while they are drawn to BTS’s music and performances, they are also inspired by its messages of love and acceptance, which have led some to become more politically active. “They’re really, really passionate people who just fight for what they love,” Nicole Santero, a fan who ran a data-focused BTS Twitter account, told The Times in 2020. “Those characteristics translate well when you look at social issues.”Caryn Ganz More

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      Morgan Wallen’s ‘One Thing at a Time’ Notches a 9th Week at No. 1

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      The country superstar held off a release from the K-pop group Seventeen to maintain his streak atop the Billboard 200. Ed Sheeran will challenge him next week.Morgan Wallen, the country superstar who dominates streaming, holds the No. 1 spot on the Billboard album chart for a ninth consecutive week, fending off a formidable challenge from the K-pop group Seventeen.Wallen’s latest, “One Thing at a Time,” notched the equivalent of 138,000 sales in the United States in its latest week out, according to the tracking service Luminate. That total is a composite number that includes 174 million streams of the 36-track LP and 5,500 copies sold as a complete package.The last release to post at least nine weeks in a row at No. 1 was Wallen’s previous LP, “Dangerous: The Double Album,” which ruled for 10 weeks without interruption in early 2021. (Since then, SZA’s “SOS” had 10 nonconsecutive times at the top, and Bad Bunny’s “Un Verano Sin Ti” had 13.) More than two years later, “Dangerous” remains a hit, landing at No. 5 this week, its 118th time in the Top 10.With Ed Sheeran on deck for next week’s chart with his new album, “-” (pronounced “Subtract”), this chart could represent the end of Wallen’s winning streak, at least on the album chart. His song “Last Night” holds at No. 1 on the Hot 100 singles chart, its fifth time as the top track.Also this week, Seventeen opens at No. 2 with the equivalent of 135,000 sales of its six-track mini-album “FML.” It came out in a flurry of digital and physical variations. Those included multiple CD editions with goodies like lyric books, photos and stickers, and 17 downloadable versions, which included “exclusive digital signed covers” featuring each of the group’s 13 members.Altogether, Seventeen sold 132,000 copies of “FML” as a complete package, and had four million streams for the week.Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” is in third place this week, and SZA’s “SOS” is No. 4.“Desvelado” by the group Eslabon Armado opens at No. 6, which Billboard said is the highest-charting album of regional Mexican music in the history of the chart. “Desvelado” had the equivalent of 44,000 sales in the United States, including nearly 64 million streams. More

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      Moonbin, Member of K-Pop Band ASTRO, Dies at 25

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      The K-pop star was found dead on Wednesday at his home in Seoul.Moonbin, a member of the K-pop band ASTRO, died on Wednesday at his home in Seoul. He was 25.The pop star’s death was confirmed by the band and its management agency in a statement in Korean posted to Twitter. They did not specify a cause.“On April 19, ASTRO member Moonbin suddenly left us and has now become a star in the sky,” the agency said. It called on fans to refrain from “speculative and malicious reports” so that his family could process the news. To respect their wishes, the agency added, the funeral would be held as privately as possible, with only family, friends and colleagues.According to the Korean news agency Yonhap, Moonbin was found dead at his home in the upscale neighborhood of Gangnam at about 8:10 p.m. on Wednesday by his manager, who contacted the Seoul Gangnam Police Station. Moonbin, born Jan. 26, 1998, was an actor, dancer and model as well as a singer, who also performed as part of the band Moonbin & Sanha. ASTRO, originally a six-person male K-Pop group, shot to fame in 2016 with their debut EP “Spring Up.” They were named to Billboard’s top 10 list of new K-Pop groups that year.In a statement shared early Wednesday, ASTRO announced the cancellation of the Moonbin & Sanha tour in Jakarta “due to unforeseen circumstances.”News of Moonbin’s death reverberated throughout the K-pop world, as fans praised the star for introducing them to the genre, and mourned the sudden loss.Moonbin is the most recent of a series of Korean celebrities in their 20s dying suddenly. In 2019, the deaths of two other K-pop stars left South Korea soul searching over what had gone wrong in one of its most popular cultural exports. Earlier this month, Jung Chae-yull, a 26-year-old South Korean actress, was also found dead in her home. Some, though not all, of the cases have been acknowledged as suicide.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. More

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      Jung Chae-yull, South Korean Actress, Is Found Dead at 26

