How K-Pop’s Pursuit of the US Billboard Hot 100 Charts Shifts Its Value and Identity
摘要
K-Pop (or Korean Popular Music) is an important part of the Hallyu or the Korean Wave. K-Pop’s success in the United States is measured in part by its appearance on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, the leading singles chart in the US. In this chapter, I provide a brief history of the chart as well as a comprehensive countdown of the 97 K-Pop songs that have appeared on the chart as of Feburary 2025. I argue that in the pursuit of the US chart, the most successful K-Pop songs and music videos grapple with their identity as Korean and their value as a Hallyu product. Psy’s “Gangnam Style” stays within the confines of the stereotypical Asian American men, while songs like BTS’s “Dynamite,” “Butter,” or “Permission to Dance” cater completely to the American market by having no Korean lyrics or any content or visuals that allude to Korea. Still, there is hope as most of the other songs can still be read as Korean. I conclude that even as the most successful songs abandon the Korean identities of K-Pop, K-Pop idols still value their role as ambassadors for Korea.