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      Though the cause of the unexpected death of Jung Chae-yull was not disclosed, it has renewed concerns about mental health in the country’s highly competitive entertainment industry.A young South Korean actress still early in a promising career was found dead in her home on Tuesday, according to the production company she had been working with. Although no cause of death was disclosed, the episode has renewed concerns about the mental health of young people working in South Korea’s highly competitive entertainment industry.The actress, Jung Chae-yull, 26, is the most recent instance of the phenomenon of celebrities in their 20s dying suddenly. Some, though not all, of the cases have been acknowledged as suicide.“Actress Chae-yull has left our side on April 11, 2023,” Management S, Ms. Jung’s agency in Seoul, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We pray that Chae-yull, who has always been sincere about acting, is able to rest in peace in a warm place.”Two years ago, another 26-year-old actress, Song Yoo-jung, was also found dead at her home in Seoul. Both Ms. Song and Ms. Jung’s careers had begun only a few years before they died. Ms. Song’s agency did not disclose the cause of her death either.In October 2019, Sulli, 25, a member of a K-pop girl group, was found dead in her home after facing repeated instances of bullying. Officials determined it was suicide. A few weeks after that, Goo Hara, 28, another K-pop singer, was found dead in her home, and her death was likewise ruled a suicide.“Unless the entertainment industry and media change, South Korea will be first place on celebrity suicide,” one K-pop fan wrote on Twitter. South Korean authorities recently announced that instances of bullying will now be reflected on college applications, as the country struggles to put a stop to such abuse.Ms. Jung stepped into the spotlight in 2016 in a fashion competition show in South Korea called “Devil’s Runway,” which grouped rookie and veteran models into teams to compete on the catwalk. She scored multiple endorsements with popular brands like Etude, a large cosmetics company in South Korea, and U.S. fashion labels such as Jill Stuart.Ms. Jung on the set of the movie “Deep,” a thriller in which she had a leading role.HajunsaMs. Jung branched out into acting in 2018, when she landed a leading role in the movie “Deep,” a thriller set in the Philippines. She would go on to act in at least one more film and two series, including “Zombie Detective,” which took home a prize at the 2020 KBS Entertainment Awards in South Korea.Recently, Ms. Jung had been filming a new series called “Wedding Impossible,” based on a web novel. Filming has been temporarily suspended, according to Studio 329, the company that was working with her on the project.Ms. Jung was born in 1996 and enjoyed boxing and snowboarding, according to social media posts. Since Tuesday, fans have flooded her Instagram account to pay tribute.“I love you, Chae-yull, I’ll pray for your happiness in heaven,” one fan wrote after the announcement.Ms. Jung’s family plans to hold a private funeral, according to her agency.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. More

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      K-Pop Group Tomorrow X Together Ends SZA’s Seven-Week Run at No. 1

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      The boy band topped the Billboard album chart for the first time thanks to an array of collectible CDs for sale.Riding intense fan interest in its collectible CDs, the K-pop quintet Tomorrow X Together scored its first No. 1 album on the Billboard chart this week, ending a seven-week run on top for the R&B singer SZA.“The Name Chapter: Temptation,” a five-song EP by the South Korean boy band that clocks in under 15 minutes, sold a total of 161,500 equivalent units, including physical sales, downloads and streams, according to the tracking service Luminate. Nearly all of that sales activity — 98 percent, Billboard reported — was on that quaint technology known as the CD. The group released 14 different editions, including autographed versions and some with mystery bonuses like photo books and postcards.The No. 1 debut marks the third Top 5 release for Tomorrow X Together — made up of the musicians Soobin, Yeonjun, Beomgyu, Taehyun and Hueningkai — after the group landed “Minisode 2: Thursday’s Child” at No. 4 last year and “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze” at No. 5 in 2021. Its pure sales numbers for “The Name Chapter: Temptation” were the highest on the chart since Taylor Swift’s “Midnights” in November, Billboard said.SZA’s “SOS,” a consistent hit on streaming services, falls to No. 2 for the first time, with another 100,000 units in its eighth week of release. Overall, the album has topped more than one billion streams and one million in equivalent sales.Swift’s “Midnights” comes in at No. 3 with 68,000 units; the rap producer Metro Boomin’s “Heroes & Villains” is No. 4 with 47,000; and Drake and 21 Savage’s joint release, “Her Loss,” is No. 5 with 44,000.Further down in the Top 10 were debuts by Sam Smith, whose “Gloria” hit No. 7 (and took home a Grammy on Sunday night for the single “Unholy”), while Lil Yachty’s “Let’s Start Here,” a psychedelic foray that strays from rap music, lands at No. 9. More

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      Blackpink, Aespa, NewJeans: The Evolution of K-Pop Girl Groups

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      Subscribe to Popcast!Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Amazon MusicOver the past few years, Blackpink has emerged as a worldwide force — hit singles, huge tours, influence in the fashion world — becoming perhaps the first K-pop girl group to reap the full benefits of the genre’s globalization. Standing on the shoulders of earlier innovators like Girls’ Generation and 2NE1, it has become a pop standard-bearer all around the world.It also has been joined in recent years by a slew of other girl groups with growing profiles and unique personalities: Itzy, Aespa, Ive, and the most recent microgeneration, NewJeans and Le Sserafim.On this week’s Popcast, a conversation about the different paths girl groups have had to traverse compared to their male peers, the manner in which they blend music and storytelling and how the worldwide spread of K-pop has amplified opportunities for them.Guest:Tamar Herman, who writes about K-pop for Billboard, Forbes and othersConnect With Popcast. Become a part of the Popcast community: Join the show’s Facebook group and Discord channel. We want to hear from you! Tune in, and tell us what you think at popcast@nytimes.com. Follow our host, Jon Caramanica, on Twitter: @joncaramanica. More